Furious... but saw jupiters bands. Any electronics whizz's around?

[JamesF]

Good news to have it back. Just make sure it can't happen again

James

[upahill]

Supposed to be here friday and the courier cant find my house rather than call me they have shipped it back to their depot,

Cant collect as theres no calling card. So now I have to wait til Tuesday/Wednesday before it gets here.

Better be worth it Still picked up a cheap set of MA eyepieces which should give me a wider range of viewing options and will hopefully arrive at the same time as the mount.

*/ End Rant

[m sutton]

Fingers crossed for a cheap repair!

Obliviously wading in with the obvious - I take it you did try it with the mains to make sure it wasn't a dud battery?

[sgazer]

by not fitting 5p diode makes them 100quid on repairs ofc they wont fit it in ... its good bussines

a bad reputation for reliability and robustness doesn't help a company. I bet the OP and anyone else who has had this issue will at least think twice before buying another Meade mount. I'm sure there's a reason why the Meade business is struggling financially.

[upahill]

Fingers crossed for a cheap repair!

Obliviously wading in with the obvious - I take it you did try it with the mains to make sure it wasn't a dud battery?

Yes I did. I have rewired the connector to a maplins 12v 12ah lead acid battery, and checked with a multimeter to ensure the centre pin is positive, and that it matches the polarity of the mains adapter. So in theory should all run off this new battery perfectly.

a bad reputation for reliability and robustness doesn't help a company. I bet the OP and anyone else who has had this issue will at least think twice before buying another Meade mount. I'm sure there's a reason why the Meade business is struggling financially.

I was thinking about if I would ever buy meade again, and so far my opinion is that I would, yes this has been a major PITA, and a costly mistake, but at the end of the day it was *my* mistake, not theirs - whilst it would be great for them to put reverse polarity protection into their circuits (and they may do on their newer mounts), they probably dont expect people to be plugging in heath-robinson-esque power packs. But rather using a meade certified power pack or mains adapter.

With this problem set aside, it seems like a lovely scope, room for improvement, and the mount is very sturdy, as are the tripod legs. So all in all pretty good.

Of course I have a crystal clear sky tonight, so quietly gutted and crying on the inside. Fingers crossed it will arrive tomorrow.

[ndastgir]

I don't know about Celestron mount but I connected my SW EQ3-2 GOTO to power with reverse polarity (by mistake of course) and it did not turn on. I thought I blew it up, but when I reversed it back it powered on with no problem! maybe I was just lucky?

[upahill]

Sounds like the Celestron has polarity diodes then.

Interlink have messed up again today, so still no mount and a forecast for a clear sky. Was all excited, had the tripod leveled, the eyepieces all out on the garden table.

Then we get the call from the courier saying it wasnt booked into the van properly. Typical.

[Cefiar]

I was thinking about if I would ever buy meade again, and so far my opinion is that I would, yes this has been a major PITA, and a costly mistake, but at the end of the day it was *my* mistake, not theirs - whilst it would be great for them to put reverse polarity protection into their circuits (and they may do on their newer mounts), they probably dont expect people to be plugging in heath-robinson-esque power packs. But rather using a meade certified power pack or mains adapter.

From what I'm aware of, Meade still do not have polarity protection in even the new LX850's, and it's definitely not in the LX200's. I'll know for sure Re: LX850 when mine actually turns up. *sigh*

[upahill]

ITS HERE!

Ok, it arrived today, 3 days late thanks to Interlink and not at the arrange 8.30am they told be yesterday, but 11.30am I am appauled by their service, but hey ho what can you do (and I do live in a cabin up a hill)

Telescope House

I can't reccomend them enough, Steve who repaired the broken circuitry also repaired the housing which had a messed up bolt, tightened everything up, and replaced another missing bolt (which I had removed in order to fit it in the box, but thank god he replaced it as I have since misplaced it) And it all came in at the originally quoted price.

Total time for repair was quite quick, about a week which considering he was very busy I thought was reasonable, and very helpful on the phone when we were tracking the courier.

The Mount

I have started work on a new battery back, 3 x 12v 12ah SLA batteries in a toolbox, inspired by a recent thread on here - after checking the polarity about 150 times I plugged it in and woohoo! It Worked!

Tripod has been cooling down for 24 hours in the garden, so hopefully tonight I will get a chance to do some actual observing and have first light

[earth titan]

Are Meades wired up differently to all others then?

If so, shocking.....

[upahill]

centre pin positive, not sure if thats different - the problem was it wasnt an official adapter, just a handmade one which had been left wired up in the wrong polarity.

Hey ho, all excited now and praying for a clear sky, just practicing in the lounge and seeing if I can hook up stellarium/sky safari.

[earth titan]

centre pin positive, not sure if thats different - the problem was it wasnt an official adapter, just a handmade one which had been left wired up in the wrong polarity.

Ah I see. We've all done similar.

Really surprised Meade don't put protection on the boards, for want of a cheap component though.

Typed by me on my fone, using fumms... Excuse eny speling errurs.

[knobby]

Glad you finally got it back, wish you some clear skies now to try it out

[upahill]

All set up and ready to go. Some very clear skies now, just outside typing this as I hope to get a view of Pannstars