Jimmy2K63
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/26/09
Posts: 1184
Loc: Kentucky
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As was suggested on here before about calibrating sensors, training drives etc, the LX-90 still does not accurately find it's way about the night sky. I did the reset, allowed it to go through all its GPS fix thing, even set the location by a city nearby instead of zip code, set the time from a cell phone, etc, it's still off. I am wondering, since we run this thing off AA's if I should hook it to my homemade "powertank" and give it some real battery voltage via the Meade 12 volt adapter plug. I know my LXD75 is fussy about having good batteries. The next thing I will try is setting the exact latitude and longitude and go from there. Ideas anyone? I really love using this scope for our monthly program, and want to get it "idiot proofed" so I can hand it off to someone else to babysit while I play with the Dob's.
I only get to use this scope one night a month - and that's if it's clear. I know, it sucks. If I had it at home, I could iron it out on a few good nights and know if it was a Meade issue, or something really simple.
But, must say this, we cooled that scope for a good 3 hours last night before viewing and the view of Jupiter was stunning. It was the kind of razor sharp SCT image that I remember from my youth using a late 70's C-8. I don't think it can be emphasized enough to do this because it truly does help these larger corrector plate equipped thermal tubes to equalize. Awesome views.
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http://astronomyguy63.blogspot.com/
LXD75 SN6-UHTC
Cave Astrola 10" f/5
Garrett 15x70/FarSight
Canon XS (1000D)
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Joseph Gillman
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/06/05
Posts: 2769
Loc: Aston, PA
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Yes power supply is a good idea, and, are you sure you are using the correct HOME position at startup?
It's OK if the alignment stars are off, are you using the right star? "Center brightest star" is not the best way to align, better to use stars you can identify on your own, with a two star alignment. Hopefully it is user error and not a problem with the scope.
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Jimmy2K63
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/26/09
Posts: 1184
Loc: Kentucky
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What is the correct home position? This thing has the GPS in it, and theoretically it does this GPS fix, aligns north, aligns level, and then goes to the first star and says center. When I first power it on it defaults to AUTOMATIC alignment. Because time is always of the essence when we use this thing I've not done a 2 star alignment but it certainly is an option if I can ever get it alone and use it for a night.
I once did have it working a few months back when we were alone, so it most likely is some simple thing. I should download a manual and read it right through, there might be some small thing.
Having said that, there is no way that 8 AA cells can run these motors properly either. When I did the second reset it looked like it was 5 degrees off the pole on north alignment instead of the usual 15 or so. Odd isn't it?
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http://astronomyguy63.blogspot.com/
LXD75 SN6-UHTC
Cave Astrola 10" f/5
Garrett 15x70/FarSight
Canon XS (1000D)
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Joe Lalumia
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/24/07
Posts: 3600
Loc: Rockwall, Texas, USA
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Did you just say you never do an alignment? If this is true, then the scope will never find anything. You MUST do a two star alignment, and center both stars.
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LX90 8" LNT, SV Nighthawk & TelePOD, SV 80/9D & M4 mount, ETX 90, Orion XT10i, 20x80 binoculars, SV-BV3s-- www.texasastro.org
"Great minds discuss ideas;Average minds discuss events;Small minds discuss people." Unknown
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GeorgeDuke
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/24/03
Posts: 1585
Loc: PARADISE! (So.Florida)
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OF the 10 or so scopes I have had that were designed to use little batteries, none of them performed properly while powered this way. Most are rated to run on 12V DC.
8 new batteries have about 12V no load. As soon as you slew or track you will see the voltage load down to about 9.6V.
This is below the reliability level for accurate operation.
The power tank or AC power suppy no load voltage is usually 13.8V. On track or slew it pulls down to about 12V giving you reliable power.
I have had new mounts go crazy, spinning around or pointing at the ground until I plugged in an AC power cube.
As to the no alignment thing. If you have done a good alignment and then do not move the scope from one session to the next, you can get a pretty accurate automatic alignment.
I also do re-syncing from time to time.
I do enjoy flipping the switch and then going about setting up while the LX200 does it's "dance".
I guess the new Meade LS goes beyond that!
