bill torbitt
member
Reged: 09/04/08
Posts: 17
Loc: windhoek/namibia
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Hello this is my first post having been vetted and approved as a 'cloudy nights' member (strange antithetic title for an astronomy forum? - maybe there's an in-joke somewhere).
Anyway, I have a Nexstar 8 GPS - but the scope now has no idea where or when it it - therefore won't align or track by any method. If you enter manually correct date and coords, it promptly forgets it. I live overseas - maybe the scope is homesick for California. Have replaced GPS board battery - no luck. Also the hand controller has a strange effect - when you go 'Menu/Utilities/View time-site' everything goes haywire - time reverts to 00.13.00 and date to 01/01/01 - is this a sectret self-destruct sequence?
Because Celestron do not respond to help requests to customers outside the US, I am stuck. Can anyone assist?
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Bob Griffiths
Post Laureate
Reged: 10/10/05
Posts: 4195
Loc: Frederick Maryland
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My original *i did not come with a GPS unit but I added one simply because I set up hundredsn of miles away from where I last observed the night before before I retired... BUT I could actually turn the GPS OFF in setup and enter the time and date...The scope keeps time BUT if you enter 10 PM and use the scope for 30 minutes and check the time it will not say 10:30 ...it keeps track of running time...not actual time...plus it will retain its last location all the time...
I honestly have not played around with my CPC1100 much so I can not tell you if you can trun off the GPS or not...
What I will tell you is that I wish that Celestron offered the CPC with a DELETE GPS option ...Since I retired and mounted the scope in my observatory I just have no need for a GPS unit...it only saves me 3-4 seconds every time I wake the scope up.by entering the time...BIG A DEAL...
See if you can turn the GPS OFF...and see what happens..
Bob G
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CPC1100
Nexstar 8i + GPS & Rays Brackets
Denk S1 power switch
Orion 100 mm Refractor
Meade LXD 55 ...AR-5 127 mm Refractor
Exploradome Observatory S.I.E. (Smiling Irish Eyes)
39*21'03" N
77*28'12" W
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Middle Age Man
member
Reged: 07/12/07
Posts: 34
Loc: Northern NJ
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It sounds more like the hand controller is bad and not able to interpret the signals coming from the GPS circuitry. Can you get another hand controller or at least borrow one from a similar scope to see if that is indeed the issue?
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Hardin 10" DSH
Celestron C-8
Celestron Nextar 8 GPS
William Optics 66SD
Meade 2080
Meade LXD-75
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bill torbitt
member
Reged: 09/04/08
Posts: 17
Loc: windhoek/namibia
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many thanks for suggestions. There is an option to turn the GPS off which I had not tried before - will see if the scope then remembers manually entered coords. Obtaining a new hand controller more of a problem - must see if a friend/contact can buy one for me in the US and smuggle it out...?
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sanlopez
super member
Reged: 12/03/07
Posts: 149
Loc: 36 09'46.69 N, 86 46'38.26 W
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Bill:
Did the GPS ever work? Or has the problem always been there?
Have you ever gotten the "GPS LINKED" message on the HC?
Did you do the correct set-up menu procedures (time zone)
the telescope "defaults" to Pacific (California) time zone
Also try cleaning the connections to the hand-controller
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Celestron GPS C925
Celestron Nexstar 5
2005 Gretsch SSLVO
Fender Custom Vibrolux
1963 Galaxie 500 XL convertible
1973 VW type 181 "The Thing"
And an absolutely wonderful wife
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Randy Roy
sage
Reged: 10/07/05
Posts: 383
Loc: Tennessee
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What better to do on "Cloudy Nights" but talk astronomy.
Randy 
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Pasquale
Encrypted
Reged: 10/12/05
Posts: 2081
Loc: Olympia, Washington
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Hi Bill...
I'm sure you've done this, but have you checked and cleaned all connections between the handset and the telescope? Also, when you replaced the battery, did you give it at least a 24 hour charge? A low battery sure causes strange behavior in these telescopes...
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Pasquale
Go Seahawks!!!
NexStar 9.25 GPS / SkyAlign
Stellarvue SV102ED
WO ZS80FD Anniversary
WO ZS66ED Triplet
Vixen Sphinx SXW
Canon EOS XT/350D, Meade DSI, NexImager
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bill torbitt
member
Reged: 09/04/08
Posts: 17
Loc: windhoek/namibia
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Many thanks again for comments - sorry I have not been around for couple of days.
