GENERAL FEEDBACK Last updated: 29 May 2008

This page is for user comments and information of a general nature or items applicable to all LXD55 and LXD75 models. If you have any comments, suggestions, questions or answers to questions posed here, e-mail them to me and I'll post them. Please use an appropriate Subject Line on your message. Thanks.

Subject:	LXD75 - can it be used at 10 degree latitude?
Sent:	Tuesday, May 27, 2008 08:39:35
From:	chandrashekar g (chandrainsky@yahoo.com)
I am looking to buy an 8" scope and unable to decide whether I should go
for LXD75 which comes with GEM or LX-90.  I intend to use it for both
visual observations and astrophotography.  I have a couple of specific
questions:

1. With LX-90 is it a problem to balance the scope if I am using a heavy
lens (I currently use a 170-500 zoom with my Canon body) for piggyback
photography?  I have the same concern with prime focus/eyepiece
projection also.  How bad is the problem of field rotation?

2. With an LXD75 can I work at 10 degree North latitude without getting
into any issues?  One of my friends has bought a GSO setup which can't
be used at all at my latitude since the motor/counterweights hit the
mount.  I prefer a GEM over alt-az setup since it should be better for
astrophotography.

Finally, I have never seen either of the setups since here in India
there are no stores where I can get to see one.  Need your advice in
deciding which of these is a better all rounder.
 
Thanks,
Chandra

And:

Thanks a lot for the quick response.
 
Regards,
Chandra

Subject:	LXD75 problem
Sent:	Monday, May 26, 2008 10:42:56
From:	Andrew Dumont (bongo69@earthlink.net)
Hello Michael and good Memorial day to you.I just hypertuned my LXD75 SN
and my problem is this;I aligned Polaris in the polarscope (after
leveling and balancing the scope) and Polaris is no longer visible in
the OTA's FOV,in fact it isn't visible in the spotting scope
either,which has completely thrown any observing out the window.I
checked the DEC setting and it was reading about 20 degree's.I know that
the setting is suppose to be at 90 Degree's.How badly will this throw
the scopes alignment off,or will it even effect it?.This has got me very
upset to say the least!.The next possible solution?;how about Axis and
elevation alignment issues?.Could these be the problem(s)?.

I have been reading the manual and am very confused.On page 53 of the
LXD 75 manual;Method 2: Axis alignment procedures. It reads on line
#4.Adjust the tripod legs,polar axis altitude and/or polar axis azimuth
so that the wide,horizontal object you have chosen as a target is
positioned across the middle of the eye piece.Here is where the
confusion begins.Do I pick one of the 3 adjustments to use or do I
adjust all 3 for this procedure and if so...how?.This manual is quite
unclear and with that statement,I just don't understand what they mean!.

It seems that only half of this procedure makes any sense and I am
completely frustrated.HELP!!!!
  
Andrew Dumont

And:

Thanks for the quick reply.The reason I ask this is because,prior to the
hypertune.Polaris was in the FOV of both the main OTA and finder scope
and centered with the polarscope.I have tried to follow the manual
but,found it to be very confusing!.

I have always had good luck with my scope and have never had to make any
of these adjustments (not counting aligning the spotting scope to the
OTA),so aligning the telescope's optical axis with the polarscope and
GEM polar axis is opening a whole new can of beans for me so,please
forgive if I ask seemingly stupid questions.The reason I hypertuned the
mount was so I could take much longer exposures than before and to give
me a better goto and centering accuracy.I just hope that you don't get
tired of beating the same old horse when I ask lots of questions.When
you say aligning the telescope's optical axis with the polarscope and
GEM polar axis as described in the manual.Is that the same procedure as
shown on pages #53-54 of the LXD75 manual?.

And:

Thank you Michael,I'm just having a tough time understanding what the
manual is telling me.One of the parts I don't understand is on line 4 of
Method 2.They say to adjust the tripod legs,polar axis altitude and
polar axis azimuth.I just don't understand the purpose of adjusting the
legs? and as far as adjusting the polar axis altitude and polar axis
azimuth...I am just plain lost as to how to go about doing that.I guess
once I do it,any other time I need to I will know what and how to do
it?!.

And:

Whew....thanks for dumbing it down for me :) I was thinking that they
wanted all 3 and I had no clue as to how it was to be
done.Essentially,both procedures will be performed by the RA axis only
and that due north should have a visibility of at least 1 mile without
obstruction?!.I live on a decent size lake and will need to travel
around in order to find a good northerly exposure?!.That is of course I
am correct in my thinking?.