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George
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SkyShed POD XL-3
LX200GPS 203mm f10
StellarVue SV102ED2 Feathertouch Ser#0018
LXD75 GOTO with Orion 16" pier extension
Baader Hyperion 8mm ,13mm, 21mm + FTRs
2" GSO ED barlow, 2" SV Dielectric and Orion Prism Diagonals
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Jimmy2K63
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/26/09
Posts: 1184
Loc: Kentucky
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Joe - of course I do an alignment. I do the AUTOMATIC alignment which is essentially a two star alignment. What I am saying is that I have never gone afterwards and done a 2 star alignment after the initial 2 star AUTOMATIC alignment. Even when it does it's initial alignment the stars it chooses are a long ways off from where it seems to be pointing.
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http://astronomyguy63.blogspot.com/
LXD75 SN6-UHTC
Cave Astrola 10" f/5
Garrett 15x70/FarSight
Canon XS (1000D)
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Jimmy2K63
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/26/09
Posts: 1184
Loc: Kentucky
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Quote:
OF the 10 or so scopes I have had that were designed to use little batteries, none of them performed properly while powered this way. Most are rated to run on 12V DC.
8 new batteries have about 12V no load. As soon as you slew or track you will see the voltage load down to about 9.6V.
This is below the reliability level for accurate operation.
The power tank or AC power suppy no load voltage is usually 13.8V. On track or slew it pulls down to about 12V giving you reliable power.
I have had new mounts go crazy, spinning around or pointing at the ground until I plugged in an AC power cube.
As to the no alignment thing. If you have done a good alignment and then do not move the scope from one session to the next, you can get a pretty accurate automatic alignment.
I also do re-syncing from time to time.
I do enjoy flipping the switch and then going about setting up while the LX200 does it's "dance".
I guess the new Meade LS goes beyond that!
Next time I will take my homemade powertank and my 12 volt adapter and plug it into that thing and find out for sure. We have used fresh batteries in it as well, but with AA's off the shelf you never really know if they are fresh or not.
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http://astronomyguy63.blogspot.com/
LXD75 SN6-UHTC
Cave Astrola 10" f/5
Garrett 15x70/FarSight
Canon XS (1000D)
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Joe Lalumia
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/24/07
Posts: 3600
Loc: Rockwall, Texas, USA
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What version of firmware is reported by the controller when you first turn it on?
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LX90 8" LNT, SV Nighthawk & TelePOD, SV 80/9D & M4 mount, ETX 90, Orion XT10i, 20x80 binoculars, SV-BV3s-- www.texasastro.org
"Great minds discuss ideas;Average minds discuss events;Small minds discuss people." Unknown
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Jimmy2K63
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/26/09
Posts: 1184
Loc: Kentucky
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Quote:
What version of firmware is reported by the controller when you first turn it on?
I can't answer that from here Joe because I don't have the scope. What version should it have on the Autostar? I could take my laptop with me next time and update it if you think that will help. I have the cable and everything I need to do it.
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http://astronomyguy63.blogspot.com/
LXD75 SN6-UHTC
Cave Astrola 10" f/5
Garrett 15x70/FarSight
Canon XS (1000D)
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Joe Lalumia
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/24/07
Posts: 3600
Loc: Rockwall, Texas, USA
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43Eg for the 497 hand controller (old). The new LX90s may have version 59xx which has MANY bugs and will not work properly. If your scope is NEW and has any firmware starting with 59 then go to the Meade web site and download the new Autostar Updater software here about 1/2 way down the page. It recognizes the old and the new hand controller and will apply the correct firmware. Meade has already issued and updated firmware for the NEW LX90s that corrects the alignment issues. The new firmware for the NEW LX90 scopes is 5BE2 and will fix your problems if you have a NEW LX90. This will NOT work in the older 497 hand controller, and will CRASH the hand controller.
http://www.meade.com/support/auto.html
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LX90 8" LNT, SV Nighthawk & TelePOD, SV 80/9D & M4 mount, ETX 90, Orion XT10i, 20x80 binoculars, SV-BV3s-- www.texasastro.org
"Great minds discuss ideas;Average minds discuss events;Small minds discuss people." Unknown
Edited by Joe Lalumia (09/21/09 06:50 PM)
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Jimmy2K63
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/26/09
Posts: 1184
Loc: Kentucky
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This is what he reported to me today Joe...
C(o8) Meade
Bootloader v2.38
Next screen:
C(08) 497EP 59 Ed
So it looks like I have to do an update on it. Now I have to remember the sequence of events for doing this. Do I hook up the cables, power on the computer and then the handbox and then launch the software? I can't quite remember but I do remember that the new software (version 5.8) automatically detects and downloads the correct version of the updater, or at least it did on my LXD75. And the cable still goes in the base of the hand controller. 
