lX90ACF

Markaus · #1 18-09-2011, 12:24 AM

Heay all, long winter, cold, wet, just rubbish but back to it now. Anyway left home today at 4am for some fly fishing and noticed a great bright planet/star near to the moon...anyway when i got home this evening I got my LX90 out, tried.......yes tried to set it up but I kept getting 'motor' failure!!.. What's that all about?'

Anyway left the scope as I'd not used it for 4 months the gps was out but no luck... The scope ( on its own ) tracked up, down etc. So I cant see how a motor failure is at play?

Could is just be that I have not used itbfor some time?

Love to fix it so please comment

Barrykgerdes · #2 18-09-2011, 08:23 AM

Motor failure with the 497 controller is usually because the batteries are flat. Try a new set of HD batteries or an AC power unit.

Other causes can be tightness in the drive gears or electronic faults but try the new batteries first.

Barry

jenchris (Jennifer) · #3 18-09-2011, 11:34 AM

Rechargeables - these are not the batteries you are looking for! mmm
A Gel cell from a mobility scooter, I use - 12.5 volts it has. For days it lasts

AndrewJ · #4 18-09-2011, 12:16 PM

Motor Unit Faults get declared when the scope sends a command to a motor to move and the feedback loop ( via the encoders ) doesnt register a movement occurred.
It can be caused by low batteries, dead motor, dead encoder, blown motor card HBridge power supply, bad cable between Hbx and scope.
If the scope will move Up/Down and Left/Right when "manually" controlled, it normally means low power.
If it moves Up but not Down or Left but not Right ( or vice versa )
it implies a blown motor card.
If the RA wont move at all, try reversing the Hbx cable end for end.
If RA now works and DEC doesnt, its the HBx cable.
After that, its looking a bit darker.

Andrew

jenchris (Jennifer) · #5 18-09-2011, 01:42 PM

Thanks Andrew - useful info!

Markaus · #6 18-09-2011, 06:02 PM

Thanks! Cant seam to get the fault cleared, so ill have to drop it to BinTel tomorrow.

Markaus · #7 30-09-2011, 12:01 PM

Appear to have the folks at Bintel stumped aswell as they cant find the fault.....Fingers crossed it can be fixed.

am somewhat disappointed with MEADE's warranty policy in so much that a scope that transfers owner isn’t covered by warranty. Ok agree if its old but not one that 6-7 months old and especially as these units are not 100 dollar items. I’d have thought they would have something where the original owner can request a transfer of warranty.

anyway i hope they can fix it and that it doesn’t now become a constant failure as that would be disappointing to the Hobby

Markaus · #8 09-10-2011, 09:04 PM

finally got the LX90ACF back

, various parts were changed including a board, wiring loom and a new handset...all not under warranty so 460 chips later

......

1st Clear sky tonight for weeks so unpacked it, setup in the garden turned it on and after the alignment everything stops working!

Found a fuse blown in the Bintel power supply in the cigarette lighter bit (not on the power supply) so I guess that's what caused it to stop working....

As i dont have any spare fuses i unplug the Bitel PSU and put a set of new batteries in the scope but all i get is the motor up and down and nothing on the left right axis so I'm assuming what ever on the scope blew the fuse has caused this failure!?

Something serious has gone wrong.... was not like this before I sent it for repair so I'm a little frustrated

and praying to the almighty that what ever caused this Bintel fix without a further charge..... Thoughts?

Mark

casstony · #9 10-10-2011, 08:36 AM

They would have had it working properly at the shop so I'd guess one of the new components was faulty in which case there shouldn't be any extra charge. I'd suggest taking everything you used to the shop (including power supply) so they can check it all.

It's very stressful having electronic gremlins, especially expensive ones.

aworley (Alex) · #10 10-10-2011, 11:13 AM

I had a similar issue, replaced the cable between handset and LX90 - all works fine......

Markaus · #11 10-10-2011, 05:06 PM

cheers. they already replaced the PCB,Motordrive board,audiostar controller and the RA wiring loom but as suggested ive dropped it back with the Bintel PSU. I did notice when i first switched in on and started the align that the noise on the motors was loud as it was doing align...Anyway not much i can do apart from wait till the Technical pros go through it all again

Lets hope its positive news..

FlashDrive (Poppy) · #12 10-10-2011, 05:19 PM

Markaus .... disappointed to hear all of this happening to the LX90.
This scope is not even 12mths old .... as you know. Very "pitiful " of Meade not to honor warranty on such a young Scope.

Flash .

Markaus · #13 10-10-2011, 07:00 PM

Cheers Flash, really gutted. But "what to do"

The warranty is local here and administered by Bintel, they
quite clearly state is none transferable and Bintel advised that it's not covered as I'm the second owner even though it's still under a year old...I'm half thinking of calling Meade direct but I very much doubt they will come to the party...

Will see...

