Information/Instructions Takahashi 90S equatorial mount

[Roy Challen]

I recently (on 8/7/16) acquired a Takahashi 90S equatorial mount, with RA drive controller. I'm looking for any info about this mount (done googling etc) from anyone who has personal experience with it. Ideally would like PDFs of the manual for the controller and (mega long shot I know) a circuit diagram for the controller, but any explanation of the buttons would be helpful.

Cheers,

Roy

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi Roy,

Have you contacted Nick Hudson @ 'True Technology' as he is the distributor for Takahashi in UK/GB.

Clear skies,

Philip

 

[Roy Challen]

19 hours ago, Philip R said:

Hi Roy,

Have you contacted Nick Hudson @ 'True Technology' as he is the distributor for Takahashi in UK/GB.

Clear skies,

Philip

 

I haven't, but thanks for the suggestion. Email sent.

[Cornelius Varley]

Moved to the Discussion-mounts section where it should get more coverage.

[Roy Challen]

Thanks Peter!

Well, I was going start a new thread called "Oh no, not another show us your....whatever", with the intention of showing my new-to-me Takahashi mount, but seeing as this thread has been moved here I'll post some more pics here.

I'd been on the lookout for an appropriate mount for my Skylight 660. The SkyTee it was on was perfectly adequate in terms of stability, but in my eyes at least, a long frac ought to be on an equatorial mount. For a long while nothing came up, then this month I spotted this and grabbed it while I could (I had a decent windfall recently and Mrs C had no problem with me spending some of it). Several Vixen GPs also popped up, but, well.... it is a Takahashi after all. I wanted a mount that will last a looooonngggg time!

The mount itself is pretty heavy - the counterweight alone weighs more than my SkyTee did (I could do with a smaller counterweight as the one on the mount is too heavy, unless I buy a dual saddle and put both my scopes on!), so I guess that puts in the EQ5+ category. It's extremely well made with beautifully smooth axes and slow motion controls. I have tested the motor drive, and although only the power on LED works on the box, the motor does turn at what seems to be the correct rate. It is also virtually silent.

The polar scope reticle is very nice indeed (much like my rifle scope reticles) but I need to repair or replace the LED for illumination. Nice features include the Takahashi logo on the scope cap, and on the tripod feet.

I'll be giving it a bit of a clean up, and possibly change the spreader tray for a nice Berlebach I have lying around. I also want to try and get the control box fully operational - the display is cracked and non functional,  and I don't know if the other buttons work or what they do. Even if I can't restore it to full working order, it works well enough and I can always use it manually (which I've been doing for years anyway).

Yup, I now have a mount that'll last me the rest of my life......

[Roy Challen]

Just a little update, maybe the info will help someone else.

I fixed the LED for the polarscope, it simply runs off two AA batteries which are fitted by unscrewing the counter weight shaft and pulling the LED unit out from the recess.

The control box runs off 6 volts, and can be used with batteries - 6 x C cells - or from the mains with a suitable supply. I haven't figured out why the display isn't working, but at least I found out the screen isn't cracked, it's just a plastic cover. I'll replace that with a bit of red plastic in due course.

Now, I'm just checking over the all the circuits for continuity but after that I'll be stuck (unless I find anything wrong). So here's a pic of the circuit board, if anyone has a suggestion, I'm all ears!