Well, another night...........

[Rob]

of frustration with the Meade!!.. I can't get this scope to get a target within the EP, and I'm using 68 degree ones at that!! :shock:.

I've tried re balancing. double checking north & my start position. I've tried daylight saving yes & no (yes was closer). I just don't get it... I grabbed my Long & lat from www.flashearth.com and plumbed that in.... its roughly there, but around a fist to the right away from the target.

Needless to say I nearly launched it across the garden!!..... oh, and boy do I need a right angle finder!! :?

Help anyone?

[lunator]

Rob

well done for not putting the scope into orbit.

It sounds like an absolute nightmare.

Which Meade do you have?

Cheers

Ian

[Rob]

ETX90EC.. its a nice enough bit of kit to look through... its the goto!!!. If it was not for the ST120 and a fantastically clear night I...... :?

[geppetto]

Rob

Have you completed the motor training procedure?

What power supply are you using?

Does it miss each target by some random ditance or is the error

always the same?

[Rob]

It seems to be all the same distance away?. I'm using the recomended ETX batteries although I'm charging my power tank to start using that. I can never remember the daylight saving yes/no.. which way round is it?. I thought 'Yes'?.

Does not seem to be random.. I've not trained the drives, thats Sundays task along with PC control.

:?

[jakey]

If the scope is new, send it back and demand another. I had similar issues when I bought a lxd55, when they first came out. I had three scopes sent to me until one worked.

In your situation it is commmon to assume that you are doing something wrong, when it is more likely to be faulty equipment.

[Rob]

No it was not new... I'm sure its something I need to do!!.

[Cloudwatcher]

I have to say I agree with jakey here.

I had an EXT70AT, fine optics for a small scope but the GOTO function was a pain in the butt. I thought,maybe, because it was fork mounted and a wedge was no used that this had an affect on accuracy.

Oops. Just been warned of your latest post so I'll shut up!

CW

[steppenwolf]

I can never remember the daylight saving yes/no.. which way round is it?. I thought 'Yes'?.

At this time of year, the answer is 'YES' and you set the Meade clock to the GMT (also known as UT), NOT your local time.

I have heard of poor accuracy with this mount before I am afraid. Meade generally produce good optics but from my own experience (with a DS114 AT) and that of a good friend with an LXD75, the Meade software is a little flaky and the mounts rather variable in the way that they function. How very frustrating for you and I admire your self control - I nearly 'launched' my DS114 AT but in the end converted it to cash and bought something else ........

[Greg]

I remember with my ETX 70 that you had to train the drives on a regular basis and there was something else you had to do to improve accuracy...

Can't remember that one..But I can remember the drive training improved the accuracy no-end..

HTH

Greg

[jcm]

Same here , Steve. I bought my daughter a small Meade refractor on a goto mount.( 5/6 years back). I could not get the GOTO to work. It never seemed to function properly even after I took the gears to pieces and reassembled.Training the drives etc made no difference.It could have been a software problem. Did as you - sold it.

John

[Helen]

Rob,

I've had problems with my ETX125 too. But last time out I got it to align first time and then it managed the first goto fine too (and then it clouded over so no more time to test..).

Training the drives seems to make a huge difference to accuracy, as does a reliable power source - as soon as the batteries start to flag the scope becomes erratic.

Have you found the weasner site? Loads of good advice on how to tune up the scope, both hardware and software.

If only the mchanics were up to the quality of the optics...

Helen

[Helen]

Sorry, you'll need this.. http://www.weasner.com/etx/techtips.html

H

[Rob]

Ahh... trained the drives. All is fine now I'd say 98% there!. The 90mm apature is going to be very restrictive for the goto TBH, its a bit of a waste. Hey hoe

[huwbellamy]

Hi Rob,

glad it's coming together. I have one of these: http://www.firstlightoptics.com/proddetail.php?prod=sw9x50raefinder

It is much better in terms of head position than the straight through 9x50 finder that came with my scope, and it's all the right way up.. The original 9x50 appears to have significantly better light transmission (less elements) though so I have mounted it on the tube rings half way up the OTA. Haven't tried it like that yet but at least my head won't be scraping the floor to look through it.

Huw.

[Kenny_10_Bellys]

You think the standard finder is a pain? You should try the Premium Edition ETX with the single red-dot lens affair, it's almost accurate enough to tell you that you're looking up in the sky somewhere but that's about it. You have to try and make sure your head is in exactly the same positiion at the rear of the scope every time (which never happens) and anything beyond 50 degrees elevation nearly breaks your neck. Once you get the GoTo set up you never use it again, thankfully.

[mikkey99]

Rob don`t know if this will help but they`ve got instructions on how to initialize the autostar setup on here:-

http://www.meade.com/manuals/index.html

[geppetto]

Ahh... trained the drives. All is fine now I'd say 98% there!.

Yep, 90% of meade goto funnies is down to that..

It's sort of getting round the problems caused by fluctuating power supply.

If you change from one source to another, you will need to re train again...

Long term, you would have most success with a good quality mains regulated supply.

Anyway good luck with it

[SteveL]

Sorry to hear you are having problems with it (for some reason, I wasnt receivng notifications about my PMs until this morning... may be my spam filter, who knows).

Initial alignment is key with the ETX90. Dead level tube, pointing north, and I was usually somewhere close to the object i wanted to GOTO, usually in the 26mm EP when I used it.

[Rob]

Don't worry Steve.. I'd say its around 90% there. Its good enough, just need to make sure its worth keeping the Autostar hand set over the standard one?.. the scope is great on Jupiter (which it should be), and the ETX visual back allows me to use my 1.25 diagonal straight through. Not sure a 90mm Mak is the best scope for DSO stuff, but I'm happy with it as a alt/az tracking scope as a grab and go. Just need to decide on the Autostar TBH... it would be a super addition to someone with an LXD75 mount

[russ]

Rob, that Autostar is fine. Just train the drives and you'll be fine. No different to the LXD75.

Russ

[bertthebudgie]

Rob

Good to hear that you are on the road to beating the autostar into shape. Im sure when you get used to it and its querks you will find it much easier to use.

As the others have said though it is very prone to failure where the power supply is fluctuating or the batteries are even slightly on the way out.

Bert

[Rob]

I can never remember the daylight saving yes/no.. which way round is it?. I thought 'Yes'?.

At this time of year, the answer is 'YES' and you set the Meade clock to the GMT (also known as UT), NOT your local time.

I have heard of poor accuracy with this mount before I am afraid. Meade generally produce good optics but from my own experience (with a DS114 AT) and that of a good friend with an LXD75, the Meade software is a little flaky and the mounts rather variable in the way that they function. How very frustrating for you and I admire your self control - I nearly 'launched' my DS114 AT but in the end converted it to cash and bought something else ........

I've had another fun evening of over shooting targets... but I've just re-read your post!. Am I right in saying I need to enter the time differently with regard to GMT?. So if its 10pm by my watch.. I need to enter 9pm and select 'Yes' to DST?.

[russ]

Have you trained the drives yet Rob?

[Rob]

Calibrated & trained.. just making sure I've not miss understood the time stuff here!!