Help - Meade EXT80 with Autostar #494

[AJH779]

Hi, after many years of thinking it would be nice, my wife bought me the above for my birthday.  I had a couple of great evenings manually looking at planets and the moon and then started to use the Autostar. As a novice it was really difficult to use the alignment tools as it was really difficult to know which star was centred. So, I purchased a Rigel EZfinder, got everything aligned and thought I was good to go.....

 

I now have a problem with the #494! In both the align menu and the go-to menu I can only see a handful of stars. Where the star name should be there is no text. If I navigate down the menu several times then eventually a name pops up. Interestingly even on the blank ones, if I select it there is some data there, such as co-ords, but the name is absent.  

Any ideas?    

[ronin]

Use the Easy Align option, Meade did a fair job on that and it is fairly easy easy.

From the Menu press Mode until at the Set Up Scope option, then set a custom location with your Lat, Long and Timezone.

Supply a short name like LDS, Leeds is Lat = 53  45 N, Long = 1  36 W and a timezone of 0, think it likes -0 for some reason.

When it powers up set the thing level and North, the better the easier it will all be. The select Easy align, supply Date and Time and DST (On at present).

The scope will pick 2 fairly prominent stars it will tell you which it has selected and slew to each in turn, you centre each and press Enter at each. If either of the chosen stars is hidden I think (check) that you press and hold Enter down and it will choose another. The scope goes to the position it believes the first star is at but this is dependant on the time, location, date, and the levelness and Northerness of the scope. That is 5 possibilities that can give small innaccuracies. Date and Tme are easy but do the Location, Level and North fairly accurate.

If you are selecting the stars then it will have displayed the name at selection I guess, so the scope then displays data on the chosen star. Sort of if you pick Rigel it then tells you about Rigel, but does not repeat the name - you already stated that to it. I think it does similar for the goto bit, once you give it an objewct it supplies "other" information about it.

The other aspect is you may (I don't know) be picking stars that are close to others. the ones in Casseiopia being an example.

Meade did a fair job on alignment stars, there is not as many as Skywatcher but they chose ones that are more or less all alone in the sky. Arcturus is a favourite as it is not in a group, beright and Orange Red. In effect it stands out. Others are like Aldebaren. Rigel, Betelgeuse, Sirius, Deneb, Vega, Altair, Procyon, Denbola, Regulus - all ones that are bright and alone. Aldebaren is in the Hyades but it is much brigher and another Red/Orange one so fairly obvious So if you pick your own choose ones like these. Also do it fairly quick as time is very likely a factor in goto alignment, spend too much time picking one and I suspect alignment will fail.

The 80 is almost a finder on it's own, just drop a 25mm eyepiece in, if you have a 30 that will be wider, I use a 25mm BST Explorer. You should not need a finder just give it the correct data and start out in the default position (Level and North).

Also if not using a mains supply get a new pack of heavy duty batteries from Poundland, actually get a couple of packs they tend to come in packs of 6. A set will last about an hour, a "used" set could very likely not have sufficent oomph behind them to do the alignment.

Question: Have you got and are you OK with a soldering iron ??

[AJH779]

Hi, thanks for the fast response.  I still think I have a bigger problem.  I just took it through the setup you suggested (its daytime so I just accepted that it had found the correct stars)  I then went to the go to menu>named stars and it only has 6 named stars and about 20 blank entries. I then went to guided tours and it says there are none.  It seems to me that unless I am doing something incorrectly that the database is corrupted. Is this possible?

[ronin]

OK sounds like the data has gone from the handset. Never heard of this and as best I know you cannot update the #494 handset - it may have changed in recent years but the #494 never used to have the option to update.

I only know of one person with an ETX-80 and they are on CN not SGL. If it was new then I suggest contacting the retailer and requesting a new #494. That would be the simplest option.

Actually never looked at the Named Star list, and I might try but not at present. Too much effort to power up the ETX-70. I checked it out last night for location data then stored it away for when I want it in a few weeks time.

Occasionally the #494's appear on Astroboot: http://www.astroboot.co.uk/AstroBoot

But none I can see at present.

The other possible option is a Reset, but I cannot see that replacing empty star data tables. Not sure if it can be corrupt depends on how they consider data tables. I think the first option is a replacement handset. Then find out if the handset can have the firmware updated, then wait for another one to appear - but they are somewhat rare.

As said never heard or read of this and the Weasner site is dormant and has been for some years.

Just checked and I have loads of stars in the named star list: Setup > Object > Star > Named.

[ronin]

Posting this as a seperate entity just in case it infringes any copyright in which case it is easy to delete or remove the text.

Search for ETX Named Star List turns up a pdf of the appendix of a book (half recognise the style):

cds.cern.ch/record/1315543/files/978-0-387-68264-8_BookBackMatter.pdf

The pdf is just the star list data of an Autostar, I am guessing the #497 but I would say the #494 and #497 are close. At a guess there are about 80 of them. Does not seem to give the alignment specific ones, suppose they may be the same as in Named = Alignment.

There is one somewhat unlikey way I can think this might occur. The handsets were language specific, you bought an Englidh one, a French one, a Gerrman one likely a couple of others. Just maybe someone has attempted an update to English and the data files have not come down/across. I simply cannot think of anything else. But will say improbable. I have always liked the #494 as there was never the temptation to update - you couldn't, so temptation.

[ronin]

Checking with people it is sort of questionable if the #494 can be updated.

Person with the ETX-80 has downloaded the software from Meade but never used it, Page 10 of manual implies it can, everything on the old Weasner site says it cannot.

The problem is that the ETX-80 came out after they ceased the ETX-60 and 70 and the #494 used on the ETX-80 appears to match the one used on the Meade DSnnnn scopes. So perhaps, just perhaps, Meade added the feature when Meade sort of resurrected the handset.

I personally am biased to thnking that you cannot update it. However it seems that the User Data - as in named stars etc - can (may) be updated, it reads that the controlling firmware program cannot be updated, but, again not 100% sure, the assorted user data can be. This would I suppose make sense, well some sense, maybe.

At this time I would guess that the fundimental controlling firmware cannot be updated but that the user data (the data list) can be. One list that you can get apparently relates to the ISS and that was never part of the #494 information. However I might be anything from 100% right to 100% wrong.

You also seem to need somethng called a #506 AstroFinder™ Software and Cable Connector Kit. No idea what that is. There is also an updater software on the Meade Support pages. Also no idea on performing and data update. Memory seems to say that it used to be a #505 cable, but that is another vague memory.

Cannot find any indication of how the data has been lost other then someone trying an unsupported update, in everything I read it was "Can the #494 be updted?" or the person had tried to update and failed, but no mention of lost data lists. Just wondering if someone bought the scope, decided to "update" then corrupted things and sent the scope back and didn't say what had occurred.

If you do try a User Data Update/download then I suggest you do not use a USB. I did keep reading how slow the download is as in half an hour and rates in very old numbers. Go find a serial port or get a serial card.

[AJH779]

Thanks! this makes sense of some of the things I have seen. I will contact the guy I bought it from and see if he has any ideas - but it is out of warranty.