Help! Is my scope broken??!!

[Johnboy2011]

First proper clear night with my second hand scope and it's on the blink!

It was as all ok and I was having a good look round, with no moon at last, but then a message flashed up on the autostar that I think said dec motor fault. It then, I think, said something about checking motors, but there is no more slewing up or down. It tried to then a couple of times without prompting. I brought the autostar inside for half an hour to dry it it but no joy. I've brought the scope in now to dry out. I've read that the autostar can be sensitive to due/cold but I'm starting to panic that the scope may be bust.

Can anyone help??!!

Thanks ,

John:(

[barkis]

What kind of power supply are you using John?

The Autostar can throw up all sorts of spurious messages if there is a low voltage supply. The HBX cable can sometimes be a problem too, a poor connection can trigger off motor failure messages.

Ron.

[Johnboy2011]

Hi Ron,

I'm using a mains supply, 12v converter, through an extension lead from an RCD. I must admit I am sure there is a dodgy connection there somewhere as sometimes there is now power to the scope at all.

I can't beleive it's now clouded over as well! This definatley tests my patience!!

Thanks,

John

[pbyrne]

Hi John

I would change the extension lead. When I got my LX200 I connected it to an extension lead, when the power was turned on the scope would begin to rotate until the cords became entangled and I had to turn the power off. I was perplexed, couldn't figure out what the trouble was. I had trouble with this lead before so I replaced it and have had no trouble since.

Try the lead first and see how you go from there.

[Johnboy2011]

Thanks Paul, I'll try it iside now with no extension and let you know.

John

[Johnboy2011]

Nope, no joy. Just tried it plugged straight into the wall inside, it slews left/right but not up and down. It now seems totally dry from the earlier dew.

I think there is an iffy connnection though as the power flicked on an off a couple of times then.

[pbyrne]

Could the trouble be the cable from the controller to the dec motor?

[Johnboy2011]

Paul,

Do you mean from the autostar? When the scope was outside I unplugged the autostar and brought it in for half an hour to dry out, but still no joy. But maybe, I'm not sure. I've left it plugged in for a while now and tried every now and then but still just left/right only.

Pretty fed up!!

John

[jleach29]

I get motor mount failures with my meade etx when it is really cold, but I just have to turn it off and on and start my polar alignment over. it does sound like a bigger problem that you are having.

[Johnboy2011]

I've just tried again this mmorning and still no joy.

I'm starting to think this might be a bit more serious. Does anybody have any ideas, or do I need to start thinking about finding somewhere to get it repaired?

Is it even economic to go for a repair or maybe just try and find a second hand fork?

Yhanks,

John

[CGolder]

The folks are cheap to buy second hand but are rare and get snapped up pretty quickly, i have had a faulty auto star before but it just turned off and died and never come back to life.

have you done a motor calibration?

[Johnboy2011]

No, how do I do that?

It was left on and just started slewing in roughly 20deg increments on it's own ! I turned it off and now the led is on but no autostar, does that sound similar to your autostar death?

John

[Johnboy2011]

Autostar back on now??!!

[CGolder]

It sounds to me like a calibration issue, i have had similer on a etx base, setup, telescope, make sure it thinks its the right model and in the same section sshould be calibrate motors

Sent from my ZTE-RACER using Tapatalk