I live (and hence observe) in the southern hemisphere (Australia) and am trying to set up my Nextstar 8 using polar alignment. I have the appropriate celeston wedge. The alignment process in the telescope handbook outlines the alignment process for the northern hemishpere and so I am getting confused as to what alterations to the process I need to make for the SH. Will someone provide a step by step process for me please.

if you can --put the solar panel horizontal so that it doesn't matter where the sun is
the solar panel works from ultraviolet rays and not direction so if you are doing what you are there is another problem with assembly

Winter solstice is an Astronomical phenomenon which marks the shortest day and the longest night of the year. Winter solstice occurs for the Northern Hemisphere in December and for the Southern Hemisphere in June

The axial tilt of Earth and gyroscopic events of the planet's daily rotation keep the axis of rotation pointed at the same point in the sky. As the Earth follows its orbit around the Sun, the same hemisphere that faced away from the Sun, experiencing winter, will, in half a year, face towards the Sun and experience summer. Since the two hemispheres face opposite directions along the planetary pole, as one polar hemisphere experiences winter, the other experiences summer.

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No just make sure the controller is set for Northern Hemisphere as soon as you turn it on.

Is it like THIS telescope?
http://www.opticsplanet.net/konus-knonusmotor-130-telescope-1786.html

The focuser mechanism is at the FRONT end of the telescope. The Mirror is in the back-end or bottom of the telescope. This scope is on an equitorial mount, which means it must be POLAR ALIGNED in order to work. You can get a rough polar alignment by using the star Polaris (the North star).

We never recommend an EQ mount to beginners. Polar alignment introduces an additional beginner frustration with using the telescope. Read these web sites to get an idea of polar aligning a telescope.

Their are TWO knobs on the telescope that control Right Ascention and Declination movement. Declination IS your latitude, so the angle must be set to where you live. I am at latitude 32 degrees N --- so the angle is 32 degrees, which is where Polaris is above the horizon.

Read these:
http://www.tucsonastronomy.org/observing-resources/Polar%20Alignment.pdf

http://www.astronomy.net/articles/4/polaralign.html

look on your power box for a switch that will have a N on one side and an S on the other ...you just select which hemisphere you want.

You obviously burned out something inside. Many of these scopes require a proprietary style 12 volt plug with the correct polarity ---

My only suggestion would be to contact celestron and send it in for repair.

http://www.astronomics.com/main/Warranties.asp/catalog_name/Astronomics/category_name/AK9TFU21GCR78LKGXH66AS3XN7/Page/1

The only reason you would want to polar align is to do astro-photography which will be difficult from your location.

Use the scope in normal ALT AZ configuration. Calibrate motors, Train Drives, make sure time, date, site, are set correctly. The Calibrate sensors function sets the magnetic deviation for your SITE. Not really that important because when you center two alignment stars everything is corrected anyway.

So take the wedge off the tripod --- you can still do short duration astro-photography usually not exceeding 12 second exposures and then STACK the images using software.

1. Do a Calibrate Sensors
2. Do a Train Drive in RA and also DEC

This makes sure that the scope is calibrated properly.

1. Do an AUTOMATIC ALIGN
2. when asked to center star, look for the BRIGHTEST star that is close to the scopes field of view. It will be that star you need to used the arrow keys on to centre it in the scope eyepiece and press enter.
3. This star can be as much as a HANDS distance away from the centre of view
4. If you cannot identify the star it is asking you to use, press the SCROLL DOWN key to choose another star, keep doing this until you see a star you recognise.

That's it!

You can also hold down the MODE key for about 4 seconds and scroll through the scope info. Make sure you have the correct location coordinates ( Lat/Long) and the correct time set.

Select a bright object first such as a planet and GOTO it. Once you have manually centered it in the eyepiece, press ENTER and hold it for 6 seconds, the handset will say " Press ENTER to sync", press enter and you have updated the scope with the coordinates of that object.

Be sure that the telescope is configured for EQ SOUTH mode to tell it is in the southern hemisphere. Once a star alignment is completed NEVER manually move the telescope. Use only the control panel to slew. Everytime the telescope is move by hand, the motors do not know it has been done, and assume it is still pointing at the old direction. Check the manual for setup.
Here: http://www.celestron.com/c3/images/files/downloads/NexStar_SLT_manual.pdf