Відео

Yes, one hand controller still does it. I could be the ribbon to the LCD. Sometimes cleaning its ends, where it plugs into the screen or circuit board, might help. It also could be the screen going bad, but after it warms up it gets brighter. Do not know how long it will have life before searching for a new LCD screen. Some company is now making replacements. I saw something on a the LX forum about that. have not research it out. The UA-cam guy “Turbo Talks Tech” has some videos on hand controller repair. You also might want to check the plugs in the scope's base circuit board and hand controller's plugs and those soldering connections.

@@gadgetmanbowen3081 I think its power or a capacitor. I just put a brand new LCD in the one that is exibiting the problem. I've had good luck jumpering power directly to the voltage regulators to bypass any internal trace issues. Thats my next step on this one.

@@bart1825 I have no idea how to do that. Maybe you could do a UA-cam video on that for others to see. Many people have issues with the LCD screen and buttons keys.

Thank you

Your welcome

Thank you for viewing and commenting. I does help put my 10" onto the wedge, no bending down except to get it out of the case. Nor lifting up to my shoulder which at my age could make me lose my balance.

I can offer some suggestions and you also might want to go to the LX200GPS group located in the groups.io website. There are better experts on the Meade products than I am. If you do not have a manual, the Meade.com website has them. Autostar II hand controller has a setting to slow down the letters so you can read the message and to change the contrast of the letters. Try that first. There may be some UA-cam videos on using the hand controller that are more in depth than my videos are. Sometimes the soldered joints may need to be reheated at some locations on the circuit board. Also, the ribbon cable that goes to the LCD screen may need cleaning and that is usually the problem on the LCD text screen. There are several UA-cam videos on that topic also. Here is one link; ua-cam.com/video/hPpxVjHqhjs/v-deo.html&ab_channel=JohnCarter Check the button battery on the circuit board in the telescopes’ base. It maybe low or dead. When putting back in the button head screws, put a little grease on the threads. It helps prevent rust and locking. Stainless screws into aluminum screw holes tents to cause electrolysis because they are two different metals and prone to have moisture get to them because we are outside at night when dew happens. If you are having issues with the buttons, I would suggest getting the self-adhesive touch button pad insert that I showed on one of my videos. They are under $15 as I recall. I got several because I had several AutoStar II hand controllers for backups. Link; buttonworx.com/telescopes/33-Autostar.html Sometimes it could be the RS232 plug or cable connections to the hand controller or the telescope base. I have had to replace those plugs several times over the years. Sometimes I had to replace the 4-wire telephone type wire that those plugs use. If you need to fix them get a good wire clamp device for that plug type. The wire clamp would be good to have two or three of those different computer type plugs; www.amazon.com/BASGI-Crimping-Modular-Ethernet-Crimper/dp/B0CFY57BT2/ref=sr_1_8?crid=3CFACN8GGVZYX&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.sq_SpRgXnaeehfIqSBlKcGgrEVqSDgWbaeobW77EPklZyxTeB9rGQKFJh6AuGk4Cakurnr-TnMWnnBn5jF7ZIfh3xI8giEx79X4IurXj7v5KOOCKLQw_kcaVSe5FxIF-W8Iv7DbGK0DyLb2LijM7QDESGWhsf_M0ep7z5ClE10M3pJL_2i02u8vHXaqrrhe2TdWhhz0MxGCiJQ0ucTVMKuOE2gj8IEtMxEBifhE5NbJ2pFkKu4XNTd17MfvtfaiC1VbhDjOkiC_9NMXBM3Qj4Lr5F6CUaqaGU-8YwvuFQlE.NsqhtZAQNVoejsoVujrx7GSAId8xO53pP-fA507bapE&dib_tag=se&keywords=RS-232+crimper+tool&qid=1709359290&s=hi&sprefix=rs-232+crimper+tool%2Ctools%2C147&sr=1-8. Hope the above helps.

@@gadgetmanbowen3081 Major respect for the in depth reply, I’ll look into your suggestions when I get the chance to. Thank you good man

Glad the video helped you . Thanks for watching.

What is the contact to be about?

