Meade LX 200 Electronics Expert Help Needed

[thunderchildobs]

I had a 12inch LX 200 Classic motherboard die on me 2 weeks ago.
Luckily, I had a spare so it wasn't fatal.

Barry Gerdes had a look it at and said he thinks "the problem is a U15 a LM324. The input to it appears to be correct but the output does not change." Getting the IC off the board and replacing was beyond his facilites.

Can any body help replacing the chip?

I would like to get the motherboard to work again, so that I can have a spare.

If not, it looks like either a EQ6 Pro for my 10inch LX200 to have parts for the 12inch , or (dream mode on) a Paramount ME for the 12inch.

Brendan

[egoroff (Robert)]

Removing a chip is a delicate affair, and requires a little experience.

As a rule you should keep in mind that the most important thing you must protect is the actual circuit board. Too much heat, or for too long and the tracks will lift off...and whilst recoverable, more skill is required.

My recommendation to you is to cut out the chip with side cutters so the pins are poking through. Then using a 25watt soldering iron melt the solder on each pin and pull the pin out from the opposite side. Next clean up the job with desolder wick.

The safest way to refit the new chip is to buy an IC socket to fit the number of pins on the chip, and solder that in. Then fit the new chip into the socket, Keep in mind the orientation of the chip.

You can get an iron, wick, and likely the chip from trusty Dick Smith Electronics, Jaycar or something similar.

Good luck.

[bobson (Bob)]

I would try calling Michael from Bintel, he helped me with my Celestron when even Celestron couldn't. He sorced circuit board for me for bargen price. To buy chip from USA for $8.50 plus $15 for postage plus $100 for surface mount soldering. And Michael got me the whole board for $24 dollars!!!

He is a true champion! Good on ya Mike!

cheers

bob

[Starman73]

Hello there,

My classic LX200 died. I needed to get a service pack but that was only going to be a temporary thing and it would have been difficult to repair again so I went with the EQ6Pro. I removed the OTA from the LX200 mount and put it up for sale, and someone bought it. So in the end I got some money back from the dead mount, a new mount and didn't have to get a new OTA and was able to keep all of my bits and pieces.

I am not a handy person but I was able to remove the OTA without too much trouble and am now happy with my EQ6.

Regards
Paul

[Bassnut (Fred)]

The LM324 chip is very common, cheap (like under $2) and available anywhere in OZ. See if you can find someone to replace it for you before you get frantic and replace the mount.