Glow tape is SO much brighter than the 3D printer stuff I tried!! Sure a smart hack with the tape… it’s such useful stuff.. need very tiny bits though. Make sure you get h toe brightest and longest lasting stuff, so it’s still helping you through the night. Glow tape can make a long like dim torch if you pop a lump on the end of your torch with a screen so you don’t directly view it. I power my Az-gti with 12v via an adapter from a BIG USB battery. You could pop a thin plastic shim under one of the AA battery contacts in the star adventurer to stop them getting discharged, like the ones in brand new products have when you buy them, popping one out would do the same, but as you note, you might lose it.
Also for little bits of glow tape, wipe the glue off with some hand gel and bond them on with superglue, stay on much better. (Press down with an old crisp packet wrapper to avoid getting yourself stuck to things when you do this ;-)
Hey Alyn, I'm the designer of the 3d printable Illuminator. I just wanted to say thanks for the shout out and the recognition. This model of mine just suddenly boomed in popularity and I found out it was because of this video. Just watching this video has given me some ideas for other designs for the SA. Thanks again and I have subscribed to your channel 👍.
Thank you. Can't you just take one batter out, rather than all four? I reckon it will preclude any discharging even if the device switches on in your bag.
The tapes a good idea, easy to carry spare! I got a 3d printed glow in dark piece of plastic which works quite well that slots into the position of the tape.
It's good to have a mechanical engineer in the community! This is a great idea as you got for the Z star tracker that I use all the time. Telescope companies need people like you to design the best equipment. Thanks for sharing.
All I do for the battery issue is after I use it, I take one battery out and put a long but thin piece of paper over the metal, then put the battery back in over it. Then I just pull the paper out by the top tab when I go to use it again.
Genius!!! I was doing all sorts, jamming it into the declination plate so I didn’t have to remove it, and hanging my head torch red light off the top 🤣. I recently got a 3D printer so might have to give that hack a go….
I machined a piece that fits perfectly where polar illuminator fits, stopping short of the glass, and fitted a laser to that again, working very much like move shoot move system, if shooting 14 to 35mm range no issues at all. Iv not moved onto deep sky as yet so no need for 100% accurate polar alignment but found this to be quick and easy.
Regarding the battery pack if you just take one out, it should brake the circuit, so you don’t need to remove them all, plus if you wrap some sello’ tape you can make a tab, to help pull out the battery with out fiddling.
I have been using glow in the dark tape for a year now. It works great. I use it on the tripod, quick release plate, and on top of the camera. Last August I met some astrophotographers from Arkansas, USA shooting the Milky Way in Canyonlands National Park. They were using glow bracelets to mark their equipment and prickly bushes that needed to be avoided. They worked great. But I like the glow tape best because they are always there, they cost less, and they are effective. But the glow bracelets are another option.
I always use a powerbank for the tracker and also use it to charge my camera at the same time. That's very convenient. The tape sounds great for the Tracker and the tripod!
Brilliant solutions / applications of glow in the dark tape. I'd say put some glow in the dark tape, just maybe small pieces of it on the focus and zoom rings of your telephoto lenses, or focus ring on your prime lenses. Makes it easier to find them without major bumping them and will allow you to make out the top portion of your camera setup so you don't bump that either. Perhaps put glow in the dark tape at the feet of the tripod so that you don't bump the feet, just putting it at the top doesn't stop you from bumping the feet. You could use luminescent spray paint on the tripod feet I suppose for a more permanent option, but I doubt many would want those spray painted tripod feet all the time for daytime photography.
Just had my buddy make the glow in the dark ones for me. Hope they work. Thanks Alyn for sharing the great content. My Star Adventurer will be here today. John.
Nice - thanks! BTW. Very easy hack for the battery cover is to turn the rear polar scope cover upside down. It then prevents the battery cover from sliding off.
Sorry, I just saw this after being away from astrophotography for a time to pursue other things I'm bad at. 😂 This is a great low-cost option that I'll pursue, even though I'm thinking of upgrading to the GTi model soon. The go-to feature is just SO tempting... Many thanks!!
I bought some of the glow-in-the-dark tape and put it on my tripod legs. I've also applied it to small, smooth glass "stones" that I can bring along for marking locations and such. They are really helpful when I do my light painting so I get my composition and focus right and know where to stand. I've also put it on accessories I sometimes hang off my tripod, such as my intervalometer and my battery pack. That way I can grab them if I need to without touching or knocking the tripod. I've also tried glow-in-the-dark rubber bands but they aren't nearly bright enough.
Hi, Alyn. Thank you so much for this Idea! I printed it and sprayed it and it worked well. Then I lost it lol. So I rolled up some glow tape. I see in the comments people discovered that as well. I'm so glad! Thanks again for the great idea, Alyn.
