Meade LS Alignment Issue

[gsb54]

Guys,
I recently bought a Meade 8" LS ACF telescope. Choose that one due to the automatic alignment feature.

First few times out was very pleased with the telescope and it's ability to align itself. Since then something has happened and the scope is not finding the alignment stars. It is off by a fair amount, swinging past the stars it's looking for by about 15 - 20 degrees.

I believe what is happening is that the time zone is off. I looked in the scope information manual and it showed the right time but the wrong time zone (PDT instead of PST). I tried correcting that by selecting the correct time zone (PST) from a menu in the Setup menu. After doing that I looked in the scope info menu and found that the time zone was not correct but the date had been changed to the next day. So far I haven't been able to set the correct date, time and timezone all at the same time.

(Initially this was all done automatically using GPS. After the alignment problem cropped up I selected options that made more and more of the inputs manual in hopes of fixing the problem. Last night I thought I had it fixed so I returned everything to automatic (GPS used to establish time, date and location and automatic alignment selected. Found out however that the problem was still there when I let the telescope align itself).

I have resorted to using the 2 star alignment procedure along with my Telrad finder and that works. However I dont want to have to rely on that.

Any ideas?

[Joe Lalumia]

The GPS not getting a lock is a known issue with the older firmware. The latest firmware is supposed to correct that-- everyone seems to say to use an SD card to do the firmware update, and NOT the cable.

[danl]

If you use an SD card to update the firmware, make sure it is a mini SD card or mini SD adapter for a micro SD card. A standard size SD card will not work. Remember, you can not exceed 2 GB capacity on the card for it to work. If you don't have one already, order one from the internet as you will probably not find one locally. I have had no issues updating the firmware with a cable as long as the computer recognizes the scope and the handbox (Autostar III) is working with the scope.

Another thing to try is do a 'Restore Defaults' in preferences of the setup menu of the settings with the handbox.

[astrogeoguy]

You might try shutting down and re-starting after changing the time zone.

If you can visually see Polaris, stand behind the scope and check to make sure the scope appears to have a correct North measurement before it goes on to the star alignment.

Ditto on all the SD card comments.

Chris

[gsb54]

Thanks for the reply. I've found what the problem was (no thanks to Meade). There's a small ground transformer near where I set up and that cause the telescope to misalign by something like 10 degrees or so. When I set up at other sites, no problem but whenever I set up in my driveway anywhere near the transformer I get the same amount of misalignment...

[tmohr]

That's something I hadn't even considered. I am sorry you had the problem, but very happy that you found the solution.

[danl]

Glad you solved your problem. I am going to assume that this was probably affecting the programmed magnetic north alignment of the telescope. Just curious because I also have an electrical transform in the corner of my yard, how close to transformer were you to notice the alignment problem? Again thanks for the info.

[gsb54]

I wasn't real close (maybe within 30 feet or so). I may do a study at some point to see exactly how far I need to be before the effect goes away.

I'm sure you're right about it affecting the magnetic north alignment. I'd watch it go through the alignment steps and as it swung around to establish where north was it would stop short by 10 or so degrees. Then as it swung south to locate it's first guide star it would swing past that star by the same amount.

I was surprised by how little help Meade's customer service was, not that he didn't try. He did but I don't think the technical support people behind him we're very good. They kept coming back to the assumption that I had done something to mess it up and I had to keep reminding them that I didn't try any fixes until after the issue appeared. When I finally did figure out what the issue was and mentioned it to them, they were unconvinced. I don't find it a huge leap that a a strong electromagnetic field could affect an electro-magnetic sensor...

[Bob327]

No knock on Meade as they are no better or worst the Celestron when it comes to customer service... Both leave a lot to be desired..

BUT these guys at Meades Tech Support should have troubleshooting these LS scopes down pat by now...

Bob G

[danl]

I agree with you on your comments concerning Meade technical support/(Customer Service?). I believe none of these people are engineers or have a technical background. They provide 'canned' solutions from a notebook that lists what the problem is and here is your response! They should put this information into a troubleshooting section in the manual, but that is another discussion. I talked to one Customer Service rep and he told me that only one member has ever taken apart a telescope. So these are people who have never worked on the scopes.

I sent my telescope back to Meade for warranty work because after alignment it would not locate in the eyepiece the goto object selected and nor would it return to the last alignment star used right after trying to locate the goto object.

I believe I isolated the problem to the alzimuth axis encoder by using the landmark feature of the telescope in terrestrial mode. This takes out the GPS, LNT (level-north-tilt) alignment feature of the scope and of course the CCD camera. Using a a light beacon at the top of a radio tower as the landmark point of reference I observed each axis operation. Using only elevation motion the telescope could be moved away from the landmark point and would return dead on when instructed. The azimuth motion on the other hand would overshoot the landmark point. This seemed to indicate that the encoder was not reading all of the counts.

The customer service rep thought that was a good idea. It appeared like they have never though of using this technique to verify encoder drive operation.