17 August 2008
8" LX90-ACF - So, What's Happening?
My apologies for not updating these reports before now. Over the few weeks since my last report I kept hoping to have news that I could post but the wait continued. And I'm still waiting. So I decided to post something anyway just to bring everyone up to date.
[30 Jun 08]
The second bad LX90 that was "repaired" arrived back at Meade for continued troubleshooting.
[19 Jul 08]
I discussed the LX90 situation with Meade while attending the Southern California Astronomy Expo at OPT. There is nothing I can publish at this time. The OPT web site shows that the LX90 should begin shipping again in August.
And now for a copy of an email I received that was sent to Meade. This is especially good in that it includes an audio recording (MP3 format) of the sound the bad LX90 makes. If you have a recent LX90 and it suffers from image vibrations along with a thumping or machine gun sound, check the recording. If it is the same as you are experiencing, you should contact your dealer or Meade for a repair (or warranty exchange) and let them know that it is exactly the same problem as I and many others have reported to Meade.
Subject: Re: FW: faulty repairs to 8" LX90 Sent: Sunday, June 29, 2008 09:07:18 From: Bob Lashley (rlashley...) To make sure that Meade technicians understand what the problem is, I've recorded a 33 second audio track of the LX90 tracking. I have attached the mp3 file to this email. Please forward this sound to whomever needs to learn why these telescopes are bad. I placed the microphone near the motor in the fork. I've amplified the sound so that it is obvious what we're hearing. The audio begins with the normal sound of the motors when the scope is tracking. 10 seconds into the audio, the first stutter occurs. During this stutter, anything in the FOV will bounce around wildly. About 21 seconds into the audio, another stutter happens. And likewise once again about 31 seconds into the audio. The actual frequency of occurrence of these stutters appears to be random. I've had them occur two seconds apart and sometimes a full minute apart, and anything in between. I hope this clarifies what the problem is. Thank you. -bob
I will post more news about my 8" LX90-ACF when I can. The wait continues...
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