I got a cheap glow in the dark paracord i use for camping, i use it to line out a perimeter on the ground around my tripod, so i don't bump into the feet. I also use a tarp so if i drop something i can find it easily and it doesn't get lost in the grass or dirt. I sometimes lay the paracord around the tarp as well.
Thank you Alyn for this great hack!!! I thought I was the only one with this issue!!! I'd like to also thank Kamil Pekala for pointing your video out to me
you can also run 2 strips of glow tape on the inside edge of the dec bracket that will add extra light to the polar scope hole as it will reflect light back in to the scope. Try it. it works a treat
I have the older version and I agree, for a great little mount there are some epic fails. I broke my iluminator within a couple of month, it's not robust at all. I dont bother with the AA batteries now, I use a MaxOak Power bank and power the mount, DSLR and a heater band. I've had 3 full nights running it in the winter. Great tip Alyn I'm thinking of giving it a go to see if it works for me.
Brilliant! (No pun intended!) I've been using reflective tape on my tripod ever since I bumped into it in the dark and dislodged a half-hour's worth of star trail images, but glow tape makes a lot of sense.
For the polar scope light you can place a small piece of Velcro tape on the front of your mount - with or without the counterweight attachment - and the matching piece of Velcro on one of the tiny red LED lights available on the internet. My light is smaller than an American quarter. I paid a couple of dollars for the tiny red LED light and a couple more for a small roll of Velcro. You don't need the light shining directly into the polarscope, mine was bright enough to see well from the light shinning across the front opening. That way both hands are free and you also have a tiny led pocket light for other uses.
One of the best ideas I'd say yeah. Especially in a place where such things aren't even available, this is like a boon!!!!! Now gotta find a high quality tape
Love the idea of the glow in the dark tape. As for the 3-D file... wish I had access to a 3-D printer to make one. Also, I use white electrical tape on my tripod... for the same reason as you stated about putting glow in the dark tape on it. The reason is, the white tape glows when the red light, from my head lamp, shines on it.
Love it! I waste more time playing around with that illuminator than it's worth. including how many times it falls off and I have to look around for it hoping to not step on it. It needs to be permanently attached or built in fixture. Nice how thoughtful you were when describing it. I thinks its poorly thought out and a piece of #%&*. Thanks Alyn you rock!
Hi Alyn I use a piece of scotch tape to go under all 4 batteries and have a small fold on both sides to make a tab I can grab and easily remove the batteries when needed.
Consider sliding a bit of poly film between one of the battery contacts to prevent any drain that could happen due to the dial getting switched on in a pack(or wherever). Can keep the batteries on device and just pull the bit of film out when doing setup.
YES!!! The glow in the dark tape is a genius idea. (My illuminated reticle has never worked, which I now know if because it doesn’t have that little plastic tube). One solution for the battery irritation is to turn one of the middle two batteries around before packing it away. You don’t need to be Geoff Capes to prize those two middle batteries out either. Great tips - thanks for sharing.
If you must reverse batteries, reverse two, not one. With one reversed, your series circuit still produces 3V (4.5V in the correct orientation and 1.5V in reverse), and will still draw current when the device is turned on. This current will try to charge the reversed battery, which best case may not damage it, worst case may cause it to leak that nasty corrosive "alkaline battery blood" into your mount or over your other expensive gear that's inhabiting the same bag. And even if you reverse two, if they're not all at exactly the same voltage, you will still draw current until they level out. Personally, I'm not a fan of faffing about with that sort of nonsense. Either take one battery out, and store it somewhere safe (e.g. your pocket that doesn't also store your keys or other metal objects), or make a shim of a non-conductive material and wedge it between one battery and its contact.
Never thought of glow-in-the-dark tape, but luckily I've had masking tape around the ends of the foam padding I added to my tripod legs, so I haven't walked into them (much). Also, it helps to put white stickers on your lens caps, so when you drop them in the dark you can find them again.
The light for my reticle is a joke. Used a brand new battery. No help. My brother did a workshop where they used battery powered tea lites for scope illumination and just general use. It's an extra piece of gear, but their small and cheap - $5-7/dozen. Great idea about the glow in the dark tape. I may give that a try. I've been using reflective tape on my tripods and other gear so that I am more aware of where everything is. I even have small strips on my cameras. I didn't even think of glow in the dark tape. Great suggestion. Thanks!
This is likely one of the best tips I've read in a long time! Not just in relation to the Sky Tracker but also the tape on the tripod legs. And I agree with you about the Polar Finder - the rest of the unit is so well constructed while the finder really does appear to be an after thought (and a poor one at that). Hopefully they reads these reviews and design something a bit more elaborate.