Mark

brian nordstrom (As avatar) · #14 10-10-2011, 08:14 PM

Flat batteries I think .
Brian.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Markaus

Heay all, long winter, cold, wet, just rubbish but back to it now. Anyway left home today at 4am for some fly fishing and noticed a great bright planet/star near to the moon...anyway when i got home this evening I got my LX90 out, tried.......yes tried to set it up but I kept getting 'motor' failure!!.. What's that all about?'

Anyway left the scope as I'd not used it for 4 months the gps was out but no luck... The scope ( on its own ) tracked up, down etc. So I cant see how a motor failure is at play?

Could is just be that I have not used itbfor some time?

Love to fix it so please comment

brian nordstrom (As avatar) · #15 10-10-2011, 08:25 PM

Sorry Markaus , its a little more than batteries , I am with Flash on this ,

Back home in NZ our club has a brand new lx75 mount that has never , thats NEVER ! been used from day one , it was got from bintel and because of the gremlins , and at our expence was sent back , and returned also at our expence

, and guess what ? that mount sits in the corner of the observatory looking pretty

Its unusable !! . It sounds like the same sort of after sales service ? , Meade gives us folks down under , here .
It Sux.

.
Good luck with bintel at least it is closer than NZ and does not cost $500 a trip .
Brian ..
I wil never buy a meade product because of their service ! .

Quote:

Originally Posted by brian nordstrom

Flat batteries I think .
Brian.

stephenb (Stephen) · #16 10-10-2011, 10:23 PM

Does it mention anywhere in the manual or accompanying documents that the Warranty is non-transferable? Or is it something that BinTel make it clear to you upon sale?

I have purchased an LX200 and LX90 from BinTel and although I certainly don't recall reading anything in the manuals, I definitely was not verbally informed. Not trying to stir things up, more curious than anything.

Sorry to hear of your problems there, Mark.

Stephen

Markaus · #17 11-10-2011, 06:59 AM

It does say in the documents that its *original purchaser only..bit *ridiculous and i dont understand what the owner has to do with the scope if its under a year.*

When I Droped it off i was reminded of the warranty clause. i asked that they do it under warranty but they were very firm on this...should have said I was dropping it off for flash but that's honesty for you.........

Ahh well getting stressed isn't going to help so we shall wait and see what happens.maybe today I will gets a call and hope that this customer gets positive things to say so good news can be reported.....

Cheers all

casstony · #18 11-10-2011, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Markaus

...should have said I was dropping it off for flash but that's honesty for you.........
Cheers all

Honesty is a good thing, but perhaps we are too honest sometimes?

I'm curious to see how this turns out; I suspect there's a lot of potential Meade buyers watching closely too.

Personally I've migrated away from Go-to to Push-to so I can stop worrying about electronics and avoid noise.

brian nordstrom (As avatar) · #19 11-10-2011, 10:46 PM

Yep we tried that , and being the origonal buyers , .. it was ,,,
Send it back ,,at your expense and we will recompense you if . there's and the word is "we find a manufacturers fault " ? ..

woaw ?
at your expense ?
I know to many people both here and in NZ that have come up against the same brick wall

and will never buy meade again because of their after sales service ,
It might be OK if you live in the USA ?

.
We still have a pretty mount that wont work and we will never sell ! .Oh yea its real LOUD ! sounds like a blender .But dont work!
Blending dollars into meades bank account?
and we get lots of enquiries to sell it but no we respect people more than that , but

its pretty ? bloody

Usuless.
Brian.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stephenb

Does it mention anywhere in the manual or accompanying documents that the Warranty is non-transferable? Or is it something that BinTel make it clear to you upon sale?

I have purchased an LX200 and LX90 from BinTel and although I certainly don't recall reading anything in the manuals, I definitely was not verbally informed. Not trying to stir things up, more curious than anything.

Sorry to hear of your problems there, Mark.

Stephen

Barrykgerdes · #20 12-10-2011, 10:31 AM

This thread started out as someone looking to solve a problem with a second hand piece of equipment not working but has now degraded into an argument about warrantees and complaints about manufacturers and dealers.

The rules of warrantees, guarrantees etc are made by the government to protect the public from unscrupulous sellers. The manufacturers and dealers have to follow these rules. However once the goods become second hand these rules no longer apply and it is "buyer beware". Words to this effect are not necessary in the manuals or brochures as they are beyond the control of the maker and agents.

I personally have never had any problem with warrantees from the named parties with goods either faulty as new or failing during the warrantee period. In fact these parties have gone out of their way, often at great expense, to rectify any problems. Electronic problems with much of the faulty goods is often very hard to diagnose because it is often intermittent or environment related. I sometimes get to see nasty problems that have beat the experts and believe me there are faults that absolutely defy fixing.

However if the originator of this thread still has a non operating telescope I am sure it can be fixed if the problem is tackled rationally. I will try to help if contacted by PM.

Barry