How to use the guiding with LX200 and connesting of teh cables?@@gadgetmanbowen3081

Thank you

That is a 3D print. I have a silent video on doing the Microfocuser mode using a ZWO EAF; In the text below the video, there is a link to download the drawing file and a l ink to the UA-cam video I when by for the mode. Here is the info: Ref: • Ep 038 - How to Make a Home Made Auto... this link has a link on the page to the 3D model to download. www.thingiverse.com/thing:437... I found a printer to do the 3D print. You will have to search for one in you area or online but you need the 3D file to send to them.

The airport is not far away from where I live. The planes are low for landing and takeoff.

@@gadgetmanbowen3081 i thought you were gonna say its my motor mount noise lol

Thank you and it is heavy.

Curious about your use of the microfocuser and diagonal as it relates to your image quality. I have a similar setup with a 10" LX200GPS, ZWO cameras etc. But I am using an ASIAIR Plus for control. I'd be eager to learn more about your ZWO modified fine focuser also. Whats the best way to reach you?

@@robertwiley3062 My email is gadgetman4520 (AT symbol) att (PERIOD symbol) net. Got the suggestion to use the diagonal from another UA-cam subscriber and saw a setup on UA-cam also. Still trying the setup but sky conditions and wind have hampered me. Only difference I see is Focal Length changed for NINA. Not a big issue, you just change the FL to what NINA states it is in your telescope settings in NINA.

I use NINA when I am imagining to Park the telescope, I also use my hand controller at times. When using NINA, it parks, and the hand controller notifies you to turn off the telescope. NINA does not turn off the telescope. Sometimes I turn on the Park when setting up sessions in NINA, which automatically parks after the last session. Or you can uncheck that feature and Park with the hand controller or NINA’s button control under the Telescope tab. For Forum help, I most of the time go to the LX200GPS Group, search for groups.io. Sorry for not looking at my channel for so long. Hope this information helps.

In this video you have to watch the slewing and stop it if you are going to have a contacting condition. There will be some areas of the sky you cannot image when the camera sticks out the back to avoid collisions. I have another video putting the camera on a 2" diagonal that makes it go vertically up. I have done some images at night and tested in the house using the vertical train. However, due to weather I have not been able to do much. Another person mentioned the vertical imaging train and stated it works for him. Do not know how a reducer will work in the vertical imaging train.

I made a PDF on 11" x 17" size paper just now and cropped the paper but still will have to be printed on 11x17 or maybe smaller paper sizes in parts. I can email it to you or put in on my drop box for you to download. But I will need your email to put it on drop box. I have not tried it in the field as yet. Been too hot here in the Deep South USA. Should work on the LX. The wood one for the Sky-Watcher one works on its GEM, but it was really simple to make.

Thanks for the tips!