And:

That is what I was hoping for but,once again I became confused because
the manual indicates that the fine azimuth control knobs be pointed to
the north.HAHAHAHAHA,I'm quite a case to work with eh?. :)

And:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!.Well,I appreciate the help!!.I will give the procedures
a try tomorrow and hopefully it fixes the problems.The alignment stars
are at least 15 degrees off so,if I can get them back to the FOV,I will
give the scope another tryout and test the hypertune.Richard Harris from
scopetrader.com has offered to fine tune my mount if it doesn't work
very well at no cost except for shipping which speaks highly for
scopetrader!.

And:

Yeah,I thought of that last night when I was having the trouble and made
sure everything was set correctly.

And:

That is a thought except that I had Polaris centered in the polar
scope.I wonder if the Polar scope could be out of whack?.

And:

My apologies!.I was trying to quickly guesstimate the number.Which I
will put at probably 10 degree's.judging from memory of where the scope
was pointing to where the actual alignment star was,using the fist as
judgment.I performed a spiral search of a couple stars and the scope
made at least 6+ complete circles before the wanted star was just at the
edge of FOV.I have a torn ligament in my shoulder so,trying to keep a
accurate count of the numbers before the pain took over .To be honest
though,the number of revolutions was at least 6.

I myself keep trying to think of what the problem could be and I can't
think of anything.From where I was observing from,I know exactly where
polaris is.I will check my settings for my observing site to be sure all
is correct.

And:

Good afternoon...or evening Mike,I just got back from performing Method
#2 and am not sure that it went well.Instead of pointing the scope at a
northern horizon.I chose a more westerly direction across a nearby
lake,which the far shore line is probably 2 miles away.I lowered my
latitude adjustment to almost zero.I didn't want to go too far as the
counter weight would have hit the tripod leg and raised the 2 rear
tripod legs until the far shoreline was centered and horizontal in the
eye piece after I had rotated the scope so the counter weight shaft was
level with the shoreline.I then rotated the scope 180deg to position "B"
and using the up and down arrows,brought the shoreline into view at
about half of the FOV but,not centered and kept repeating this MANY
times.Their was a house that I used as a reference and each time I used
the up and down arrows only to get the house into FOV it was in the same
position each time.Now I don't know if I should have to touch the arrows
after 180deg rotation?.The way I interpret the manual is the object
should be in the FOV each time I rotate the scope 180 deg.What is
happening is,the far shoreline is level in position "A" but when I
rotate the scope on the RA axis 180 deg,the scope is pointed to the sky
and I have to use the arrows to bring the shore into view and visa
versa.Is this normal?.If not,I will take your suggestion and retry again
tomorrow.
Thanks again,
Andrew

And:

That was for Axis alignment.The procedure you are referring to elevation
alignment I believe?!.

And:

I certainly hope I have it right?!.Is it normal though to have the
shoreline/object in the eye piece in position "A" and have the scope
pointed much higher above the shoreline/object in position "B"?.

And:

Ok,thats what I was afraid of! :( .It did seem that I was defeating the
purpose!.Obviously I am missing a step in the process somewhere.I am by
no means ignorant and am trying  DESPERATELY to understand (as easily as
it seems to be to everyone else) what I am to do.I guess I am not
understanding what adjustments I am making if I am adjusting only using
the hand controller.This is where I say I am defeating the
purpose....arggggguh!.

Other questions are as follows and not mentioned in the manual; Am I
just powering the scope up,i.e. just let it initialize and nothing
more?.

Since the rear legs have been lengthened to allow the far shoreline to
be seen in the eye piece.Do I adjust each leg until the shoreline
appears horizontal in the eye piece or should I level the rear of the
tripod (using a level) side to side?.When I look through the eye
piece,the far shore ling appears (believe it or not) at a angle and not
because I am looking through the eye piece at a angle..Hahahaha,thought
I would save you from rolling your eyes and thinking WTF is up with this
guy!.According to the pix in the manual,this is not normal (Bottom of
page 53).

And:

I apologize for being such a pain in the butt!!!.I just want my scope
back!! :)

And:

Heh,once again this is something that the manual never mentioned (in my
manual).I was under the idea of just letting the autostar initialize and
nothing more.Now when you say "you then have to go through the alignment
steps to let the AutoStar know the current sky situation".Are you
talking about running the scope through the alignment procedure in
complete.Such as,for instance choosing a easy alignment and letting the
scope pick phantom stars to align on and then performimg the axis
alignment procedures or at what point during the telescopes star
alignment do I proceed with the axis alignment?.Do I perform the star
alignment before or after I adjust the scope for the axis alignment?.