I don't think that's a good idea. Reversing one battery means that you now have 3V over the circuit instead of 6V (3x1.5V that add up, and 1x1.5V that subtracts). You will still draw current, and what's more, this current will try to charge the reversed battery. If you have rechargeable batteries in there, probably not much of an issue, depending on the current. If you have alkalines, you could damage the battery and the device it sits in. I exploded some coin cells by attempting to charge them. Although I don't think that will happen at the low currents this device draws, I still wouldn't risk it. Another possibility, perhaps less dramatic: the damn thing might leak all into that battery compartment. That stuff is corrosive, you don't want it leaking into the mount, or onto your other gear. If you must reverse batteries in a 4 cell series circuit, reverse two, not one, and hope they all have the same voltage to begin with or you'll still draw a current. A better idea is to make a little shim from a non-conductive material that you can wedge in between one battery and its contact, which will break the circuit completely. Or simply take one cell out and store it somewhere safe (not in your pocket if you have metal objects like keys in there).
Re: battery removal to save from running them down... Just take one cell out, that's all that's needed -- It's not going to run on the other three. I keep one cell separately in my case (a Harbor Freight Apache case). I totally agree about the battery cover. I was able to make mine fit a *little* better with some judicious shaving / trimming of the various hooks and catches on the cover, but it's still pretty easy to pop off. If I wanted to risk it, I could drill and tap a hole in the SA body and a hole in the cover, then use a thumb screw to secure the cover. But I've not gotten that far yet.
I just shine my phone screen light from the side when polar aligning with the kit mounted 👌🏼 dim it down so you can still see Polaris and the clock easily.
Great tip, Alyn, and agree with all your comments. The Star Adventurer is a great piece of kit which could be brilliant if they just ironed out those fiddly and annoying details. They need to sort it for the next upgrade.
I learned a tip from Eric Benedetti. Use a laser pointer. When shooting with a wide angle lens, you do not need to be aligned to the nth degree. So with a laser pointer, you just shoot it out the front and get it pointed at Polaris. Now if doing deep sky and such, you definitely want to be a lot more precise. But not with wide angle. I was shooting 5 minute shots just with the laser aligned tracker. That was using a 15 to 30 mm lens.
This is an awesome fix! I have the Star Adventurer Mini. It has the same junky illuminator. Unfortunately the polar scope extends beyond the front of the tracker, so glow tape will require a bit more engineering.
Alyn, I don’t know if it’s already been mentioned about the battery cover but once you’ve put the batteries in, the polar scope cover acts as a lock, the cap has one side higher than the other so once it’s on it stops the battery cover from popping off!
Use a lighter to heat the underside of the catch on the battery cover, bend it up slightly, and hold in place for a few seconds until it cools. It will NEVER fall out again! My battery cover is rock solid now, and I do mean rock solid.
The blue-green light from all the glow-in-the-dark tape I’ve seen ruins your dark adaptation (night vision.) Which is why you are having to “supercharge” your tape with your headlamp. There’s a reason for the red led in the (admittedly flimsy) SA light. Best solution is a PoleMaster, but barring that, a single AAA red led penlight held at a slight angle to the objective of the polar scope works fine.
Got my star adventurer yesterday, and the illuminator was the most frustrating thing. (Well that and not being able to find the constellation i need to point at). Definitely going to have to get some glow in the dark tape.
I bought some glow in the dark tape from Amazon and tried as illuminator Is does not deliver enough light to do the alignment. What brand of tape are you using? What width?
Orange glow in the dark tape for being closer to red, would that be better for night vision? What width tape did you use Alyn? I see they come in 10mm, 15mm and 20mm widths.
My two peeves are the control dial (inadvertently turning it on putting it in your bag) and the battery cover falling off in use! Other than that I love mine!
I had the exact same issues with the dial/batteries/polar illuminator, haha. Great tip man! I usually just hold my phones flash in like a 45 degree angle, but thats kind of an awkward position to work in. But the tape is much more practical and useful for the other things you mention, I’m sure I’ll think of other things when using this :)
Yup I've done that with my red head torch a few times but it's so awkward getting the perfect angle and then you got one hand to polar align! haha thanks dude
Love my Star Adventurer, so much I bought a second one, but the Polar Illuminator, is one of the poorest things I have ever witnessed. I agree, I think they forgot, and this was the result. All the minor drawbacks you describe are also true, and are a bit of an annoyance, but for what it costs and how it performs, I can live with it. Plus, we get to dream up our own solutions just for fun. - Cheers
I have tried the glow in the dark tape inside and it is hard to cut to size and the cap doesn’t fit once installed. Great for the tripod legs. Personally I just hold my iPhone, with a red light glowing in an app, slightly off to the front side and it works well. I also just hold the iPhone on top of the battery pack and align with Polar Scope Align Pro app using the Daytime / No Polarscope Alignment to get me very close to Polaris.
