Rigel Finder question

[Barry-W-Fenner]

Afternoon all.

Do owners of Rigel finders remove them and bring them in after each observing session?

I ask as I leave mine on permanently but seem to be having an issue with it and am wondering if this is temperature related.

Basically the red target does not illuminate when turned on, I need to remove the Rigel finder look through the sight and put my thumb on the battery, After a few seconds the target lights up and it works fine. At first I thought it needed a new battery, However I have now tried 3 battery's and am having the same problem.

I have now brought the finder in and will take it out each time I observe to see if this makes a difference. In the mean time has anyone else had a similar issue?

 

Regards

 

Barry

[johninderby]

Spunds like a battery holder problem. Never had a similar problem with mine.

Perhaps just gat the AA battery holder for it.

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/finders/rigel-quik-finder-battery-pack.html

[John]

Mine comes off the scope and is stored indoors. As is the scope in fact. Not had an issue with the battery / battery holder to be honest. The battery seems to last for 12 months or more.

[Barry-W-Fenner]

Thanks for the info gents,

Its currently in the cupboard with the eye pieces, I am hoping to have a session tonight so I will see if storing indoors has any effect. I will also double check the battery holder shortly as I can see it in the day light 🙂 fingers crossed I will resolve the issue.

 

Baz

 

[Carbon Brush]

It is well known in equipment generally (not picking on the Rigel) that there are often issues with connections to coin cells.
You have probably suffered problems in key torches, remote controls, etc.

It is a combination of things.

Plating choice on the connector in the equipment.
It can oxidise and become high resistance, particularly with low current flow like a dim LED.

Then the battery plating may suffer similar problems. These are made by a huge number of manufacturers.

Then of course sometimes it is difficult to change a battery and the spring clip gets sprained, reducing conact pressure.

Plating issues are usually overcome by rotating the coin cell in the holder, or by sliding it out then re-inserting.

I have a customer who had a large number of coin cell 'failures' much earlier than expected and I was asked to investigate.
This was on equipment that cost a lot of money, and importantly cost a lot for someone to go out and swap the battery.
After establishing it was a connection problem, I looked at component choice.
The design engineer had wanted to use a gold plated connector. The project manager saved 20p by using a non plated connector.

Remember that we always look for the lowest buy price on astronomy kit!

HTH, David.

 

[johninderby]

IE: false economy.

[Louis D]

I take mine off each time I'm done and bring it in the house with the scope.  If I leave it on the scope while bringing it inside, I tend to whack the finder on the door frame because it sticks out so far and I forget it's there.  Luckily, it's plastic-spring loaded, so it just pops off unharmed.

I'm still on the original button cell from 20 years ago when I bought it, so it lasts a long time if you just flip it on and off long enough to get the scope on target.