lx90 service

[mozzie]

sending my lx90 to bintel for a service and some minor adjustments and a good clean speaking to michael and don re a couple of probs
1. my scope doesnt seem to park in the same position all the time
2. in quiet mode it stops for a while then proceeds to its goto point
while disscussing thes with them they were talking to andrewj in melbourne about this when the scope is at bintel they are going to tweek it with the help from andrewj and as they and i know belive through andrewj that the lnt module over rides the telescope.this is all new to the bintel team and are keen to recieve my scope early next week (after this weekend viewing)(bloody cloud) andrewj is a iis user here and i have emailed him over a couple of things
i think that it is amazing how somebody can re-programme these controllers and fix these probs and he doesnt even work for meade once its done and sorted out even for other lx90 users andrewj is going to get a nice pm from me and if i ever meet him a couple of nice cold beers:thumbsup:

mozzie

[AndrewJ]

Gday Mozzie



Not quite right, the LNT isnt the culprit here.
Later model LX90s have motor cards fitted with newer firmware.
These return an ID number that the Handbox firmware doesn't know about.
This effectively disables the ability for the LX90 to use an APM909 module
and also affects the way the second part of a goto slew occurs.
I "suspect" that is the problem for the goto problem, but not parking.
The parking sounds more like a corrupt variable
Wont take Don and Michael long to see whats what.

Andrew

[mozzie]

andrew i was only going of what michael was saying both him and myself are confused about all this stuff i know they are keen to get the scope and go through some of the probs with you they then can fix other lx90 if it happens again
mozzie

[AndrewJ]

Gday Mozzie


Understood
Just many people blame the LNT for problems
( and in some cases its valid :thumbsup:)
Just in this case, i suspect its the motor card
( but that's still only an educated guess )
A few tests will tell

Andrew

[DavidTrap]

I bought an LX-90 this year (just before they stopped shipping with LNT). I have also bought the 909 clone box. There is an autostar patch that is required to get the box working (got advice on this from Gene and the guys at Bintel) - unfortunately it makes the final stage of a goto extremely slow. The accuracy is fine, but if you look through the finder / wide-angle eyepiece it takes a really weird course to the object.

Any ideas of ways to overcome this problem??

Regards
David T

[mozzie]

david pm andrewj hes a bloody genious with this stuff my scope is on the way to bintel know and they are going to work with andrewj on it thats my best advice
mozzie

[AndrewJ]

Gday David

More info reqd
I assume this appeared after loading the patch??
If so what patch did you use and what selections did you set???


If you have loaded 43Eg with the Peek patch, my PEC editor can grab the
internal settings and this may throw some more light onto it.


Andrew

[DavidTrap]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I have an afternoon off tomorrow, so will plug the autostar into the PC and work out the answers to the questions you have asked.

Regards
David T

[DavidTrap]

Sorry to hijack this thread,

AndrewJ,

I have tried to redo the update on my Autostar and the result is the same - however, at least I can now tell you exactly what I have done.

I downloaded from the YahooGroups LX90 site - patch43gg23.zip

I also downloaded Build43Eg.rom from Meade

I updated Build43Eg.rom to Build43Gg23.rom with ClickMe43gg23.bat as per the instructions.

I then used Starpatch to Update the Autostar with Build43gg.rom.

When testing the slews were back to original speed - taking approximately 5 seconds to finalise the slew after the fast slewing has occurred.

I then ReUpdated the Autostar using patch43gg23.spf so that I could select the option (Force old LX90) that Gene Chimahusky (seller of the 909 clone) had recommended. I left the options that were already ticked - they are listed below:
ver 43gg
skip simple align
skip simple tour
float fix
Meade GPS Bugfix
kill brightest
Force old LX90
Satellite AutoTrack
Editing of Training Values
RA RE serial commands
PEC Editor Hook
10x finer custom tracking
DSX mount
Batt Alarm ON

After completing this update, the slews now take ~60seconds to finalise.

The notes that accompany the patch which can be seen using the StarPatch program say that enabling 909APM "may adversely affect GOTOs in v43Eg, DO NOT CHOOSE on an LX90". Force old LX90 - says makes new LX90 motor card appear as old model, so that it will be able to use the 909APM.