Just a thought if you're at a star party & you have one of these with glow in the dark tape to polar align, will it still glow brighter if you shine a red torch on it? As if I were shining a white light I think I'd probably get hung for doing it lol.
I have put the tape on my tripod for years and have even put some tape and glow paint on my skywatcher to make it easier to see parts at night. But never thought to put it there. FACE PALM. I wonder if the laser pointer from MSM shining throught it is enough to charge it without firing up a torch. One way to find out! Thanks for the hack!
Really nice video, thanks for the tips. I always hated this plastic illuminator that falls off easily and also broke for me after a while. I heard people attach a laser pointer to the sky adventurer for pollar alignment.
My SA AA batteries just expired too! I tried a USB powerbank but it was too 'smart' and turned off after 5 minutes because the SA draws so little power. So it's worth testing an alternative power supply BEFORE heading into the field!
Great idea Alyn! Makes a lot of sense. But, do you have a hack for someone as daft as me who forgot to take the whole declination bracket and counterweight!? 😂
Good idea, however after a year of using my tracker I haven’t managed to see sigma octanis yet😂😂so I just rely on my compass and tilt meter and for now while I’m only using wide angle it’s working fine. The tape on the tripod will be the weekend job
The illuminator winds me up! Honestly, it's just shit. I'm definitely going to try this trick with the tape. I've been having to shine my phone screen down the scope to be able to see anything. The illuminator LED isn't powerful enough when you're using the declination bracket I find. Also, are you mounting your tracker on a geared head? The wedge which comes with it I find really frustrating.
Hey Alyn, I'm trying to start astrophotography, but I was told I can't because of the brand of camera I have (Nikon D3100), Is this true? And on another note, do you have any tips for someone trying to start astrophotography?
You may have a noisy image, but grab a fast lens (f/2.8 to f/1.4) and a tripod and try! If you have a timer or wireless/cable release , use that too. You should be able to, it just may not be as optimal as a full frame senor, but as long as you're not printing large nobody will ever know (especially on social media. Open your aperture all the way, set ISO 800-3600 and expose somewhere between 10-30 seconds and you'll be able to capture it. Trackers help shoot longer exposure times (even multiple minutes) to minimize star trail. You just need a single expose without the movement of the tracker to later blend in post editing. I hope that makes sense.
I haven't seen anyone say this. I just take one of the end batteries out put a piece of tape over one of the battery terminals and put it back in, then when your in the field just take the tape off and good to go.
Glow tape is SO much brighter than the 3D printer stuff I tried!! Sure a smart hack with the tape… it’s such useful stuff.. need very tiny bits though. Make sure you get h toe brightest and longest lasting stuff, so it’s still helping you through the night. Glow tape can make a long like dim torch if you pop a lump on the end of your torch with a screen so you don’t directly view it.
I power my Az-gti with 12v via an adapter from a BIG USB battery. You could pop a thin plastic shim under one of the AA battery contacts in the star adventurer to stop them getting discharged, like the ones in brand new products have when you buy them, popping one out would do the same, but as you note, you might lose it.
Thanks for this. Shall pin to your comment :)
Also for little bits of glow tape, wipe the glue off with some hand gel and bond them on with superglue, stay on much better. (Press down with an old crisp packet wrapper to avoid getting yourself stuck to things when you do this ;-)
Hey Alyn, I'm the designer of the 3d printable Illuminator. I just wanted to say thanks for the shout out and the recognition. This model of mine just suddenly boomed in popularity and I found out it was because of this video.
Just watching this video has given me some ideas for other designs for the SA.
Thanks again and I have subscribed to your channel 👍.
Really neat idea! Gotta try it out
Good one! I often just hold a red torch in front of the scope but that way one hand is busy holding it which is not ideal either.
Thank you for mentioning the above brilliant video to me!!!!!!
Woh, Woh,woh Venus is really bright, when covered by some clouds it's like a tiny moon 😱
Thanks for the tip bud. Ordered a roll before the video was even finished :)
Great shout, this reticule light has always driven me mad for all the reasons you went through. I’m all over this idea Alyn! Nice one!
you're the best youtuber out there. Please never stop making videos. You're amazing bro. :)
Thank you.
Can't you just take one batter out, rather than all four? I reckon it will preclude any discharging even if the device switches on in your bag.
Thats exactly what i do, just take one of the centre ones out which pop out easily.
The tapes a good idea, easy to carry spare! I got a 3d printed glow in dark piece of plastic which works quite well that slots into the position of the tape.
