Aligning problems

Hi everyone,

As some of you may aleady know,i have had alot of difficulties regarding aligning my LXD 75.

But these problems never went away, everytime i align it it is miles off the target.

I thought aligning was suposed to be easy, accurate and non-stressful.

So far mine is none of the above.

Can anyone help me, I've tried everything.

Hi john

im using a LXD75 mount aswell at the moment i was out lastnight with it had a few problems aligning....had to do it two or three times i think i had a problem like that before aswell and it turned out to be a power problem like low batteries or sometimes when it crosses threw meridan watch the connections incase they get wrapped around that causes "MOTOR FAULT FAILURE" ........also i had tension worm gears aswell i think that can cause inaccuracy.....hope this helps nothing more annoying :x

Also have an LXD 75 that I use for visual only
Assuming no obivious mechanical issues, GOTO's can be good. (But read on).
I find that initial alingement stars are reasonable close on Easy Alingment. If I stay close to the aligned star area, GOTO accuracy is good. Cross the meridian and you should probabally have done 3 star alingement to begin with.
I find that using High Precision mode is very usefull. System picks a bright object close to a fuzzy. Sync to the bright thing and GOTO is great.
This never gets mentioned on teh LXD forums.

Donal

Tony,

You say that 'Motor Fault Failure' I had the same problem but mine said 'Motor Unit Fault' and I had to get Meade yo send me a new RA motor box.


Donal,

Thanks for that, I'll try that tonight and see what i get.

Sorry john ye thats what i ment to say "motor unit fault" but it only ever happens when it crosses threw the meridian and the cables get twisted lastnight it happend and after that i just kept an eye on the cables and moved them if needed an no problems....ye im out again tonight myself so il let ya know how it goes

Thats a standard error message. From sticking drive train, crashes to simply bad batteries (not enough power to turn the motors).
Presume the RA, DEC axis rotate freely by hand?
The extra pull of cables could be the cause.
With batteries I have just switch batteries and to quote M Weasners favourite phrase 'Retain and recalibrate'. Might be worth a try.

Hope this is of some use.

Donal