No - very odd - the scope worked well for 3 years - even in an 'unusual S hemisphere location' - then one night I didn't have my watch on and thought I would go 'view time/site' just to get the time. I don't think I had done this before. From that instant the scope went bananas - pointing straight done into the ground, thinking it was in California etc. GPS also lost the plot. Thought it was a coincidence - the GPS cell might have failed at that moment - with great difficulty found the right replacement cell and hand-soldered it in. (this is board on inside of fork arm). The scope worked just for a few moments and then lost it again - won't even remember manually entered coordinates.
Apart from that though, the hand controller works (arrow keys etc) so contacts can't be the problem. Shall I get a new controller and whole GPS board, and see what happens?
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Rusty
Postmaster
Reged: 08/06/03
Posts: 16409
Loc: Brooker, FL
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I would re-replace the GPS battery, as it sounds like it is bad.
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N11GPS Fastar
TOA-130S
MK66 Std
Vintage C5
Megrez II 80mm ED Triplet APO
SolarMax 40
NJP Temma II
Sirius EQ-G
ST8XE/CFW-8(LRGBHa)/AO-7/DF-2/STV Dlx/ST237a/350D (Unmodded)/Mallincam Color Hyper Plus/DSI III Color/DSI II Pro
Two not-spoiled Golden Retrievers - Maggie and Casey
Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering. - Arthur C. Clarke
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warf
professor emeritus
Reged: 10/25/04
Posts: 709
Loc: Wisconsin
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I would even let it charge for 36 to 48 hours uniterupted. My NS11 would not reset after 24 hours of charging...it was only after I let it charge for nearly two full days did it come back to normal. It has worked like a champ ever since.
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Marsh
Celestron NS 11 GPS, Denk Standard Binoviewer, Pair of Denk 21 EP, Denk PowerSwitch Diagonal, Denk PST Corrector, Coronado PST Double Stacked, WO ZS80 Anniversary,Celestron 15x70 Binoculars
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HUsher
member
Reged: 04/14/06
Posts: 96
Loc: South Wales, UK
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I had odd problems too with my NS8GPS. I let it charge for a few days and it certainly sorted most of the problems out!
Helen
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bill torbitt
member
Reged: 09/04/08
Posts: 17
Loc: windhoek/namibia
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I would never argue with a professor emeritus, so I'll put on charge again for a while. But why would it take so long - how many 100's of hours should it take to charge a button cell - if you can charge a phone or most other things in 1 hour?
My other thought is that the charger for the GPS is not working (so the cell soon runs flat). Since obviously the supply to the scope is 12 volts, and the cell is 3 volts, there must be a convertor/charger unit somewhere - is this on the GPS board or located somewhere else - does anyone know?
many thanks
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mclewis1
Thread Killer
Reged: 02/25/06
Posts: 2454
Loc: Colorado
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Not a converter/charger per se. The NS11 and many other scopes simply have 5v regulators (ICs with a small heatsink) on the various boards. 12v DC is routed to each board and the onboard regulator takes care of reducing the 12v down to 5v for the rest of circuitry. Not sure if the NS11 employs the same setup for the 3v or if a few diodes are used to reduce the 5v down to 3v.
The GPS battery is not designed like the ones in your cell phone. It can't be charged or discharged as quickly. Most folks who own/owned NS GPS scopes reported that 48 hours was a good initial charge. The same timeline applies to situations where the scope has just sat for a month or more and hasn't been turned on.
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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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bill torbitt
member
Reged: 09/04/08
Posts: 17
Loc: windhoek/namibia
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many thanks for info
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bill torbitt
member
Reged: 09/04/08
Posts: 17
Loc: windhoek/namibia
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Thanks to all who offered advice on this thread. Unfortunately I couldn't get anywhere with this scope, since no service or parts available for Celestron, so am donating it to a local astro club who may be able to do something with it!
If I get another scope, I am thinking about those medium sized Russian RC's (made in Siberia!) - OTA only supplied - have to get your own Paramount or other. Anyone know anything about them?
thanks
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warf
professor emeritus
Reged: 10/25/04
Posts: 709
Loc: Wisconsin
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You could always take it off the curren mount and just get new mount for it ... like the CG-5 GoTo mount. Just a thought.
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Marsh
Celestron NS 11 GPS, Denk Standard Binoviewer, Pair of Denk 21 EP, Denk PowerSwitch Diagonal, Denk PST Corrector, Coronado PST Double Stacked, WO ZS80 Anniversary,Celestron 15x70 Binoculars
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