Hope Portugal is all you hoped for buddy! Clear skies 🤙
More than I hoped for!
another great video and content! you dont need to remove all 4 batteries just 1 will do.
It's good to have a mechanical engineer in the community! This is a great idea as you got for the Z star tracker that I use all the time. Telescope companies need people like you to design the best equipment. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for this. I’m definitely going to try it. As for the battery removal, I use the corner of the cover.
That’s what I do also. Made it useful.
All I do for the battery issue is after I use it, I take one battery out and put a long but thin piece of paper over the metal, then put the battery back in over it. Then I just pull the paper out by the top tab when I go to use it again.
Genius!!! I was doing all sorts, jamming it into the declination plate so I didn’t have to remove it, and hanging my head torch red light off the top 🤣. I recently got a 3D printer so might have to give that hack a go….
I machined a piece that fits perfectly where polar illuminator fits, stopping short of the glass, and fitted a laser to that again, working very much like move shoot move system, if shooting 14 to 35mm range no issues at all. Iv not moved onto deep sky as yet so no need for 100% accurate polar alignment but found this to be quick and easy.
Regarding the battery pack if you just take one out, it should brake the circuit, so you don’t need to remove them all, plus if you wrap some sello’ tape you can make a tab, to help pull out the battery with out fiddling.
I have been using glow in the dark tape for a year now. It works great. I use it on the tripod, quick release plate, and on top of the camera. Last August I met some astrophotographers from Arkansas, USA shooting the Milky Way in Canyonlands National Park. They were using glow bracelets to mark their equipment and prickly bushes that needed to be avoided. They worked great. But I like the glow tape best because they are always there, they cost less, and they are effective. But the glow bracelets are another option.
I always use a powerbank for the tracker and also use it to charge my camera at the same time. That's very convenient. The tape sounds great for the Tracker and the tripod!
Glow in the dark tape is brilliant! Thank you.
Brilliant solutions / applications of glow in the dark tape. I'd say put some glow in the dark tape, just maybe small pieces of it on the focus and zoom rings of your telephoto lenses, or focus ring on your prime lenses. Makes it easier to find them without major bumping them and will allow you to make out the top portion of your camera setup so you don't bump that either. Perhaps put glow in the dark tape at the feet of the tripod so that you don't bump the feet, just putting it at the top doesn't stop you from bumping the feet. You could use luminescent spray paint on the tripod feet I suppose for a more permanent option, but I doubt many would want those spray painted tripod feet all the time for daytime photography.
Just had my buddy make the glow in the dark ones for me. Hope they work. Thanks Alyn for sharing the great content. My Star Adventurer will be here today. John.
We always with you ❤️ Alyn Bro.
Nice - thanks!
BTW. Very easy hack for the battery cover is to turn the rear polar scope cover upside down. It then prevents the battery cover from sliding off.
Sorry, I just saw this after being away from astrophotography for a time to pursue other things I'm bad at. 😂 This is a great low-cost option that I'll pursue, even though I'm thinking of upgrading to the GTi model soon. The go-to feature is just SO tempting... Many thanks!!
I bought some of the glow-in-the-dark tape and put it on my tripod legs. I've also applied it to small, smooth glass "stones" that I can bring along for marking locations and such. They are really helpful when I do my light painting so I get my composition and focus right and know where to stand. I've also put it on accessories I sometimes hang off my tripod, such as my intervalometer and my battery pack. That way I can grab them if I need to without touching or knocking the tripod. I've also tried glow-in-the-dark rubber bands but they aren't nearly bright enough.
Hi, Alyn. Thank you so much for this Idea! I printed it and sprayed it and it worked well. Then I lost it lol. So I rolled up some glow tape. I see in the comments people discovered that as well. I'm so glad! Thanks again for the great idea, Alyn.
I got a cheap glow in the dark paracord i use for camping, i use it to line out a perimeter on the ground around my tripod, so i don't bump into the feet. I also use a tarp so if i drop something i can find it easily and it doesn't get lost in the grass or dirt. I sometimes lay the paracord around the tarp as well.
Thank you Alyn for this great hack!!! I thought I was the only one with this issue!!! I'd like to also thank Kamil Pekala for pointing your video out to me
you can also run 2 strips of glow tape on the inside edge of the dec bracket that will add extra light to the polar scope hole as it will reflect light back in to the scope. Try it. it works a treat
I have the older version and I agree, for a great little mount there are some epic fails. I broke my iluminator within a couple of month, it's not robust at all. I dont bother with the AA batteries now, I use a MaxOak Power bank and power the mount, DSLR and a heater band. I've had 3 full nights running it in the winter. Great tip Alyn I'm thinking of giving it a go to see if it works for me.
Impressive upgrade...speechless it's so simple.