Once again,I must appoligize for the stupidity of the questions but,it
appears that my manual is missing some key imformation.

And:

The procedure that you are talking about I believe is Method #2
,Procedure #2:To correct for elevation misalignment,using the cradle
adjustment screws.Which does not require the use of the Autostar hand
controller. I am refering to Method #2 Procedure #1: To correct for
attitude misalignment.Which does require the use of  the Autostar with
power on and I can't perform Procedure #2 until Procedure #1 has been
accomplished. 1.Plug in autostar and turn on power as described
previously in this manual.You will use Autostar's arrow keys in the
course of this procedure. Now with that said,When the scope is in
position "A" the object across the lake is centered in the eye
piece.When I manually flip the scope 180 degrees in RA,the scope is
pointed just above the horizon.I then slew the scope in DEC until the
object is back in veiw.I then flip again 180 degrees and have to repeat
the process of slewing the opposite way to get the object back into the
FOV.This is for attitude misalignment NOT elevation misalignment.

And:

Yay,I'm glad I'm not the only one that finds the manual a bit of a mess!.

And:

Exactly...hahahahahahaha.I spent about 3 hours just spinning my
wheels.Ok,so what is the LXD adjust?.

And:

I've noticed that!.They seem to leave a lot of vague information!.I have
read ,read and reread the manual and only by e-mailing you have I had
any sense of understanding.

Well,at least you know my frustrations.

So,reading through Method #2 procedure #1 what extra information would
you have added to make it easier for the common man to understand?.

And:

*WHEW* hahahahaa,me breathing a big sigh of relief.Now that one,I think
I can handle without a hitch!!.It certainly makes a heck of a lot better
sense than the other methods!!.I will definitely let you know about the
results and am very confident that it will cure my problems....I hope
(fingers crossed)!.

One question before I let you off the hook.It mentions to set the
latitude above 45 degree's (which will put the scope very near the light
post noted in the manual) but,says nothing about wheather the mount
should be leveled.

And:

Well,I certainly hope I wasn't the one who pushed you over the
edge!!.Their is a part in method 3 that mentions adjusting the cradle
via the adjustment screws.I guess I had better get my problems fixed
quick or I won't have anyone to help me if something goes amuck!.

And:

I hope the bastard rots in astronomy hell!!!.Well,if you don't mind,I
would still like to have you as a telescope sensei ?!.If I had a extra
LXd75 with a lo jack system,I would certainly let you use it for as long
as you wanted.At least I know you have it working like a
champ.HAHAHAHAHAHA,sorry I was just goofing about the lo jack system
part not the letting you use the scope part!!!.

And:

Hey,how big of a difference would a change in latitude make?.I was just
thinking of my alignment problem and suddenly realized that I was trying
the scope out about 60 miles north of my usual location and never added
that site to my scope.So,perhaps my scope was thinking that I was still
in Laconia when in fact,I was in North Conway?.Would that make a big
difference?.

And:

Heh,well it was a thought.I will give the axis alignment tomorrow.I
might set the scope up tonight to see how far out of whack it is here.

And more:

Well,I set the scope up with the same results as before.I did notice
that the polar scope is VERY wobbly.The alignment stars are barely in
spotting scope FOV so,lots of slewing to get the alignment stars
centered.At least the brighter glob clusters are bright enough to spiral
search for without to much slewing.I presently have M93 centered and am
seeing if it will track for a long period of time.I am tempted to image
it with the DSI just to have some images to post on my blog.

I will do the axis alignment tomorrow to see how well it will work
afterwards.

Subject:	Re: autostar has mind of its own
Sent:	Monday, May 26, 2008 01:45:54
From:	Louise WALLER (lawaller@bigpond.net.au)
Continuity test on the cable showed blue and green not working.I
stripped the cable and they were broken,[at the jack]also the orange
cable had poor insulation as many cracks over most of the length.Rewired
cable and quick test showed autostar working.I feel a bit stupid over
this as" the computer wasn't working because it wasn't plugged in!.
"I'll get a new cable and put the autostar through its paces and let you
know how it went.Ray

Subject:	LXD75 SN 10" Meade
Sent:	Thursday, May 22, 2008 07:07:57
From:	John Fulcher (jfulcher@freenetname.co.uk)
Dear USA,
Have broken the declination motor cover on my 10" LXD.  Cannot obtain
one as off-the-shelf spare.  Does anywhere supply these as a spare part,
please?
John Fulcher UK

And:

