Lidl LXD75 telescope help thread

:evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil: :evil:

Well I attached the replacement RA drive this evening.
I should have known there was going to be trouble ahead when after I
flicked on the switch and the red LED didn't light up....
Still Autostar was beeping away so I did the setup.

Exactly the same thing happend again.
Worked fine for a few minuets then the RA drive went off on its own
erratic merry way except
This time I can smell burning coming from the thing!

I can't figure it.
Battery 100%
Polarity fine
Balanced 100%
Handbox works fine on the ETX.

Well anyway,
Thats that.
I'm off to Lidl for my refund tomorrow.

I have to say, I'm just not surprised unfortunately, I figured that with so many failures that a new motor will do just the same thing again, get your money and get a better scope.

Definatly!

I reckon I've figured out the problem.
With the RA drive off you can turn the RA cog on the mount.
As you turn the wheel gently (mimicking a slew) It feels as if the gears inside are 'slipping'.

There is no way this scope was going to run smoothly in the RA, new drive or not.
With all the 'slipping' the main drive part (motor) got burned out.

I emailed Meade in Germany just to see the reply.

As I suspected, the worm gear inside the mount is broken.
This is why the (old) and replacement drive constantly did a
'stop-start, stop-start' motion (as the Teeth on the RA ring slipped out of place)
untill the motor finally burned out or shorted under the stress.


So at this stage I'd need a second replacement RA drive and now a
replacement worm gear to fix it.
Thanks but no thanks.
I want my 600 snoots back.




So, I wonder, if I'm really really good next year will Santa bring me an 12'' LX200R
for Christmas?

Has anyone got one that actually works [unquote]

I got mine partially working after several false starts. I first tried it in mid December. The first problem I had was that I could not control the speed of the RA drive. It went off at what I think was maximum speed. Then when I tried the Easy Align it went off and did its own thing, the tube fouled the tripod. I did a reset and it seemed to work ok, indoors. The sky had clouded over.

My next attempt was on Mon 22 Jan. Doing the Easy Align it slewed looking for the first alignment star, Capella. It got into roughly the right area of the sky, but at least 15 degrees away from Capella. I was beginning to get worried at this stage. But I persevered and moved the scope to point at Capella using the arrow keys on the handbox. It then slewed looking for the second alignment star, Procyon. Again the same problem, 15 degrees or more away from the desired star. I did the same again, moved the scope using the arrow keys on the handbox to centre on Procyon. I then went on the "Grand Tour". The first object was the moon. I was amazed to see that the crescent was centred in the findersope and not far off centre in the 20mm eyepiece of the LXD75. The next object was the Orion Nebula. Again it was centred in both the finderscope and the main scope. It got lost on the next object, the Pleiades. I was having problems earlier with the cable connections of the handbox to the scope computer. The handbox would revert to the startup without warning and I had to re-align. I gave up after that.

I haven't had a chance to try it out since. My conclusion so far is that the GOTO appears to work well following alignment on the two alignment stars chosen by the scope computer. There appear to be problems with the cable connections to the handbox and the 12V power supply. I was disappointed that the initial alignment to the two chosen stars was so far out. I had done the polar alignment as described in the instruction manual. I did not use the polar alignment scope. I just set the latitude to approx 53 degrees, pointed the scope to the north and centred the tube on polaris. I used that as my German Equatorial north position.

Hope this is of some use. I intend to keep trying and will report any further problems, or hopefully, successes!

Paddy

I wouldnt worry about the scope not bieng bang on the alignment stars,
you'd have to polar align and set the latitude pretty perfectly for it
to be dead on at alignment, and anyway (not to sound pedantic)
thats exactly what alignment is,
alignment.

As long as it slews to and centers the objects you want after 'allignment successfull' your on the money.
(unless again you want to do long exposure photography)

Your problem sounds like a power issue, more to the point,
the handbox dosent like any , even slight, dips in power, and it seems
this might be happening.
I suggest buying something like this:


www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servl...amp;categoryId=31417

The power pack has 2 outlets,
handy to run the scope or an optional item.
It also has a light which is very handy for setting / packing up in the dark.
the charge on these things can last for weeks on end.

word of warning.
Make sure if you do attach any power tip to the scope you know
what the polarity of the tips should be
or you could frazzle the thing.

Whatever you do I hope it works out for you.