Go to alignment and battery power issues (Meade etx)

[Nathan UK]

Hi everyone got my first go to scope today (as a travel scope) so I thought I would have a play with it tonight with it being clear....

the scope in question is only a little Meade etx 80 which I believe is ideal for what I was looking for as it is just a small spare piece of kit I plan on taking night fishing with me as the spring and summer comes in.

firstly I'm having trouble getting it aligned ....

im getting a few options, easy alignment? One star alignment and two star alignment which of the three should I go for?

once the scope does its initial move from its north home position and goes in the general area of the stars it plans on aligning with it wont work by remote is this normal? It will if I just press enter and agree but not before hand so I would have to align manually to get th Stars cantered .

also does anyone have experience with the Meade etx scopes? I put fresh Panasonic batteries in and after 20 mins of playing about I got the message motor error batteries low. I've read a little about people talking about 12v power packs ect and also about people using the square type batteries what would you suggest? Quite frustrated I was really looking forward to playing out with it tonight as the sky's clear.

hope your sky's are as clear as mine and you all have some great fun observing 

Nathan

[Demonperformer]

Hi Nathan

Firstly, yes the ETX80 is a lovely scope for what it is. It has been a while since I've used one, but I will try to help.

Batteries: it is very power-hungry (particularly if you are moving from object to object, rather than concentrating on one). However, it is 9v (6x1.5v batteries), not 12v. This would mean you would need some means of reducing the voltage of a standard 12v supply*. I bought a mass of rechargable 1.5v batteries, but, even so, it was one of the limitations that eventually drove me to upgrade.

Try Easy align first - this is two star alignment where the computer picks the stars [page 12 of the manual]. When the scope has slewed (duing the alignment procedure), it should be possible to move the scope using the arrow keys (or use the GOTO key to perform a 'spiral search') to get the star in the eyepiece. You should not have to move the scope manually during this process (and will mess up the alignment procedure if you do).

Not sure how much further forward this gets you. Without knowing exactly what went on, I know how easy it can be to want to get out and observe rather than read the manual. IF this was you, I would suggest that you take the time to familiarise yourself with the manual. Then go out again and try an easy align again. If you still can't get it to function as it should, further investigation will be required. Did you buy the scope new or second hand?

Thanks.

*EDIT: Just noted in the manual that it can accept a '9 to 12 volt' power supply.

[Nathan UK]

Thanks for the advice mate and I've had a good read of the manuals. Yes the scopes second hand but it came from a good friend who has only used it like once or twice and it was stored well.

i think the directional buttons didn't work after slewing due to the batteries being flat. I'm going to get some proper batteries today.

and believe it or not I've found a lot of people are using the 12v jump starters with a logos sucsess with this model. Makes the go to 'juiced up' well that's what I'm seeing online anyway