Meade LXD75 wobble after training drive

Wavey

Eveing all.

I spent alot of time playing with my new scope last weekend and decided to train the drives because the goto function didnt seem too accurate.
Since I did this I seem to have a wobble on the RA and Dec axes. It feels as if the gears are not meshing correctly.

I have read that loose gears are a common problem with meades but I want to rule out a few things before opening up the gearbox.

When I trained the drive during the day my FOV was limited because of my garden wall so I had to use a chimney about 200m away as the fixed point. If this was too close could this have caused the wobble?

TBH I dont quite understand what training the drives physically does and the wobble seemed to appear as soon as I did this.

Any advice?

Wavey

dbran

Hi Wavey

Training the drives only affects your actual goto and pointing performance and should have nothing to do with how the actual gears mesh together. It is almost certainly not the cause.

You said you used the scope quite a lot over the weekend. Are you sure the batteries are not dying on you. Also check to make sure all the connections are nice and tight and your set up is correct.

Hope this helps

dbran

Wavey

Hi dbran.

Thanks for the reply.
Does the mount depend on the power of the batteries to maintain its position?

If this is the case then you're probably right!

I will change them and check this evening, although it looks pretty cloudy out there today.

Thanks,

Wavey.

dbran

Hi

If you mean does it use power tracking then yes, but at a very low rate (about o.1 amp). But if you are doing a lot of slewing around (up to 1 amp) then it will make a very big difference how long they last.

The first sign of the batteries going is bad gotos. Then the motors start to sound very uneven like they are struggling to get somewhere. It is not unknown for batteries to be depleted after just a night or two.

When you are changing to new batteries you should calibrate the motors also.

Hope this helps

dbran

djhaxman

Hi Wavey.

I have the same scope as you and went ahead and bought this power supply
http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/Revelation_12v_Mains_Power_Supply.html which works fine, you don't need worry about batteries again with it.

Might be worth a look.

Gary.

Wavey

Thx guys,

I just went into B&Q to look at rechargable D batteries.
€30 for the charger and €52 for 8 D batteries!!

:eek:

Maybe the PSU is the way to go.

Popoutman

There's a lovely 12v power supply in Aldi at the moment, that you can run one of those mounts for a good length of time..
€40 for a 17.2AH 12V supply, with car sockets.

Wavey

Hi Popoutman,

In what Aldi did see the psu?
I dont see anything on the site.

Popoutman

http://www.aldi.ie/ie/html/offers/2827_11756.htm

That was the portable power pack I was talking about.
No idea if there are any left though

Lidl is due to have something similar in the future as well.

Wavey

Ah, I saw that but didnt cop that it could be used to power the Scope!
Had to borrow one to jump start my car on new years day.