HELP! How do I polar align a Nexstar 4GT?

[TWIGGY15]

A cloudy howdy to everyone,

I'm a casual reader, 1st time poster.

I have bought a 2nd hand Celestron Nexstar 4GT about 2 months ago
and I really want to start some planetary astrophotography.
But, I can't figure out how to polar align this scope.
The instructions are fine if I live in America, but not much help down under.

I have a compass, a spirit level and an iPhone app to assist with altitude.
The scope also has the built in wedge.
I have looked through the articles about polar aligning in the southern hemisphere, but I can't change the position of wedge to face south whilst the tripod leg faces north.
My hand controller (original model) also tells me to level and point north to auto align.

Can anyone help and tell me what I'm doing wrong?

Cheers
Twiggy

[brian nordstrom]

:) Hi Twiggy , just set the computer to south and forget the " North " on the tripod , just turn the whole scope and tripod and piont it to our "South" and the scopes computer will run the scope for us down under here in the southern hemisphere , I have used a piece of tape with ' South' written on it many times over the years to cover the north sign on newby's tripods :thumbsup:. It is confusing .
the computer knows its in the southern hemesphere , as you have told it so , so just turn the lot 180 degrees , and away you go , and the computer will do the rest .
Hope this helps mate .
Brian.

[mental4astro]

Twiggy,

The tripod leg faces North if you are in the northern hemisphere. Here in the South it needs to face SOUTH! Simple as that. Just a bit of confusion and crappie instructions.

If you think about it, the leg is actually a balance support for the wedge. If the overhanging scope didn't have the leg under it, it will make the whole thing very unstable and topple over.

I use a C8 mounted on a wedge, and same thing goes with it - one of its legs needs to point south for the same reason.

Once it is pointing in the right direction, the instructions should tell you somewhere how to select for the southern hemisphere for the hand controller. Could be a puny sentence though. Celestron has never been known for giving good, clear instructions, especially for the southern hemisphere.

If you still can't manage the handcontroller, just ask again here or in the Equipment Forum.

Mental.