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http://astronomyguy63.blogspot.com/
LXD75 SN6-UHTC
Cave Astrola 10" f/5
Garrett 15x70/FarSight
Canon XS (1000D)
Edited by Jimmy2K63 (09/23/09 06:08 PM)
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Joe Lalumia
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/24/07
Posts: 3600
Loc: Rockwall, Texas, USA
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Download the updater software located about 1/2 way down the page here:
http://www.meade.com/support/auto.html version 5.9 is the latest version and install
Hookup the cables from computer to bottom of hand controller. Power on the scope. After the update is finished power off the scope before unhooking the cables.
Then I would recommend you start from scratch with a RESET, calibrate motors using the same power source you use outside, train the drives, then do a calibrate sensors on Polaris. Check time, date, and site, Daylight savings time is YES, to see if they are correct.
It appears you have the original BROKEN bug ridden firmware 59xx, and the NEW 497 hand controller. This is what is causing all your issues.
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LX90 8" LNT, SV Nighthawk & TelePOD, SV 80/9D & M4 mount, ETX 90, Orion XT10i, 20x80 binoculars, SV-BV3s-- www.texasastro.org
"Great minds discuss ideas;Average minds discuss events;Small minds discuss people." Unknown
Edited by Joe Lalumia (09/23/09 09:32 PM)
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Jimmy2K63
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/26/09
Posts: 1184
Loc: Kentucky
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Thanks for all the help. It's a bit of a trip out there and maybe I can make it next week and try it out. If this works, we will have one very nice scope that anyone can use, and I can play with the Dobs and my binoculars.
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http://astronomyguy63.blogspot.com/
LXD75 SN6-UHTC
Cave Astrola 10" f/5
Garrett 15x70/FarSight
Canon XS (1000D)
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Jimmy2K63
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/26/09
Posts: 1184
Loc: Kentucky
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Went and updated it yesterday but didn't get a chance to do any calibration or testing as it was daylight. Hopefully have more information to report in a couple of weeks. I did all 3 updates that it asked for. It went smoothly and was a very simple update to the new firmware.
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http://astronomyguy63.blogspot.com/
LXD75 SN6-UHTC
Cave Astrola 10" f/5
Garrett 15x70/FarSight
Canon XS (1000D)
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villaltame
member
Reged: 09/17/09
Posts: 36
Loc: Cartago, Costa Rica
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Jimmy,
Please let me know if the version "downgrade" worked for you.
I have exactly the same problem and my Autostar version 59Ed
but I'm just not sure about wiping it out with the 43Eg.
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Meade LX90 8" ACF
Nikon D80
My astrophoto blog
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BobLG
member
Reged: 04/15/09
Posts: 20
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If you have version 59ED you have the "newer" autostar and cannot use 43EG which was for the "older" autostar. The version you want is 5CE1 which is not yet listed on the autostar update web site but will come up if you run autostar update on your computer with your scope & autostar handset connected.
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Bob-12" LX90 ACF GPS
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villaltame
member
Reged: 09/17/09
Posts: 36
Loc: Cartago, Costa Rica
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I installed the newest autoupdater and it downloaded 43Eg to my controller.
Could it be that I have the older autostar controller?
thanks in advance
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Meade LX90 8" ACF
Nikon D80
My astrophoto blog
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Jimmy2K63
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/26/09
Posts: 1184
Loc: Kentucky
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I was using version 5.8 of Autostar Updater and it detected the proper AutoStar update. What version of the AutoStar Updater are you using? Mine downloaded 5CE1.
James
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http://astronomyguy63.blogspot.com/
LXD75 SN6-UHTC
Cave Astrola 10" f/5
Garrett 15x70/FarSight
Canon XS (1000D)
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Joe Lalumia
Post Laureate
Reged: 01/24/07
Posts: 3600
Loc: Rockwall, Texas, USA
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The 5.8 version should automatically ask for you to download the newer 5.9 version.
Both versions recognize the old and the new hand controller and apply the proper firmware for that version. There are bugs in the 5.8 version that the 5.9 version corrects.
If it will NOT update. I would uninstall it. Go and get the 5.8 version again on the Meade web site. RE-install it, and it should ask to download the 5.9 version.
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LX90 8" LNT, SV Nighthawk & TelePOD, SV 80/9D & M4 mount, ETX 90, Orion XT10i, 20x80 binoculars, SV-BV3s-- www.texasastro.org
"Great minds discuss ideas;Average minds discuss events;Small minds discuss people." Unknown
Edited by Joe Lalumia (10/06/09 09:36 AM)
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