Brilliant! (No pun intended!) I've been using reflective tape on my tripod ever since I bumped into it in the dark and dislodged a half-hour's worth of star trail images, but glow tape makes a lot of sense.
For the polar scope light you can place a small piece of Velcro tape on the front of your mount - with or without the counterweight attachment - and the matching piece of Velcro on one of the tiny red LED lights available on the internet. My light is smaller than an American quarter. I paid a couple of dollars for the tiny red LED light and a couple more for a small roll of Velcro. You don't need the light shining directly into the polarscope, mine was bright enough to see well from the light shinning across the front opening. That way both hands are free and you also have a tiny led pocket light for other uses.
Excellent idea! I’m going to get a roll today! 🙏💫
One of the best ideas I'd say yeah. Especially in a place where such things aren't even available, this is like a boon!!!!! Now gotta find a high quality tape
Good one. Glow in the dark is a nice idea. For the battery, I have been using only a usb with power bnk.. worked well till now.
Love the idea of the glow in the dark tape. As for the 3-D file... wish I had access to a 3-D printer to make one. Also, I use white electrical tape on my tripod... for the same reason as you stated about putting glow in the dark tape on it. The reason is, the white tape glows when the red light, from my head lamp, shines on it.
Love it! I waste more time playing around with that illuminator than it's worth. including how many times it falls off and I have to look around for it hoping to not step on it. It needs to be permanently attached or built in fixture. Nice how thoughtful you were when describing it. I thinks its poorly thought out and a piece of #%&*. Thanks Alyn you rock!
Hi Alyn I use a piece of scotch tape to go under all 4 batteries and have a small fold on both sides to make a tab I can grab and easily remove the batteries when needed.
This is brilliant :) , thanks, this is really the wekpoint of the SA.
Awesome!!!
Try reviewing the skywatcher Gti az mount in equatorial mode!
Consider sliding a bit of poly film between one of the battery contacts to prevent any drain that could happen due to the dial getting switched on in a pack(or wherever). Can keep the batteries on device and just pull the bit of film out when doing setup.
All great ideas, thanks Alyn. I use Velcro on my illuminator to keep it on. It works ok but not perfect.
YES!!! The glow in the dark tape is a genius idea. (My illuminated reticle has never worked, which I now know if because it doesn’t have that little plastic tube).
One solution for the battery irritation is to turn one of the middle two batteries around before packing it away. You don’t need to be Geoff Capes to prize those two middle batteries out either.
Great tips - thanks for sharing.
If you must reverse batteries, reverse two, not one. With one reversed, your series circuit still produces 3V (4.5V in the correct orientation and 1.5V in reverse), and will still draw current when the device is turned on. This current will try to charge the reversed battery, which best case may not damage it, worst case may cause it to leak that nasty corrosive "alkaline battery blood" into your mount or over your other expensive gear that's inhabiting the same bag. And even if you reverse two, if they're not all at exactly the same voltage, you will still draw current until they level out.
Personally, I'm not a fan of faffing about with that sort of nonsense. Either take one battery out, and store it somewhere safe (e.g. your pocket that doesn't also store your keys or other metal objects), or make a shim of a non-conductive material and wedge it between one battery and its contact.
@@EvenTheDogAgreesthis is excellent advice, and brings to mind that school physics I’d simply forgotten. Thank you - really appreciated.
@@nightscapejournals you're welcome.
Never thought of glow-in-the-dark tape, but luckily I've had masking tape around the ends of the foam padding I added to my tripod legs, so I haven't walked into them (much). Also, it helps to put white stickers on your lens caps, so when you drop them in the dark you can find them again.
The light for my reticle is a joke. Used a brand new battery. No help. My brother did a workshop where they used battery powered tea lites for scope illumination and just general use. It's an extra piece of gear, but their small and cheap - $5-7/dozen.
Great idea about the glow in the dark tape. I may give that a try. I've been using reflective tape on my tripods and other gear so that I am more aware of where everything is. I even have small strips on my cameras. I didn't even think of glow in the dark tape. Great suggestion. Thanks!
This is likely one of the best tips I've read in a long time! Not just in relation to the Sky Tracker but also the tape on the tripod legs.
And I agree with you about the Polar Finder - the rest of the unit is so well constructed while the finder really does appear to be an after thought (and a poor one at that). Hopefully they reads these reviews and design something a bit more elaborate.
Turn one battery upside- down. Middle one. Easy to take out and put on right side up.
