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DIY Autostar Button Box


guff

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Good evening all, foggy outside so time to tackle a workshop project.

It seems to me that even a new Meade soft button autostar controller can be variable in its responses - has anyone made a button box add-on using proper non latching switches? The graphite impregnated rubber buttons on my controller seem to have a consistent resistance of a few ohms even when pierced with tester probes and i wonder whether this residual resistance is critical. Will a replacement  switch with zero resistance be ok as a substitute? Does the rubber method have a better bounce characteristic than mechanical switches, that the software relies on? Soldering on to the pcb, or engineering a set of pin contacts to connect to the new switches will be tricky but the idea of creating a switch box with an absolutely predictable response makes the effort seem worthwhile.

Cheers for any thoughts you may have

Geoff

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I'm currently on my second AutoStar.  My first died due to a chip malfunction (about 10 years ago) so I purchased a second.

My first one has issues with the button presses being recognised. So I dismantled it, and used some conductive paint to recoat the rubber pads.  Also I'd used some alcohol to clean the contacts on the PCB.  It had the effect of bring the autostar back to life a few times, however in the end the electronics died.

For my second autostar, I purchased a cover to help protect it from dew.  This has been a very worthwhile thing as I've found that the autostar keeps behaving itself.   The buttons as still like a TV Remote and that'll never change on mine.  But that's ok, as I only need them to input the date time and location, then get me through the alignment process.  Once that's done, I use Sky Safari via a SkyFi to control the scope.

As for using reworking the PCB to use a dedicated button box.  That sounds like a great idea to me.  Just be careful not to break anything.   It'll make your autostar look like Frankensteins monster, after this last weekend, I'd love to see a picture.

Personally, I'd not want to risk wrecking another autostar.  At least not without having purchased a new one first, just in case something goes wrong.   Flakey buttons are one thing, not being able to replace after it's broken would be devastating.

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