Do not know what model 12” LX200 you have but a club member had one that weighed close to 100-lbs. We had to help him put it on the tripod. Putting that beast on a wedge will not be an easy task. Unless you have the style that has the joint in the forks. A school had one in a Dome that had the joints in the forks allowing removal of the telescope and half of the fork arms lengths without removing the base. I was thinking about de-forking mine and using it on the Sky-Watcher EQ6-R Pro (GEM) I have now. But the 10” SCT weights 26-lbs off the forks. That is near the maximum limit of my Sky-Watcher. The GEM will take a Celestron 9.25” SCT with added weight for guide scope etc. If I had to do it all over again, I would have gotten a good GEM over a fork mounted telescope. That was a good night in my backyard with the 10” LX. Do not remember if the Moon was out and I had just put on the ZWO EAF a little while back. I changed out the nylon gears years ago to metal gears from Peterson Equipment. Adjusted reducing the gear meshing play in both RA and Dec gears from a video I saw on MeadeMods. Here is a link to his videos, he does a lot of Meade work; www.youtube.com/@meademods/videos. I even drilled a hole in the arm and base bottom plate to access the adjustment screw, so I do not have to remove the arm’s cover or the base’s cover. But on the mount/tripod, I cannot access the bottom adjustment screw. You should not have to adjust them for some time after setting them. Maybe check them once in a while when off the tripod. You will need to do the calibration and training programs covered in the Meade hand controller. I also did the PEC training, and it does take about 20 to 30 minutes. Training does not have to be done all the time, maybe a couple of times a year. You can view the hand controller’s Matrix in the manual to see where certain commands are to do the training. Page 24 has the Matrix, page 29 covers some other training/calibrate/settings and page 39 is PEC; www.meade.com/downloadEntityFile/assets/product_files/instructions/LX200GPS_manual.pdf I customized my Park position and have entered several viewing sites, but GPS also can do your location/time/date without you having to enter in time and date and selecting the site. In PHD2, I DO NOT turn ON the guide in one direction selection. Never have tried that feature. Balance is the key and backlash (covered in the manual). After I removed my bigger guide scope and the rear cell weight, I was able to balance with just two-barrel weights. Now, that was with the image train straight out (horizontal) the back of the Microfocuser and not using a focal reducer. That position will at times collide with the equatorial wedge or the telescope’s base. You have to watch it when slewing and be quick to shut down if a collision is going to occur. Meade told me that setting the RA or Dec limits does not work on a wedge setup. I am now trying the vertical imaging train, but balance is tougher. Again, still not using a Focal Reducer. I just found on ScopeStuff a weight system which fits on my barrel weight rail that may help me with balancing for the vertical imaging train. I have not tried the off-axis guider (OAG) method that many recommend for this long focal length (FL). I have an older Meade OAG but it is large and bulky. If you look into an OAG be aware that you may want a bigger prism size than some of the manufacturers provide in their OAGs’. As for back focus, Meade Tech people told me that unless I was using a Focal Reducer in my Microfocuser, then the 55mm back focus is not required. But if I use the focal reducer the 105mm back focus is required from the back glass of the focal reducer. The focal reducer would be screwed to item L on page 5 in the manual which is inserted into the item C (Microfocuser). Without a focus reducer I just insert the 2” nose adapters, on the camera, into item C and tighten down with item I (thumb screws). Now, attaching directly to the rear cell, not using the Microfocuser, might require both back focus settings as I have seen on other brands of SCT’s. Hope this information is helpful to you. Clear skies.

Thank you for such a full reply, I’ve considered a belt dove conversion offered by an English company but it is rather expensive. I’ve adjusted the gear mesh and I’ve got the metal gears. I’m mounting the telescope on a permanent mount in a box in the backyard. I can run power out to it quite easily for heating or an extractor fan quite easily if needed. I’ll bring it inside for particularly bad weather or if we’re going away. What is your regular arc seconds guiding error that you’re happy with? Thanks for the tip about the oag I was thinking of grind one of the larger mirror models for the ease of use, one benefit of having such a large sct is that there’s space available in the focus tube. So balance and pec! Thanks and good luck

@@timbingham8881 “What is your regular arc seconds guiding error that you’re happy with?” That is a question I do not know really how to answer. I have watched many a UA-cam videos on PHD2 guiding. Many tell you to avoid looking at the graph but look at the Tot, usually at the bottom left of the screen in the graph window. It is the RMS Error [px] information. You would like the graph to be as flat as possible without other lines going upward also. But, from what I understand you want the Tot to be under 1.00. I do not know if that is the Error number or the [px] number. I always thought it was the [px] number. Anyway, the LX is usually under [0.60] and it has been higher over 1.00 and lower but my Sky-Watcher EQ-R Pro GEM is really much better and lower. So, I know it is not the guiding camera or the telescope, but it is the Meade mount and maybe the balancing, since I am using the same guiding camera and guiding scope on both rigs. For the LX, with the ZWO ASI294MC Pro I am taking images with 2x2 binning after reading, that due to the focal length and seeing conditions I should be doing that. Haven’t had much luck with night skies since reading that to see if I get better images. Then there was something about the [px] I am trying to learn. Now I am confused on what Tot I am to look for. One video talked about Astronomy Tools - CCD Suitability Calculator: astronomy.tools/calculators/ccd_suitability and that is where I determined I needed to change to the 2x2 or 3x3 binning. Do not know how accurate that calculator is because, on my setup the resulting Focal Length is more than the listed focal length in the calculator for my LX. You can type in your own FL. NINA gives a warning window if the FL entered for the telescope is wrong. When I read what the warning shows for the FL, I go back to Equipment tab and type in the FL the warning produced for the telescope and all works after that. Still learning even after all these years and taking what I thought was some nice photos. Maybe I just got lucky in the past.

Well, if it is the button contacting the circuit board, there are two possible fixes that I have done. One was using an electrically conductive paint material, but I like the adhesive applied button card. I now have the button card on three of my AutoStar-II hand controllers and put one on a fourth one I sent out to a fellow astronomer. My video shows the adhesive card I installed almost a year ago for that hand controller. This is the one I like, Buttonworx, and purchased several, one for each of my AutoStar-II controllers. I have a total of three, with two for backup now; buttonworx.com/telescopes/33-Autostar.html Buttonworx Info on the product they make; ua-cam.com/video/fVY6zTXVfV0/v-deo.html&ab_channel=p1repair Buttonworx Videos of repairing many types of controllers; www.youtube.com/@p1repair/videos UA-cam video on the paint on product; ua-cam.com/video/GDXwmaheZE8/v-deo.html&ab_channel=TurboTalksTech Sometimes it could be the cable also. The plugs are RJ-22 or RJ-9 or RJ-44 they are 4 Position/4 Conductor type connectors. Having 4-contact pins and 4-slots for the wire. These are different from the RJ-11 which is 6 Position/4 Conductor, meaning 6 positions for wires but only uses 4 wires as contact. They are a little wider than the RJ-22. If your LCD screen is fussy then maybe the contacts need cleaning. On one hand controller I had to remove the ribbon cable and use a hand sewing needle to lift up the contact pins very slightly inside the plug on the circuit board. That helped. Now the RJ-22 pins at the telescope’s control panel and in the hand controller may need some upward movement also. That is a bit tricky, and I used a dental tool that had a j-point. Be very gentle and careful on lifting all pins. They only need to be lifted a small amount. Hope this helps.

@@gadgetmanbowen3081 Thank You!! Warm summer nights inspired me to again tackle my Failed last year contact cleaning struggle. Last year 'Aggressive' cleaning went from couple to most buttons working, but NOT all. :-( After this inspirational video I happened upon Button Worx, - 4 Meade and 2 SynScan ordered. Now eager to view ALL your helpful vids !!! Good Job !!!

Thank you for the info and reply. I will look into that weight system. Lots of info to take in for sure. I have been trying to get better tracking for many years now. The LX was my first big purchase back in early years of 2000. There are times I got really nice pictures with the telescope but that mostly occurred at the club's dark site.

I welcome recommendations about getting my rig to track better. I re-read your suggestions and did some searching on the pancake weight system you mentioned. I assume the weight system you are suggesting is the one where the pancake weight can be screwed in and out on the treaded bar that is connected to a dove tail plate that is connected to the bottom of the telescope. Is that correct? Is there a potential problem with the projected pancake weight and its threaded bar colliding with the wedge’s sides? I saw a system that listed for a Meade 10” LX and got a sticker shock. I moved my Dew Buster controller to the East arm to add weight to that side. I read that the east side should be a little heavy when balancing the setup, so the gears are engaged. I realize that when that side slews to the other side that feature is probably not working. As for the rear cell items, I have not changed anything out from what the telescope came with when I purchased it new twenty years ago, other than Bobs nobs for collimation and Peterson Precision kits for the gears from Nylon to metal and a focus knob upgrade. The opening of the rear cell attachment piece is original and does have a 37mm opening but I need that piece to attach the Microfocuser’s adapter ring for the Microfocuser’s connection. It did not occur to me that beyond the 37mm opening I had 48mm openings to the camera’s sensor. However, the camera’s sensor is nowhere near 48mm wide. As for the back focus of 105mm, Meade tech people told me not to worry about back focus unless I use the 6.3 reducer, then the 105mm would apply from the glass of the reducer. I had asked them about both the 55mm and the 105mm back focus last year. I did put a small amount of tension on the Microfocuser’s ball bearing set screws. I also tightened down the nose pieces on the 2” diagonal. The last few nights that I was using the vertical setup, I did not experience any slippage or rotation as I did a few months ago when I first tried the vertical setup. Seeing conditions in my backyard are Bortle 7 and at the club field it is Bortle 4.5. But my backyard is getting worse I think on light pollution. I have noticed in my backyard that EAF and plate solving has more failures than at the club’s field and the light pollution filter does not help in the backyard either. The light pollution filter may help on taking pictures but the EAF and plate solving it does not.

Glad to help out.

Thanks for coming to my UA-cam channel. You mentioned working on your Nexstar 6SE. Since it is a Celestron product you might need to use Celestron’s CPWI program on your computer. There are many videos using CPWI and some with NINA connection. One using NINA suggested using the Hub setting in telescope setting in NINA not the CPWI connection setting. The astronomy club I am in has a Celestron mount in the dome and it works well with CPWI for the alignment but I use NINA for taking photos and I do have the setting for the telescope connection set to the Hub connection but still use CPWI for star alignment. Here is the link I found; ua-cam.com/video/VGn0930-oio/v-deo.html&ab_channel=StevenMorris. Now some others use the CPWI setting in NINA and maybe they have not had issues with Drop Outs. Another UA-cam channel source you might want to view is by, AstroBlender.

@@gadgetmanbowen3081 Thank you!

Yes, I still have the motor. It was working fine when I did the conversation. I put it in a plastic bag for safe keeping. Are you looking for a motor? I would just do the modification to an EAF so you can get auto focus done with programs that do that. The ZWO EAF can come with an electric hand controller. Assuming you are into astrophotography or plan on getting into it. I think my UA-cam channels allows you to email me for additional discussions.

Thanks for viewing my UA-cam channel and the construction offer. Glad to help out and share with things I have learned. Video having the PDF drawings ua-cam.com/video/bJTRpVheqO0/v-deo.html&ab_channel=GadgetmanBowen. If you want the actual file, send me an email to gadgetman4520@att.net and I will attach the PDF. Please indicate in the subject box what you are asking about ex: PDF dwg. Clear skies.

Well, it is not that long to do, only when you are trying to explain the procedure. I stopped using Nebulosity to preview. I now go straight to NINA’s camera view. You do not have to run the ASCOM diagnosis either, just the connection to the telescope. Probably takes me 5-minutes when I am in the field.

@@gadgetmanbowen3081 it’s like anything else just have to get pass the learning curve. I Appreciate the insight!

Thank you for the idea and 3D file. I have another UA-cam video on running the autofocus routine in NINA with the EAF on the LX200.

I was told the f3.3 came with its own short spacer, which it did, and the adapter is shown in the video. The f3.3, I was told, is for use with the old Meade DSI cameras, which now crash my computer and never were really that good. I have tired the f3.3 with and without the Meade DSI cameras but never could get it to produce round stars over the entire field or I could not get focus. However, that is probably my error somewhere. Of course, I had it in the Microfocuser and maybe I should have it connected directly to the rear cell, but I have not done that in some time now. As for the f6.3, I use it before I found out it needed the 105mm back spacers from the back of the focal reducer. Since I use the Microfocuser the f6.3 goes into the Microfocuser and produces a much longer extension which will hit the equatorial wedge base and sides at certain positions. However, if you do not use the Microfocuser, then the f6.3 would screw onto the rear cell’s threads and then you screw on the back spacers, but you will still have the issue of hitting the wedge at certain positions. I have upgraded my Microfocuser with a ZWO EAF. I have a video on using it. Now to learn how to set limits on the Meade LX so as not to hit the equatorial wedge. Even when I use my DSLR I still have to watch for contact issues. Hope this helps.

Maybe I did not change the tracking mode in the hand controller. I will have to check that next time out. Thanks for noticing that.

Glad to help. See the video that you can pause to screen shot the plans.

AActually, it is a shot of black spray paint where I marked the legs positions with chalk. I used 12-inch square solid, apx 1.5" thick, concrete paver blocks and frame perimeter with treated 2x4’s. They are not exactly 12” square. I measured the blocks and figured out how many I wanted to make the frames inside dimensions matching the blocks layout. I can tell you that there were not any gaps between the blocks once completed. Started laying the blocks out at the perimeter and worked inward. Last block was tight, but a rubber mallet helped set it in. Did not have to pound too much but it did need some help. Now over time the wood has gave way and I now have outer perimeter blocks showing gaps. I plan to redo this fall or spring. About 2” of leveled sand is under the blocks.

@@gadgetmanbowen3081 Trees, gotta love 'em, but, my best viewing location will be in the front lawn and those 3 SOLID 4x8x16 blocks when set down into the ground, not just on top of the grass so I can mow over them, will give me a level, stable, and repeatable location which serves well.

The Meade Microfocuser does not work with ASCOM drivers. So, you cannot remotely control it via software like NINA. Motor was fine and I saved it for storage. Now I can use autofocus features in software. I will say that as the video hopefully covered, I have the ZWO focuser out half of the Meade’s focuser travel as the starting point. I then manually get a fairly good focus at that point with the focus knob. After that I let the software do its thing. That gives it room to move in and out. The ZWO program lets you put in the limits of the focuser travel from zero to your focuser’s max travel. In the Mead case it is 4000 as I recall being the max.

You can view my Meade to EAF video get info on the project. I did the modification based upon someone else's modification.

Your welcome

When the video starts showing the telescope, it is the side view of the telescope and you can see the guide scope is at the top of the picture with the silver guide camera attached to it. The guide camera’s USB cable (gray) comes out of the back of the guide camera and travels down to the USB Hub. I do not use the autoguider port which is an ST4 cable. The two ports beside the autoguider port, on the base of the telescope, are used and go to the USB Hub also. Hope this answers your questions. Thanks for watching the video.

@@gadgetmanbowen3081 thank you! I’ve been struggling to get mine tracking and every little bit helps. PHD2 just says my mount can’t use pulse guiding. Anyway I’m glad to see it’s possible. Love your videos!

@@ChristianPsencik Thank you for your kind words and liking the video. I have spent many years trying to get things tracking right on the LX as I covered in the text after the video’s intro. In retrospect, I think the main issues were the balance, gear messing and PEC training. Check out MeadeMods UA-cam videos on how to take the slop out of your RA and DEC gear meshing. I got the balance to work out by removing the 80-mm ShortTube Orion guide scope and going down to the 50-mm Orion Mini guide scope with helical focuser but still using my Orion StarShoot Autoguider. You need to balance from 90-deg up to horizontal position. That is the telescope should not move with out the clutch engaged at any position during the balancing. The balance to the right or left can be achieved with weights on the arms but I got it to balance with my DewBuster controller mounted to the left arm. I think some people suggest some downward movement to the east is recommended but not much. I have not tried the OAG method of guiding as yet. That maybe another project after my recent knee replacement starts letting me get around better. As for connections, I have two older #507 Cable Connector Kit adapters and I got two RS232 to USB adapters from StarTech (Part# ICUSB232IF) for both of my RS232 ports on the telescope’s base. As mentioned before, I do not use the ST4 cable from the guide camera that would plug into the Autoguider port, but I do use the USB cable from the guide camera to my USB Hub. In the past the ST4 cable has worked even on PHD. The next improvement was ditching the ST4 cable and changing to all USB connections and resolving the ASCOM drivers to use, as covered in the text after the intro screen. If you get the ASCOM drivers installed PHD should work well. Make sure your RS232 ports are being picked up as COM Ports by checking with Device Manager. If you are using the RS232 to USB adapter and you do not get a COM Port then the adapter is not correct or there are wiring connection issues in the flat 6-wire telephone cable. Hope this helps.

I did do a CAD drawings. I am in rehab right now for my Knee surgery. When I get back home I will contact you again or I will upload that file. Looking at maybe sometime next week to go home.

Home now and have PDF file for you on the drawing for the brace. Need to know how to get it to you.

Thanks 👍

I found out from others that when using the telescope’s Microfocuser, that the 55-mm back focus is not needed when not using a focal reducer for either the ZWO or the DSLR. You can just stick any needed nose extension on the camera and insert it into the Microfocuser. However, if you are using a focal reducer in the Microfuser you will need the 105-mm distance for my particular focal reducer. Newer focal reducers may require different back focus settings. If you are just mounting the camera to the telescope’s rear cell, without the Microfocuser, then the applicable back focus, 55-mm or 105-mm, will be required. Then you use the telescope’s manual focus knob to obtain focus. Clear skies.

Sorry I may have confused you on what the fix was about.