red dot alignment not working

[Daniel-K]

hey guys just bought a meade 114 goto telescope and the red dot aligment aint working any ideas??

surley the battery cant be dead only had it 3 days

[LukeSkywatcher]

Did you remove the little piece of contact plastic tab from the finder that stops the battery from working while in store or shipping?

Just a thought.

[BazMark]

If it's anything like the Skywatcher one you will probably have to remove a plastic insulating shim from the battery compartment to connect the battery. Saying that my first one was faulty and had to be replaced. It came from FLO and there was no problem with the exchange.

[BazMark]

Sorry Paul we were obviously replying at the same time.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Sorry Paul we were obviously replying at the same time.

Yeah but you explained it better. The little plastic tab thing is called a shim?

See...i didnt know that.

[Daniel-K]

ok thanks but no shim

but it has come on but it isnt like a point of light its more like wall of red i have never had one so i dont know what its suppose to look like

[Chris H]

It should be a red dot of light try looking through it but with your head held further away and remember when using it to keep both eyes open.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Sounds like the brightness is set too high. Rotate the on/off wheel anti-clockwise and the brightness of the red "wall" should reduce to just a red dot.

P.S.~~the glass could be tinted. Maybe you are seeing the tinted coating.

[Leegsi]

There is a knack to 'seeing' the dot of light.

If you wear glasses it also seems to be more difficult to 'see'

[Daniel-K]

Sounds like the brightness is set too high. Rotate the on/off wheel anti-clockwise and the brightness of the red "wall" should reduce to just a red dot.

P.S.~~the glass could be tinted. Maybe you are seeing the tinted coating.

how do i know if i have on/off wheel i just have a cable that runs into my tripod

[BazMark]

It might help if you could post a photo of your RDF.

Assuming that most RDFs work on the same principle there should three controls on it. One is the on-off/brightness control and the other two are for aligning it with the scope so that when you look through it the red dot is superimposed on the same object that is in the field of view (FOV) of the telescope.

If you have an on-off/brightness control then it will click off at one end of it's rotation. When you turn this on and full up you should see a bright red dot reflected in it's lens when you look through it sighting along the telescope tube. When viewed with both eyes open the dot will appear superimposed on the sky.

Once you can see the red dot you can line it up with the view in the telescope using the other two control wheels.

If you can't see a red dot reflected in the little lens at all when it's turned on then I would contact the retailer you bought it from and talk to them.

[Tinners]

but it isnt like a point of light its more like wall of red i have never had one so i dont know what its suppose to look like

Did you try turning it around?

You should have it like so...Eye -> LED -> Plastic screen -> stars

You should see the LED light reflected off the screen and the stars behind it.

[BazMark]

Did you try turning it around?

You should have it like so...Eye -> LED -> Plastic screen -> stars

You should see the LED light reflected off the screen and the stars behind it.

Good point. For someone new to telescopes that would be an easy mistake. On my 1145PM the RDF was bolted on and it could easily be bolted on backwards. Not so on the Skymax as it fits on a dovetail shoe and can only go on one way.

[LukeSkywatcher]

Very good point. We all assume that everyone else knows the correct orientation of the placement of the RDF. I for one had mine on the wrong way round first time i put it on the scope.

[brantuk]

Look through it as if you were looking through a straight-through finder and your eye should be in the right position to see the dot. If you turn the wheel a full 360 one notch at a time you should find the "off" setting. You'll know because the red dot will dissappear lol

[LukeSkywatcher]

how do i know if i have on/off wheel i just have a cable that runs into my tripod

Ah ok. So we are talking about some kind of computerised scope. I am afaid i am all out of ideas on this seen as i only use manual scopes. I'm guessing its a software/settings issue?.