Thankyou.  Ref USA, didn't realise you yourself would answer, thought
question put to website,
John F

Subject:	Re: autostar has mind of its own
Sent:	Wednesday, May 21, 2008 23:34:50
From:	Louise WALLER (lawaller@bigpond.net.au)
I have downloaded 43 Eg and still the autostar is erratic.I have
reset,callibrated motors,trained drives.Motors still engage from when
you start up and during functions.Have had to stop motors when scope too
close to base.When downloading had to go to flash mode as lost all on
autostar screen,download took about 25 min and appeared to load
correctly.What do you think is the cause of this problem because I have
absolutely no idea,my techie has no idea.Would it be better to purchase
a new autostar?    Regards Ray

And:

When I turn autostar on ,motor moves a little,when callibrating motors
r/a only moves,when doing train drive direction buttons do not
work.Everytime I go through the reset etc the faults come up in
different ways.When auotostar is turned on the screen shows "Press 0 to
align or mode for menu."This was not on the 43aa that I tried to
fix.Have I downloaded incorrectly as faults are same as before?

And:

No ferrite core on cable

Subject:	Sorry to hear about the theft
Sent:	Saturday, May 17, 2008 20:10:52
From:	Scott Oyer (scott@illianatek.com)
I have enjoyed your site over the last year or so after purchasing a
LDX55 8" SN.  One thing I am having an issue with is collimation. My
optics are now way out of alignment...can you offer any links or
documents that might show me the steps for aligning SN optics?

What I find doing searches is for newtonians and I think that is what
screwed me up to begin with.

Any help would be appreciated.

Good luck with the new scope...

-- 
Scott J. Oyer, MCP
IllianaTek

And:

I'll check it out..thanks.

And more:

Thanks. I think this article will fit the bill...I have completely
screwed the optics up...hope to get them back in shape this week so I
can start using it again.

I look forward to hearing about your new scope on your website.

Scott

Subject:	LXD 55 10"
Sent:	Sunday, May 11, 2008 21:32:49
From:	Rick Smith (rkjdb@comcast.net)
Hi was wondering if there is a DVD on how to do a complete set up /
align the LXD telescope.I had e-mailed lxd 55.com they said they were
working on one but that has been over 2 to 3 plus years and still havent
seen one do you have any suggestions? Thanks for any help Rick Smith
Lebanon,Oregon.

Subject:	[none]
Sent:	Wednesday, May 7, 2008 11:45:22
From:	Andrew Dumont (bongo69@earthlink.net)
What the cripes Mike?.I just read about your stolen equipment on your
site.Jeesh,I would be out for blood and am very sorry to hear that it
happened!.Wow,that was a lot of stuff that you lost.Have you been
keeping a eye on e-bay or Craigs list?.Now that I have seen what you
lost,I will keep my eyes open!.
 
 
Andrew Dumont
bongo69@earthlink.net

Subject:	Re: autostar has mind of its own
Sent:	Sunday, May 4, 2008 23:18:39
From:	Louise WALLER (lawaller@bigpond.net.au)
Mike,thankyou very much for your prompt reply,I shall apply your
suggestions asap and let you know how things went.Ray

And:

Have tried your suggetions,cables ok and reversed and clean.Reset was
most interesting.On motor test.callibrate and train drive only the R/a
motor works,when I restart Dec motor works sometimes.While pondering my
inability to solve this problem the R/a motor engaged and I had to
manually switch off, or the scope would have hit the mount.Motor started
at about speed 9 then went to about 4 before shutdown.I have tried reset
3 times and I am lost.Should I move on and upgrade as you suggest or
purchase another Autostar.I am concerned that the autostar I have is
corrupted,or just doesnt like me.Ray

And:

Thanks Mike ,will source cable and update autostar may take about a week
before i can get to it .Will let you know how it went.ray

Subject:	autostar has mind of its own
Sent:	Sunday, May 4, 2008 03:24:55
From:	Louise Waller (lawaller@bigpond.net.au)
I have a Meade LXD75SCT 8" with autostar 497 06 year with vesion 43a
.Problems with scroll keys not operating correctly.Choose any speed and
keys freeze up.Have calibrated motors and train drive,new batteries
etc.Message screen keeps saying batteries low or obstuction.Sometimes it
will drive itself.I have the impression that the program may be
corrupted.Regards Ray Waller Australia

Subject:	Re: Clay's Kochab's Clock question
Sent:	Wednesday, April 30, 2008 22:36:20
From:	Oz (wforacer@rocketmail.com)
the finder flipping the image, DOH!

Thanks for your help!
Oz

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