Matthew Ota
super member
Reged: 04/30/05
Posts: 173
Loc: New Hampshire
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The sprinklers in the park turned on at 1:00 a.m. My handbox got soaked. I will use a hair dryer on it tomorrow. Judging on the posts here previously with others that got their LX200s sprinkled, I should be OK....but I will be careful tomorrow. Will dry it out in the Sun and do some solar observing
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Matthew Ota
10 inch Meade LX250GPS SCT (LX50/LX200GPS clone) f6.3-Orion 80ED, ETX-90 OTA, Coronado Helios 1 H-alpha Solar Telescope
Cassini Huygens Saturn Observation Campaign
New Hampshire Astronomical Society
Edited by Joad (07/01/08 11:06 AM)
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Rick Woods
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/27/05
Posts: 3978
Loc: Inner Solar System
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Eeek! Every scope owner's fear!
(That'll teach you to leave it in the park all night!)
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- Rick
14" LX200GPS
8" Meade 826C
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southmike
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/22/04
Posts: 2817
Loc: Fayetteville, NC
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lol here i was trying to figure out what an lx250 was...lol
make sure the power box is totally dry before you fire it up.
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group scope pic
my refractors
LX200 10"-St120
LX200 8" f6.3-Orion 80ed
LX200 8" f10-Orion 90 Mak setup pic
Meade 102ED LXD650
Sky Watcher 100 ED Triplet prototype
Nexstar 5
etx125
etx70's
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mclewis1
Thread Killer
Reged: 02/25/06
Posts: 2232
Loc: Colorado
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Amateur astronomers are the ones who know by heart the watering schedule for their local golf course and parks. My NS11 was "anointed" on one of it's first outings. My friend's backyard opens onto a local golf course and that night I discovered just how far those sprinklers can go, how heavy the whole package was and how far you can run with it. No harm done but it did take a few days for my heart rate to return to normal.
Oh and Matthew you might want to edit the title or you'll get all kinds of comments from curious folks (nothing will generate more interest around here than a potentially new Meade scope). 
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Mark
C11, C6, APM/TMB115, and AT80ED
Tandem mount CGE and CG-5A, WO EZ-Touch and AT Voyager
25x100s, 8x56s, T-Mount Light, and Mark 1 eyeballs
Modded 350D, SPC900, Mallincam
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Joel
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/08/04
Posts: 2145
Loc: Merrimack, NH
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Maybe since it was watered it grew by 25% hence the new "LX250" designation! 
Seriously I hope everything is ok.
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Joel
10" LX200GPS UHTC-SMT
Vixen 80EDsf
Helix Mount on Oberwerk tripod
Turkey Hill Observatory
Edited by Joad (06/30/08 05:03 PM)
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southmike
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 11/22/04
Posts: 2817
Loc: Fayetteville, NC
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lol I forgot about that in my yard one night...
heard the first zone kick up.... lucily i was far enough away to make a break for the control box and disarm them.
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group scope pic
my refractors
LX200 10"-St120
LX200 8" f6.3-Orion 80ed
LX200 8" f10-Orion 90 Mak setup pic
Meade 102ED LXD650
Sky Watcher 100 ED Triplet prototype
Nexstar 5
etx125
etx70's
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Matthew Ota
super member
Reged: 04/30/05
Posts: 173
Loc: New Hampshire
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Nah, it is an LX250. It is an LX50 OTA mounted to an LX200GPS fork mount. Thus a clone, sort of an LX50, and sort of an LX200GPS
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Matthew Ota
10 inch Meade LX250GPS SCT (LX50/LX200GPS clone) f6.3-Orion 80ED, ETX-90 OTA, Coronado Helios 1 H-alpha Solar Telescope
Cassini Huygens Saturn Observation Campaign
New Hampshire Astronomical Society
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Matthew Ota
super member
Reged: 04/30/05
Posts: 173
Loc: New Hampshire
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I fired it up tonight and it worked fine. The dry California climate allowed the water to evaporate over a 24 hour period.
Also attached is a photo "proving" that I own a Meade LX250GPS
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Matthew Ota
10 inch Meade LX250GPS SCT (LX50/LX200GPS clone) f6.3-Orion 80ED, ETX-90 OTA, Coronado Helios 1 H-alpha Solar Telescope
Cassini Huygens Saturn Observation Campaign
New Hampshire Astronomical Society
Edited by Joad (07/01/08 11:06 AM)
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Joad
Wordsmith
Reged: 03/22/05
Posts: 11749
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Well, you guys are keeping me hopping, but I've changed everything back to LX250. Seeing is, um, believing.
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Joel
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 07/08/04
Posts: 2145
Loc: Merrimack, NH
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That's a new one to me!
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Joel
10" LX200GPS UHTC-SMT
Vixen 80EDsf
Helix Mount on Oberwerk tripod
Turkey Hill Observatory
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OldDeadOne
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 09/09/06
Posts: 1078
Loc: West Virginia
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I spy a David levy autograph,did he autograph your scope? And your LX250 is a GPS also :0
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Bert O'Dell
PROUD GOTO USER
LX200 10" Classic
various meade plossi's eyepieces
Konig MX70 40mm" eyepiece
11mm T6
7mm T1
Insane under a full moon
I duck from Iron Skillets
Charleston WV clearsky
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Matthew Ota
super member
Reged: 04/30/05
Posts: 173
Loc: New Hampshire
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Yup, Had Dave autograph it way back in 2003 (when it was an LX50). I met him at Stellafane and again at Starry Nights Festival in Yucca Valley CA. I have done outreaches with him there in subsequent years.
I last saw him in October 2007. Great author and a great astronomer....one of the finest people I have ever met.
Edited by Matthew Ota (07/01/08 06:24 PM)
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Matthew Ota
super member
Reged: 04/30/05
Posts: 173
Loc: New Hampshire
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Well, now the second night the scope worked fine. But last night I got weird displays on the handbox, complete nonsense like a part of the display was not working.
Then I got a "Software Downloading Do not Turn OFF" display.
I shut it off since it was a spurious display (not connected to internet at the time).
This morning I turned it on and got more weird displays, intermittent "Proc. Trap 2" displays. As I understand that display is similar to the Apollo 11 "1202" alarm, a program overload.
So it took the base plate off and blasted the circuit boards with a hair dryer set on high to evaporate any residual water in the base. I then started the AutoStar Updater program.
At this time I am completely replacing the OS with a fresh copy of 4.02g and will go from there. Fingers are crossed....
Well now that it is done downloading, it works fine now.
It took over 30 minutes to download the entire program, so I had time to have some PhotoShop fun, with a new revision to the software for when the Autostar gets wet...
Obviously, the LX200GPS base assembly and circuit boards are very sensitive to water contamination. I have been using this system for two years now, and I am the third owner.
I am living now in a very mild climate, southern California. I will be moving to New Hampshire, far from the Meade Irvine facility. I wonder how well the scope will hold up in sub freezing weather... 
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Matthew Ota
10 inch Meade LX250GPS SCT (LX50/LX200GPS clone) f6.3-Orion 80ED, ETX-90 OTA, Coronado Helios 1 H-alpha Solar Telescope
Cassini Huygens Saturn Observation Campaign
New Hampshire Astronomical Society
Edited by Matthew Ota (07/09/08 05:02 PM)
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