Astro Aimer

OK, so my Astro Aimer after many nights of trusty observing broke down (a couple poorly designed wires fell off, funny because the rest of the unit is quite well engineered), but I would like to have it at least work again. Any ideas, Below is a picture of the tube if anybody recognizes it. The reason it broke is because some wires were cut, and because they go into a complicated timer board, it would be best if anybody just knows how to make it light by putting the positive wire at one place and the negative wire at another place. Thank you.

Hi Ivar..Welcome to CPF

The yellow wires as they are shown connect to the two
outer connections...
The red wire goes to the center..
You will need a soldering iron
Be careful ,
not to do this over carpet
as this will blow the diode.
Discharge yourself by touching something like the case
of your pc or something grounded nerby within arms reach
and...Good Luck

Thanks, but which yellow wire goes to which connection,there are two yellow wires and two connections.

pay close attention to the length of the exposed lead from each of the yellow wires. there in lies your clue as to which belongs to which.

and don't use a "cold heat" soldering iron. it MUST be a good old fashion, plug into the wall, soldering iron with fresh solder.

Could you reduce the size of this photo a bit, or include a thumbnail and link to the larger size? Also, could you take a photo of the whole assembled laser? We're curious which model this is.

This is the "Astro Aimer" from www.hotechusa.com , also called the BTG-8 if you get it from www.z-bolt.com
Sorry about the image size, but my screen is 1400x1050 pixels so I frequently forget about that.

Update.

I just got news from Hotech that they will have a new and improved astro aimer available soon. I really hope so as I think that the astro aimer is a great laser with lots of features. I really like the fact that they are the only ones that I have seen that also include a flashlight and a cleverly designed red LED for map reading if you use your laser for astrophotography like I do. I also chose this product because it has the 1/4" screw hole on the back of it.

Hope they fix the problem about the thin wires being the only thing holding the laser barel in place. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Did you get it working Ivar?

*^_^*

I won't get it working for another week because I'm moving right now, and my soldering iron is being moved. I'll update you if I do.