I don't think that's a good idea. Reversing one battery means that you now have 3V over the circuit instead of 6V (3x1.5V that add up, and 1x1.5V that subtracts). You will still draw current, and what's more, this current will try to charge the reversed battery. If you have rechargeable batteries in there, probably not much of an issue, depending on the current. If you have alkalines, you could damage the battery and the device it sits in. I exploded some coin cells by attempting to charge them. Although I don't think that will happen at the low currents this device draws, I still wouldn't risk it. Another possibility, perhaps less dramatic: the damn thing might leak all into that battery compartment. That stuff is corrosive, you don't want it leaking into the mount, or onto your other gear.
If you must reverse batteries in a 4 cell series circuit, reverse two, not one, and hope they all have the same voltage to begin with or you'll still draw a current. A better idea is to make a little shim from a non-conductive material that you can wedge in between one battery and its contact, which will break the circuit completely. Or simply take one cell out and store it somewhere safe (not in your pocket if you have metal objects like keys in there).
Re: battery removal to save from running them down... Just take one cell out, that's all that's needed -- It's not going to run on the other three. I keep one cell separately in my case (a Harbor Freight Apache case). I totally agree about the battery cover. I was able to make mine fit a *little* better with some judicious shaving / trimming of the various hooks and catches on the cover, but it's still pretty easy to pop off. If I wanted to risk it, I could drill and tap a hole in the SA body and a hole in the cover, then use a thumb screw to secure the cover. But I've not gotten that far yet.
I just shine my phone screen light from the side when polar aligning with the kit mounted 👌🏼 dim it down so you can still see Polaris and the clock easily.
Great tip, Alyn, and agree with all your comments. The Star Adventurer is a great piece of kit which could be brilliant if they just ironed out those fiddly and annoying details. They need to sort it for the next upgrade.
I learned a tip from Eric Benedetti. Use a laser pointer. When shooting with a wide angle lens, you do not need to be aligned to the nth degree. So with a laser pointer, you just shoot it out the front and get it pointed at Polaris. Now if doing deep sky and such, you definitely want to be a lot more precise. But not with wide angle. I was shooting 5 minute shots just with the laser aligned tracker. That was using a 15 to 30 mm lens.
This is an awesome fix! I have the Star Adventurer Mini. It has the same junky illuminator. Unfortunately the polar scope extends beyond the front of the tracker, so glow tape will require a bit more engineering.
I use this tape also to iluminate the knobs and buttons of my tripod or my cable trigger... its very useful for us owls😉
Alyn, I don’t know if it’s already been mentioned about the battery cover but once you’ve put the batteries in, the polar scope cover acts as a lock, the cap has one side higher than the other so once it’s on it stops the battery cover from popping off!
Yeah but the polar scope cover pops off just as easily :/
Use a lighter to heat the underside of the catch on the battery cover, bend it up slightly, and hold in place for a few seconds until it cools. It will NEVER fall out again! My battery cover is rock solid now, and I do mean rock solid.
Dang...how did I not think of that? Thanks!
Its so simple, yet so effective. Thanks again Alyn!
The blue-green light from all the glow-in-the-dark tape I’ve seen ruins your dark adaptation (night vision.) Which is why you are having to “supercharge” your tape with your headlamp. There’s a reason for the red led in the (admittedly flimsy) SA light. Best solution is a PoleMaster, but barring that, a single AAA red led penlight held at a slight angle to the objective of the polar scope works fine.
Got my star adventurer yesterday, and the illuminator was the most frustrating thing. (Well that and not being able to find the constellation i need to point at). Definitely going to have to get some glow in the dark tape.
Woah ur gonna hit 100k soon
Madness 😄
I managed to improve the battery cover security by using some small neodymium magnets to help hold it in place.
*Very* clever solution! Well played, indeed!
Wow this solves many frustrations to me!
I bought some glow in the dark tape from Amazon and tried as illuminator Is does not deliver enough light to do the alignment. What brand of tape are you using? What width?
Orange glow in the dark tape for being closer to red, would that be better for night vision? What width tape did you use Alyn? I see they come in 10mm, 15mm and 20mm widths.
Alyn,
thanks for great idea for glow in the dark tape to used on the Starwatcher adventure tracking, I'm going try it 🙂🌠
Thanks for the tip. Do you put the tape around the inside of the reticule? Full thickness or cut into a thinner strip?
My two peeves are the control dial (inadvertently turning it on putting it in your bag) and the battery cover falling off in use! Other than that I love mine!
where can I buy it? Its seems very good, and cheap
What a clever idea, cheers for the advice 👍
Love this vid keep up the great work!!
Also Kiaora from New Zealand 🤘🏼
My SA reticle battery has just run out. I'll try your tape idea before buying another battery.
such a smart idea!
These upgrades look really great!
I had the exact same issues with the dial/batteries/polar illuminator, haha.
Great tip man! I usually just hold my phones flash in like a 45 degree angle, but thats kind of an awkward position to work in. But the tape is much more practical and useful for the other things you mention, I’m sure I’ll think of other things when using this :)
Yup I've done that with my red head torch a few times but it's so awkward getting the perfect angle and then you got one hand to polar align! haha thanks dude
Love my Star Adventurer, so much I bought a second one, but the Polar Illuminator, is one of the poorest things I have ever witnessed. I agree, I think they forgot, and this was the result.
All the minor drawbacks you describe are also true, and are a bit of an annoyance, but for what it costs and how it performs, I can live with it. Plus, we get to dream up our own solutions just for fun. - Cheers
I have tried the glow in the dark tape inside and it is hard to cut to size and the cap doesn’t fit once installed. Great for the tripod legs. Personally I just hold my iPhone, with a red light glowing in an app, slightly off to the front side and it works well. I also just hold the iPhone on top of the battery pack and align with Polar Scope Align Pro app using the Daytime / No Polarscope Alignment to get me very close to Polaris.
Interesting as always. Thanks for the tips!
Will there be astrovlog style from your workshop in Portugal with Bredan ?
Just a thought if you're at a star party & you have one of these with glow in the dark tape to polar align, will it still glow brighter if you shine a red torch on it? As if I were shining a white light I think I'd probably get hung for doing it lol.
Use a UV light then. They charge via UV
Nice one didn't think of that :-)
hello alyn waallace I want to do astro photography. Iam confused how to start?
I have put the tape on my tripod for years and have even put some tape and glow paint on my skywatcher to make it easier to see parts at night. But never thought to put it there. FACE PALM. I wonder if the laser pointer from MSM shining throught it is enough to charge it without firing up a torch. One way to find out! Thanks for the hack!
Genius right here.
What brand of tape is it and where can I get it?
Really nice video, thanks for the tips. I always hated this plastic illuminator that falls off easily and also broke for me after a while.
I heard people attach a laser pointer to the sky adventurer for pollar alignment.
I use reflective tape on one of my tripods. With a headlamp on low you can see the tripod from several feet away.
My SA AA batteries just expired too! I tried a USB powerbank but it was too 'smart' and turned off after 5 minutes because the SA draws so little power. So it's worth testing an alternative power supply BEFORE heading into the field!
On Anker batteries you can press and hold the button to allow "trickle charging" so that they don't turn off
@@AlynWallace good to know, thanks.
Great idea Alyn! Makes a lot of sense. But, do you have a hack for someone as daft as me who forgot to take the whole declination bracket and counterweight!? 😂
OMG briliant! Thank you.
Hi Alyn, have you never used Polemaster QHYCCD ? opinion ? thanks.
Nope. I can polar align accurately enough for the focal lengths I use so I have no need for it.
is that photo of a Tallinn on the 2nd from the left behind you, brother?
Good idea, however after a year of using my tracker I haven’t managed to see sigma octanis yet😂😂so I just rely on my compass and tilt meter and for now while I’m only using wide angle it’s working fine. The tape on the tripod will be the weekend job
Name of the outro sound?
Really love it.
The illuminator winds me up! Honestly, it's just shit.
I'm definitely going to try this trick with the tape. I've been having to shine my phone screen down the scope to be able to see anything.
The illuminator LED isn't powerful enough when you're using the declination bracket I find.
Also, are you mounting your tracker on a geared head? The wedge which comes with it I find really frustrating.
Yes Benro geared head
@@AlynWallace I'm going to give that a go! I have the GD3WH for landscapes 👌
Hey Alyn, I'm trying to start astrophotography, but I was told I can't because of the brand of camera I have (Nikon D3100), Is this true? And on another note, do you have any tips for someone trying to start astrophotography?
You may have a noisy image, but grab a fast lens (f/2.8 to f/1.4) and a tripod and try! If you have a timer or wireless/cable release , use that too. You should be able to, it just may not be as optimal as a full frame senor, but as long as you're not printing large nobody will ever know (especially on social media. Open your aperture all the way, set ISO 800-3600 and expose somewhere between 10-30 seconds and you'll be able to capture it. Trackers help shoot longer exposure times (even multiple minutes) to minimize star trail. You just need a single expose without the movement of the tracker to later blend in post editing. I hope that makes sense.
@@aaronuws Thanks a mill man! This info will be put the great use.
@@aaronuws not sure about the tracker tho, kind of new territory for the likes of me.
Clever and useful tip - thanks! 😃
Great idea. Thanx!
I haven't seen anyone say this. I just take one of the end batteries out put a piece of tape over one of the battery terminals and put it back in, then when your in the field just take the tape off and good to go.
Is there a new astro vlog coming?
Soon, but it will take me a while to edit all the images captured during the vlog
@@AlynWallace That is just great to hear! Your vlogs are outstanding and make me really happy