Can i use a different control panel and controller to be able to use this scope?
SOURCE: Meade LXD55 Electronic Control Panel
Depending where you are in the world you can find a dealer for a replacement panel on the Meade site below: http://www.meade.com/
SOURCE: Meade LX200GPS 8" won't initialize on power up.
Try doing either a garbage collect or a safe load-- and then reinstall the hand controller firmware--
Instructions-- depending on the type of controller
Autostar 495 or 497: You enter Safe Mode by holding the [enter] and
[scroll down] keys pressed when you power up the telescope. The
Autostar will say "Flash Load Ready"... now go start the ASU.
Autostar II: if you need to use Safe Mode to recover from a disaster,
turn on the telescope, and key 999 before it says "Initializing"
The Autostar will say "Flash Load Ready"... now go start the ASU.
LX200gps: BEFORE proceeding further, click on the OPTIONS item on the Top Bar.
Now click on "Garbage Collect Hbx" ... this will perform data cleanup
within the Autostar which will avoid potential mess-ups.
SOURCE: Azimuth motor stalling missing the electronic home sensor
Check for binding in the gears; my 10" had aluminium chips in the fork base that jammed the gear. Cured by removing the RA manual adjust assembly - was useless anyway, as it could only be used with the RA unlocked. One setscrew in the fork base holds it in place,just loosen and pull up.
SOURCE: Meade Quartz Controller Model 784
You can send me an e-mail and I will try to help you as I have the very same Quartz Controller on my 20 year old 10" scope.
[email protected]
PS I am looking for a back up 784 controller for my scope.
SOURCE: Meade LX200 10" SC Telescope
You have a standard lx200 problem. If you transported your scope a lot with the drives "locked" it damages the RA and DEC drives. If you keep using it, the motors burn out and start drawing too much current. This sometimes blows the motor driver chips on the motherboard which are getting very rare.
The burned out tantalum caps can be replaced with better aluminum electrolytics very cheaply. If the ones in your Autostar burned out, they often burn up the ribbon cable. Also, they often take out U11, a 74LS14 chip on the motherboard. Also a cheap repair. You should take the Autostar apart. If they are burned up, it will be obvious. If your ribbon cable survived, you should replace the caps with aluminum electrolytics. I believe they are 6.8 uf.
So, if you can work an ohmmeter, measure the resistance of the two drive motors with the plugs unplugged. If it is about 14 ohms they are ok. If they are about 3 or 4 ohms, they are toast. Check the worm drives for end play. If there is just a little, you can adjust them. The battery jack on the control panel often breaks the solder joints on the board, causing one of the problems you describe. You can check that and replace/resolder as necessary. The on/off switch often fails and gets intermittent. These are also cheap and can be replaced. I don't repair these for a living but I repair a few of them for friends in the club. These are pretty common problems.
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