Illuminated reticles or illuminated rubbish

[pmrid]

I've had it up to the eyeballs with those little red-light illuminated that screw into the reticule on your guidescope. They just don't work. They are a simple enough piece of circuitry, and a simple enough piece of engineering - so why in the name of all the saints can't someone make one that works? I suppose they all come from the same 'factory' somewhere in deepest darkest whoop-whoop which may explain why they seem to be uniformly rubbish. I'm on about the fourth in the past 6 months. The most recent came with a reasonably expensive American Scientific finder scope and my belief that the brand was some sort of assurance of quality. Nope. After what would be less that 6 hours installed on a scope, the knob just spins around now and doesn't even engage a switch. And this has been the fate of the previous 3.

Does anyone know of a red-light illuminator for a guidescope reticule that actually works reliably?

Peter

[DavidTrap]

I've been pretty happy with the Meade one that came with an illuminated reticle. All of the ones I'd used previously were Meade ones and they seemed OK.

Not sure if the thread on all of these are interchangeable. The Meade one will "screw" in enough to hold into my Tak finder, but I've since soldered a red led onto the end of a cable that plugs into the "reticle" output on my mount to light up the cross-hairs on the finder scope.

DT

DT

[erick]

Yes, I recently had a finderscope arrive with a faulty one which was replaced. This is the simple switch on and adjust brightness one.

I do have a fancy one that I quite like. Mechanically, it doesn't look any more robust, but it it much more adjustable. It's the Rigel PulsGuide illuminator. Same thread as the simple version. Comes with yellow and red LEDs - interchangeable apparently. Pulses on and off. Adjustable are:- brightness, period between pulses, length of "on" pulse.

http://www.skiesunlimited.net/index.php?ProductID=4054

http://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?pid=1639

Price is reasonable.

Mine was second hand with the red LED - came with an Antares reticule eyepiece I bought off an IIS member. Has worked well.

I just want an auto-off on every one of these - I often leave them on and flatten the batteries :mad2: :rolleyes:

[hotspur]

Geoff Johnston,could make an attachment,he made one for my Vixen GP mount ,with some of the bits it came with and made a wonderful little box with a switch.goes in the end of the mount,He made it five years ago,still on the same set of battteries,never had a issue.

The EQ6 reticule was so bright and un-adjustable,really quite useless,The new GPD2 vixen mount has a built in variable brightness reticule,Quite a big leap forward over the EQ6 one.

Geoff's phone number is in the ad I had for astro chairs in accesories.

Chris

[dugnsuz]

http://www.tan14.com/Others.htm

4th pic down page - is that what you're looking for Peter?

Approx $22AU

Doug

[tlgerdes]

Isn't that called a Telrad :lol::lol::lol:

[Geoff45]

Pretty difficult autoguiding with a telrad--perhaps if you have GREAT eyesight and do it manually.....:)

I have one of the Meade ones. It's about 4 years old and died last week.

[pmrid]

Not on a my SCT thanks!!

Doug, thanks. That's identical to the one that went belly-up. I've decided to go down the pulse-guide method mentioned below.
OPT were OK about it. They said not to bother sending the dead one back. They gave me a major discount on a Rigel pulse number so now, once again and as usual, we wait while UPS and AustPost get on with it.
Peter

[Zaps]

The Rigel illuminator is first rate. You'll never regret buying it.

[[1ponders]]

Peter those little black ones? Your spot on. The silver ones aren't much better, the little spring contact touches the metal chassis and the light doesnt' turn on. However there seems to be two types in the silver ones. One type is on/off the other is a graduated illumination which seems to work ....... better???? just.

Ended up with two rigel pulse illuminators. Haven't look back. HOWEVER its a challenge to work out how to change the batteries ;). Maddening actually, but there is a way. For a substantial fiscal outlay I can reveal the secret to you when you need it. :D

[erick]

I was thinking "hacksaw" for a while after the screwdriver didn't achieve what I needed! :D

[[1ponders]]

tricky little buggers aren't they

[pmrid]

LOL. Wait till I get mine and have a look. I love a challenge but I was also brought up in an era of FJ Holdens and even older cars so my approach to repairing mechanical devices is along the lines of a 12 Lb hammer and cole chisel - and if that doesn't work, it's really stuffed.
I'll report back in due course.
Peter.

[[1ponders]]

I tried that and stuffed up one, but got it working again sort of. Its actually quite obvious when you think about it. But i'll wait and see how you go with the cold chisel :D

[pmrid]

I cheated. I read the instructions.
Peter

[[1ponders]]

they came with instructions?????????

I'd better check the box. I'm sure its around here somewhere :lol: