I have problem with (Autostar #497) Align

George, I had this problem with a celestron mount. It turns out the date is in american format MMDDYYYY whereas here we use DDMMYYYY. I presume the same format is used in Greece?

Anyway I had been plugging in the date in european format. I guess it might be the same on the meade mounts since they are american too.

The LXD 75 mount is polar.

George

George --

Right, that's exactly my point. After a reset, I believe the 497 "wakes up" in Alt/Az mode. (The Autostar II does, anyway.)

You need to reset it to Polar.

-- Jeff.

In menu Autostar write polar always !!! doesnt changes

George

George, I had this problem with a celestron mount. It turns out the date is in american format MMDDYYYY whereas here we use DDMMYYYY. I presume the same format is used in Greece?

Anyway I had been plugging in the date in european format. I guess it might be the same on the meade mounts since they are american too.

In Autostar of Meade the format is ( 04 Jun 2006)!!!

George

George --
f it thinks it's in Alt/Az instead of Polar it might explain everything being messed up.

(It's Setup > Telescope > Mount on Autostar II; not sure if it's the same on 497 or not.)

-- Jeff.

My thoughts exactly, make sure if you use the scope in altaz mode that the scopes software is set for it.

oops, a bad typo, swap "altaz" above for "polar".

When, you try doing a slew to a bright star such as Albebaran, is it trying to point the scope towards the horison or some other completely wrong location?
Maybe you could try the following,

1, Turn on scope, in home position,
2, Open both dec and RA clutches and do a goto to Aldebaran or some other known bright star.
3, Let the motors run and complete the goto, obviously the tube is not moving as the clutches are open.
4, When the goto is finished, center the star manually throguh the finder/scope and then close both dec and RA clutches.
5, Then try a goto to any other bright star, it should atleast point roughly in the vacinity of that star, if it doesnt then maybe one of the following is happening.

You're lat/long co-ordinates are incorrect.
The north/south setting is incorrect.
The home position is not what you think it is.
The year/time is incorrect.

A friend of mine had MAJOR trouble with his ETX pointing until he realised he was starting up the scope pointing completely in the wrong direction.

In Autostar of Meade the format is ( 04 Jun 2006)!!!

I dont want to scare you but!

I remember reading somewhere (I think it might have been cloudynights.com) of a gentleman who had to return his LXD75 to meade three times before the problem he had was sorted. (which, if memory serves me, was the same problem as yours). I hope you dont have to go through such trouble.

George --

Here's another idea: try -2 for your timezone. I remember seeing somewhere that Autostar had something like this backwards....

-- Jeff.