beetlejuice

Not sure tbh I know the mounts are almost identical not sure on the goto kits though

Sorry I couldn't help more

Jake

I fitted this kit on a non-skywatcher/celestron EQ5. The only issue I had was that the RA housing on the mount is about 5mm greater diameter than my CG5 mount, which necessitated some time with a sharp hobby knife carefully shaving plastic to increase the diameter of the plastic Synscan RA housing so I could get both halves around the mount. Easy job if you go slow and careful.

hello guys

as you know i have a little etx 70AT was having a play with it last night and today and i forgot how sharp the views actually were. i know iv said how rubbish these scopes are but mainly its the build quailty of the mount

any way

a long while ago to my knowlage it was working, i put some fresh batterys into it (never got around to getting cable for powertank) but i put durecell pro cells

i turned it on, it did somthing funky, did a 360 and an error message came on the controller. detected a motor fault. swap controller (dont know any one with one) swap batterys (batterys were fresh out of a box of 10)

any ideas how i can get it to work or what i should do instead. i'll be honest i have never gotten auto star to work properly, mainly cos i used batterys (cold = low voltage) i was a hell of a lot younger, and had a father who was very impaintent and wouldnt help me even though he was a electriction

any suggestions or help very welcome

gaz

Ditch the batteries and get a 7ah power tank. Batteries are a complete waste of time and are the largest source of motor errors. Go here Weasner's Mighty ETX Site for everything about getting the best out of your ETX and how to deal with those pesky error messages.

Pair of Pentax 10x50's. Not bargain basement, but not bank-breaking either. Bought them after an unlucky run of Lidl Bressers which all turned out to be rubbish mechanically. The Pentaxes do exactly what they say on the tin and are my most used optical instrument.

Weird. Lets's hope that works! If it does, I'll dig out my iOptron goto and mount it on spare CG5 I have and see if I can cure it's problems. But that will have to wait off on my hols tomorrow!

Thats where I got the handset from, I am going to have another go at it from scratch with 2 more 12v cigarette leads into my powerstation and if it is still playing up I will give them a ring tomorrow to see what they reccomend. The only thing I haven't done is flashed to the latest software, I'll give that a try too. I never took note of the version it is using at present.

TH have a good rep for customer service, so let's hope you get it sorted out.

I had this problem of runaway drives with an iOptron goto system. It drove me bananas. I just could never get it to work properly. So I abandoned it for a Skywatcher goto and it works perfectly. Expensive solution though. I would definately get the handset changed (I didn't have that option). A word with Telescope House (the Meade importers) might be worth the price of a call. www.weasner.com is also worth a look - ETX stuff mainly but familiar Meade goto issues are discussed and it could be worth dropping Mike an email. He's very helpful. I presume you've done all the usual Meade things of calibrate motors, train drives, flashed the software to the latest version?

You also have to make sure the mount is in the 'home' position before starting alignment; that is the polar axis pointed at the pole; the telescope pointed at the pole and the declination shaft down.

I have just tried it again with a different power lead on the power tank and as soon as the date and time are input the drive starts spinning until you go into the align setting and it stops and asks you if the mount is in german north position, after that on easy align it just spins and doesn't stop. I did it without the scope attached to save time.

Hmm. Like I said. It could be the handset. I'd get it changed if I were you.

I was using the battery pack at first and also thought they may have been low in power so I used my powertank which was fully charged up, I also thought it could possibly be the new handbox it is a refurb one with a guarantee so I'll give them a ring about it when I can.

In that case, I'd get it swapped over. If it still doesn't work after that then we can start looking at other possible causes. 9 times out of 10 it's the power source and connections that are the source of much frustration. Do a search on SGL for other threads. This issue of dodgy goto comes up again and again.

What power source are you using? If it is delivering less than 12v then this could be the problem. Autostar, in common with most goto systems, just hates it when the voltage drops. When I had my ETX low battery power caused motor failures and failures to align, though I didn't get 'pulsing' motors. If it's a powertank you are using make sure it is fully charged. If it's standard batteries, throw them away and get a powertank. Also check the scope is accurately balanced. Check all the connections are firm. Make sure the power connector is secure. I had lots of failures to align on another scope and eventually tracked it down to a duff power cord. If that all fails, it could be the hansdet is faulty so, if it's new, I'd return it and ask for a replacement.

B&Q?

No. Not B&Q. I've just been to two their stores and they don't stock them. Halford's neither (at least not the one I went to this morning). Still looking for 25mm M6 cap screws meeself, so I'll try those links. Ta.

At this time of year where many of us don't get out to do any viewing for a few weeks it's worth remembering to charge up your PowerTanks/batteries every 3-4 weeks as, in common with all lead acid batteries, your PowerTank's charge needs to be kept topped up to avoid damage. I thought I'd post this reminder to avoid any disappointment when the longer dark nights come round again...

Lead acid batteries lose charge even when not being used and allowing the battery to discharge power over several periods of use without recharging can lead to the situation where the battery cannot be charged with the supplied charger.

If the battery discharges too far this can permanently damage it, or at the very least considerably shorten its lifespan. To avoid this the battery must be charged before, and regularly during, periods of storage and after every use.

If your battery has drained completely or hasn't been charged after each period of use there is a chance it can be rescued by the use of a deep charger otherwise you may find it impossible to recharge at all - not something you want to find out as the longer nights come round again.

James

Thanks for the reminder James. Haven't used mine for while. Now where did I put the charger?