After considering building a range of night time targets (including back lit, LEDs, and a bunch of other ideas, I went low tech:
My mountain bike LED "headlight". Easy to set up and aim. If anything, it was too bright. As it got darker I was getting "bloom" on the target around the cross hairs.
Depending on the distance from inst to BS, you can hang a plumb bob under your BS tgt & then illuminate that ( the string) by shining a flashlight on it- light being between the Indy and BS pointed away from the inst. - doesn't get much lower tech that that....
I love the idea, but it won't work for me. I have all my prisms set up as 0mm offset. I target the target not the prism, and don't need to worry about the prism not being aimed precisely at the gun (as is NOT the case with a "nodal" prism). Plus, I'm not sure how precise you could get for direction, if the entire prism strobes. If you can't see the nodal point during the "flash", you're not going to be able to measure angles precisely.
> Depending on the distance from inst to BS, you can hang a plumb bob under your BS tgt & then illuminate that ( the string) by shining a flashlight on it- light being between the Indy and BS pointed away from the inst. - doesn't get much lower tech that that....
That gives me an idea. I have some side light emitting fiber optic "string" that's about .030" thick. If I attach it to a plumb bob, I can have an instant battery powered plumb bob string! Stay tuned.:-D
If you have a reflectorless instrument with a laser pointer in it, you can turn on the laser pointer and when it hits the prism, it will light it up very nicely.
Of course, such total stations have a filter in the optics that blocks the laser signal through the optics but you can still see it enough for it to function as an alignment aid. That filter is probably a good idea because if you think about it, you probably don't want that laser hitting your retina at 30X magnification.
I have a half-dozen First-Order Triangulation Targets designed by Wild Heerbrugg to accept automobile headlights. Designed and build in the 1950s. All are painted white and were for the BC-4 Ballistic Camera use that was constructed from T-4 bases and yokes. I'm at the Nashville airport right now so I can't send a picture of the things. They are pretty nifty to look at, though. Original cost was $5K each. (I got them for $100 each. :-)) No, none are for sale; they make fantastic book ends.
Night time targets, simple man!
Shine a flashlight at the prism, it'll pick up the beam and there ya go. Use to have a mini mag taped to the handle on the T-2, grabbed the sight from a mile off, in a snow storm!
-JD-
Night time targets, simple man!
Ditto on the maglight