The Readme file says of the Enable 909APM - "this feature seems to cause jerky final motions during GoTo's - the accuracy of the arrival seems unaffected, but it's an ugly trip".

Any suggestions?

If there is not solution, I'm willing to enable the Force old LX90 option only when I'm planning to use the 909APM Clone, and turn it off for visual use.

Thanks in advance,

David T

[mozzie]

thats what the thread is hear for david everybody to use andrewj will get you in the right direction bintel got my scope today
mozzie

[AndrewJ]

Gday David

Re
Did you modify the patch in any way before running the ClickMe????
When patches are compiled using ClickMe, you must manually edit the patch to set the relevant sections you want.

When you use Starpatch, it gives you checkboxes that say what will be selected and what wont, and as such you may have picked a different set of patches.
Once i know what was different, i can track down whats causing it.

Also, I have just received another seperate email that states selecting the "Old LX90" mode slows down the final slew, so i will burrow into that tomorrow.
Its a ratsnest depending on motor card type and handbox speed selected, but if it bleeds, we shld be able to kill it ;)

Oooh one more question, what size LX90 do you have selected in the Hbx ????

Andrew

[DavidTrap]

Andrew,

Thanks in advance,

No I didn't modify the patch before doing the clickme batch file - however as I can repatch and deselect "enable 909apm" & "force old lx90" and the problem goes away, I assume that Starpatch effectively does that modification???

My previous reply details what I had selected in Starpatch - basically they were the "default" selections.

I have since tried varying combinations of selecting one, both or none of the above options and if either are selected the slews take ~60secs to finalise. With neither selected, the slews finalise in ~5secs.

The telescope model is LX90-8 on the Autostar, is that what you meant?

I have corresponded with Gene C today as well and he tells me that "force old LX-90" was only added to that patch this year (the readme file indicates it was added on the 23rd Feb 2009 to make this the 23 edition of that patch). He suggested trying "enable 909APM" even though Starpatch said not to use it for an LX-90 - said it couldn't hurt, but as stated above it didn't help my problem...

Regards
David T

[AndrewJ]

Gday David

I was corresponding with Gene yesterday and we realised we were both speaking to the same person :P

As to patching and click me's
Starpatch basically adds a wrapper to the basic patch.
It provides checkboxes for selecting options
If you use the click me method, you must manually edit the patch file first and change the Unchecked / Checked status lines as required.

As to the APM909 patch, that wasn't required for LX90s ( old models ) as they are automatically allowed to have an APM909. Its only the new models ( with different motor cards ) that were getting bypassed
As you have selected 8" LX90, thats OK as well ( as some code bypasses the 10" and 12" )
However, setting APM909 without Old LX90 "shouldnt" affect the gotos
but i will need to recheck the intricacies of how the patch works in the 43Eg ( as i didnt write that one ).

Andrew

[DavidTrap]

Hmmmm... He sent me an e-mail telling me he had been corresponding with you and had seen my post.

Gene suggested I do a very limited update including only Version 43gg, skip simple align & tour, enable 909APM and PEC editor hook. I tried this with and also substituting Force Old LX90 for enable 909APM, but it still has causes the really slow finalisation of slews.

He also suggested I set the "backlash percentages" (is this under setup-telescope-alt/RA percent/az/dec percent?) to zero with 909APM enabled - unfortunately no improvement.

I'm not sure what your last statement means?

Thanks again,

David T

[AndrewJ]

Gday David

Dick Seymour wrote most of the patches for the old 497 handbox
I have been working on the new 497EP handbox patches, but i
also understand fairly well how the old 497 works.
Thus i need to see what differences there are in the way its been done.
The problem arises because the use of an APM also gets tied into how the second stage of a goto gets done.
Enabling one without affecting the other is the trick.

The way i read the code, the slow goto is actually how it should work
and the fast slew you get now is actually incorrect.
( both should end up at the same target tho )
I need to dig a bit more on that yet.

Edit
I have now looked at it, and have rewritten the 909 patch to
try and separate it from the motor card tests as well
I have pm'd you with the fix
If you could try it and report back, we can see if it works



Andrew