When doing my morning imaging, because I don't have tracking, I have to realign each time using the finderscope. This isn't *too* bad if the finder is aligned well enough, you get used to where to put the planet in relation to the crosshairs so that a couple of seconds later it will drift through the FOV of the ToUcam.
However it can be really, really hard to see the crosshairs, so I end up having to shine my red light across the front of the finder which illuminates the blackness with some red, so that I can see the black crosshairs as well as the bright planet, and then slew the dob to get it in the right spot.
This works fine, but it's a pain, so what I want to do is this:
I'd like to have some red leds taped around the front-edge of my finder, controlled by a small battery compartment with AA's and a switch to turn the red leds on and off when I need them.
So, can anyone help me build one?
What do I need and from where? How do I hook it all up with batteries and a switch?
I'm guessing i'll need to do some soldering, I can find a soldering iron to borrow from someone at work I'm sure..
just go read the 1st issue of oz sky and telescope, there was a guide to building a redLED torch, just make the resister a bit higher resistance (to make lights dimmer cause you don't want to 'see' by the light) and if you like put on multiple LEDs in parallel like this
that's how I remember led's working anyhow, you might not want to get the superbright led's just get normal ones as you don't want it to be overpowering.
Hey Mike,
not bad for a klux, your electrical knowledge sounds on a par with mine!! At least that is what Robby says.
Nice job, very nice.
Can I suggest that you look at a single LED placed in a neat hole at the crosshair plane. I can send a picture if it helps, but two of my finders have illumination, and both are a simple screw in LED/bettery, fitted to the same plane as the crosshairs. OK, you will have a hole in the side of the finder eyepiece, but as long as you use a small, neat fitting LED it will be unobtrusive.
Other than that, stick with what you have.
Now you can look at fabricating a dew heater.
Gary
Ice, will do, but it will take a few hours.
Au contraire, I find that the finder on my dob fogs easily, even the eye end, whereas the primary (way down the other end) remains dewless.
I have even wired a secondary heater, but it doesn't see much use.
Gary
Ice here they are.
It is an older but nice Meade 9x60 right angle, with illuminator.
The LED bit is in the battery screw in part, and the screw hole can be seen. It is at the same point as the crosshair. Not rocket science, and a simple LED in the hole would do, with a wire(s) running to the battery and switch.
Gary
Mike,
welcome. It is neat, but unnecessarily expensive. My point was if you were happy to bore a small tidy hole in the same spot, and simply glue/affix an LED there it would serve the same purpose, and still allow the front cap to fit the finder.
Either way an illuminated finder is a definite plus.
Gary
wow thats so cool !!!!....it's ironic that I just found this post because I was constructing an LED light for my new drawing table that I use to draw objects at the eyepiece. Its nothing great and I did however blunder by using a 9 volt battery instead of 2 double A's. Next thing I see is smoke coming off of the leds and right then I knew that 9 volts was burning out the leds !!!!!..Im gonna go right out tomorrow and get me a new bright LEd. Ill just control the brightness with a pot....cheers mates!!
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Mark
12" GSO DOB
Illuminating finderscope crosshairs?
