GOTO probs - Meade

[astro_dt]

Hi Sue

If you have the newer version that finds North itself, then I agree it shouldn't matter which one it pickes. My ETX is nearly 10 years old and has to be set up manually

Cheers

Danny

[rusirius]

Sue, with the discussion of gear backlash, it occurred to me that it is also neccessary to do the motor and drive training steps before attempting alignment. They don't have to be done every time, but should be done before attempting to align the scope for the first time and (for visual use) periodically thereafter. They do make a difference to the accuracy of the GOTO. The drive training in both horizontal an vertical directions must be done using a terrestrial object, preferrably in daytime.

Also, did you get the scope new or used? If used, then you might want to do a full factory reset of the Autostar before attempting a setup. Bear in mind though that if you do this, you will have to set up from scratch.

A time zone setting of zero is GMT 0, which is corect for Britain. If you are not located within the British Isles or within the GMT 0 timezone (you have not stated your location in your profile), you may need to change that.

Finally, like yourself, I don't have the same issue with date format as others have mentioned so that may well be down to the version of the Autostar firmware. So long as you are sure that the date and time are correct then that's fine.

[SteveP]

Sue

I'm a bit confused by one aspect of your problem. Your reference to the mount knowing where north is is confusing me. Which particular model of the ETX do you have? Unless the mount has some special locational sensing, ie more than just GPS positioning, then I don't understand how it knows which direction it is pointing. Is this a new Meade facility?

[CowboyJane]

Sue

I'm a bit confused by one aspect of your problem. Your reference to the mount knowing where north is is confusing me. Which particular model of the ETX do you have? Unless the mount has some special locational sensing, ie more than just GPS positioning, then I don't understand how it knows which direction it is pointing. Is this a new Meade facility?

Hi

It's the Meade ETX 105. When it starts auto-align, the first thing it does, and prints across the handset screen, is 'Finding Level'...

Then it's:

Finding North

Relevelling

Finding North (Tiny adjustments)

Finding Tilt

Relevelling

Finding Tilt

So as long as the mount/scope is in the correct home position, it will override anything else I do to and set itself up.

It looks like maybe training the drives and the original settings eg location, time etc are the only place things can be going wrong? Unless there's a technical fault somewhere... If this is meant to be beginner and idiot proof, then it 'aint working on this idiot! That's why I wondered about trying the Celestron with the moon align.

[SteveP]

CJ

There are several versions of the ETX. I'm assuming from your description that this is the very latest PE version with what Meade refer to as LNT - Level North Technology?

This new technology is not going to beat our collective experience!

Do you have your manual handy? From owning two Meade scopes previously, I've found that following the instructions to the letter - and taking no shortcuts- a few times is the best approach until it becomes second nature. Have you done this?

[SteveP]

So as long as the mount/scope is in the correct home position, it will override anything else I do to and set itself up.

I think from what you've done to date that I agree with you that it's either the location, the date or the time which is the culprit. I would also just check the process for defining the 'home position' when you're doing an automatic align. According to the manual, you set it differently from when doing a 'normal' 2 star alignment. Have you read this?

[CowboyJane]

Yes, I know about the two different home positions.

[rusirius]

I have LNT on my LX scope too, but I've found that the auto-align method is unreliable. I prefer to manually point the scope north and use the 2 star align method. This seems to work every time.

[sxinias]

Make sure that you have the correct time set to the nearest second. Also, after you have entered the time, check it a few weeks later. The time chip in my mount looses a few seconds each day which has a negative impact upon accuracy.