I'm pretty sure I have mentioned this before, but as it is fresh in my mind, I will re-post.
For those of you who may not be alert to it, the LX200 ACF has a replaceable battery, secreted under the main control panel. It is a widely available CR-2032, and it slowly runs down over a few years.
For me, this is the second time I have replaced this battery, in the 8 years I have owned this scope. I don't really know when it went to Silicon Heaven, but the date that the scope wanted to keep remembering was July 14, 2018, and 8pm... maybe that is a clue.
Anyway, to access behind the control panel, you will need to undo the 4x
small hex-head (allen key) screws, top and bottom of the panel. Once removed, the panel will come away, but please be sure not to yank it, as everything is connected, and there is minimal play on the wires.
You will need to wangle things a little, until the top section slides out, then you can lift the bottom out, and flip the console section over, with everything still connected. From there, it is just a regular old battery change.
Reverse this procedure to get everything back together.
Gday Shane
That battery has no effect on the stored date. No LX200GPS/ACF has a realtime clock in it.
That button cell battery merely keeps the GPS lumps almanac data alive so that it can fix in a short time, vs having to download the Almanac data on every start.
Interesting thread Shane - thanks for posting. I guess its always better to swap that battery out before it leaks inside an expensive telescope. I wonder how long you can reasonably get out of a button cell.
Oh, thanks for the tip, Andrew. And I will confirm that this morning, it still had yesterday's date in it! I'm testing indoors, as to why my wifi module refuses to play.
Either way though... the one in there was as dead as a doornail!
Gday Shane
The LX200s basically store the last "date" in its equivalent of EEProm.
On rebooting, it defaults to that date and 8PM.
A GPS fix or handbox date set then overwrites the date and sets the time for the session.
