Homemade illuminator for polarscope/finderscope

[Sparrow]

Has anybody made a homemade illuminator or know of how to do it? - I try to do polar alignment at dusk when I can still see the details in the polarscope, but sometimes I don't get home unitl after it's dark. At the moment I'm holding a small keyring LED torch near the polarscope to do this but it's a bit haphazard.

Any advice/suggestions would be appreciated.

Regards

John

[Reggie]

to make your own you would pretty much need the insides of the keyring (battery and LED) solder a wire to each leg of the led so that you can then mount the LED with tape in an appropriate position and then connect your 2 wires to the battery (long leg usually goes to +).

[Adelie]

Hi John

Try this handy 'bendy' scope light from Ice in Space's projects page.

Bendy Scope Light - IceInSpace

You can change the level of illumination to suit your circumstances.

Lorna.

[astro_dt]

Hi John

Try getting a red torch, holding it close beside your eye and shining it into the finderscope. Sometimes works!

Cheers

Danny

[Sparrow]

Thanks for the replies - Lorna - thanks for that bendy light link - very useful and it's now set me thinking about the following:-

LEDs for the legs of the tripod (how many times have my big feet kicked them)

LED light for inside my bits and pieces box

LED for the polarscope - problem remains - where exactly to put the LED (no rude answers please)

Electronics/wiring are no problem to me so this is a nice little project in the making.

What I still need to know is - where exactly to place the LED for the Polarscope - could someone advise where it is in the Polarscope on bought illuminated ones?

[steppenwolf]

I have just such an article on my website. Details here

[Sparrow]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for that - it's exactly what I needed - It was the positioning of the LED I was unsure about. I think I will make a small power/control unit for it to strap to the tripod leg with a variable resistor so I can adjust the brightness once I'm using it. I'll let you know how I get on.

regards

John

[steppenwolf]

I think I will make a small power/control unit for it to strap to the tripod leg with a variable resistor so I can adjust the brightness once I'm using it.

That would be a cool idea - at least you have the basics to get started!