Abou.t the meade model 2120 telescope

[ecwwc]

Thank you for the responses about the telescope, I have been away the last few days but did manage to put the scope up in the yard the other night. WE were viewing Saturn and it looked great, also wanted to mention it tracked Saturn well, it never left the field of view.

This brings me back to my first question about mounting this on another mount, my reasoning was because I am new to this and very unfamiliar with sky objects, I thought something with a Go to feature might be very helpful. After reading some replays from my other post some have asked why just not purchase a handset or run it from a computer, that would be fine but where would you plug it into.

There is only two black drive boxes that came with this scope, one box has a plug that plugs into the bottom of the fork mount that starts the motor running, there are some other features that have the auto focuser but nothing that will make the scope turn to a desired location, that has to be done by hand.

Unless I am missing something which is very possible considering my knowledge of all this please those that have replayed about a hand set let me know where to get one and where to plug this in. I wanted to thank all of you for the great help I have received so far.

[Capricorn]

After reading some replays from my other post some have asked why just not purchase a handset or run it from a computer, that would be fine but where would you plug it into.

The LX200 Classic scope has a socket in the middle of the panel labelled "Keypad". Thats where is goes.

HAve a look at page 15 of the manual on the Meade site, which I thought you said you had with the scope ?

http://www.meade.com/manuals/TelescopeManuals/LXseries/LX200_Classic_Manual.pdf

As to getting a handset the only place I know is the astro mall link I put up on another post.

May be worth asking if the newer handsets cover yours, they get upgraded and at some time the software may have included the model you have. They however are as rare and also costly.

Are you sure of the model you have as nothing seems to match between what you describe and what I read/see in the manual.

Is there a club near you ?

[premiercounty]

Hi ecwwc

I have a Meade 2080 scope. I expect it is the same as yours in spec and construction, except it has an 8 inch diameter aperture rather that a 10 inch.

The manual you have will also be the same and will have the specs for the 2080 as well. These scopes date from 1980 or so. It would not seem to be the LX200 classic at all

The 2010 / 2080 are fork mounted SCT with an RA drive only. i.e to track objects they must be polar aligned using an equatorial wedge which I assume you are doing given your experience with Saturn. For astrophotography in theory you could accurately polar align (drift) and using the RA tracking see how you get on, but autoguiding is not possible.

This is as much as you can do,i.e. it is not possible to plug in any GOTO handset or guide a Meade 2010 from a computer. What you can do, as I think you know, is to remove the Optical tube Assembly (OTA) from the fork mount and mount it on an equatorial mount that has GOTO capability and computer control etc.

This is what I have done with my 2080 OTA.

I have removed it from the fork mount, quite easily (6 hex screws) as there is no DEC motor drive to worry about, and mounted it using a dovetail bar on a Meade LXD75 GOTO mount. It has worked out reasonably well with good balancing etc. I attach a pic.

Your 2010 is a good bit heavier than my 2080 so you should take the mount reccommendations that others have mentioned.

Hope this is of some help. I am new enough to this myself btw.

.LXD75 and MEADE 2080.pdf

[Capricorn]

Thanks, that makes more sense to me now. I guess that the scope is a bigger version of the ETX-90 RA that Meade produced.

It always gets difficult when you cannot match up what is said to what you can find out and read.

So what you have to do I presume is to put the unit on an equitorial wedge, align it, then release the clutches and manually move to a target, tighten up the clutches then let the scopes RA motor track it.

To mount on another Goto would mean deforking the scope, getting a set of tube rings (Try TS) and a dovetail.

An HEQ5 should be adaquate, I don't think an EQ5 is solid enough but it might be as the scope is short and if used for visual not photography.

[ecwwc]

Thank you yes that is just how this scope works, you must unlock it and move to a target and than lock it to track that target, As mentioned it tracks well. I thought it might be a good idea to remount it to something that would help find objects better since as I said I'm not real familiar with the locations of sky objects.

We are not to interested in taking pictures but would like to add a camera something like the sbc 2000 from Samsung for the kids to see the different planets. Next question, is there a link that tells what I need to run the scb 2000 on this scope. In advance to all that have helped me thank you, I find this forum most helpful and the people here understanding to us beginners.

[ecwwc]

Premiercountry I have a question, will the Meade LXD75 hold this telescope, or is it to heavy for that mount. I would be most interested in getting that mount for the scope.

[Davey-T]

ecwwc have sent you a PM

Davey-T

[premiercounty]

ecwwc, the payload for the LXD75 is max 13.5kg I believe. I dont know the weight of the 2010 OTA but I'd estimate at about 11.5 -12kg on its own. So with dovetail bar etc, mountings, eyepiece, finderscope and diagonal etc you would be over the max. So no, I wouldnt recommend the LXD75 as a mount for the 2010. Thats my own opinion however, others may not concur.