Meade LX90 Won't Power Up

[expat (Geoffrey)]

I have an 8" LX90 with Autostar which has seen little use since it was shipped from USA in 2007 when we returned here. I have turned it on a few times and it always worked.

I started setting it up Saturday and it appeared (daytime) to align appropriately.

Today I went to use it and it wont turn on. No LED - nothing. Batteries (used only for 1 hour the other day), provide 2x6.3 v so they are OK.

It is very hot here, probably over 30C in the telescope room.

Any suggestions?

Is there someone in Australia who services these?

Thanks for any suggestions.

[traveller (Bo)]

I had a similar issue with my Celestron hand controller. I opened up the hand paddle and found there was a loose connection. You might want to give it a try.
Bo

[mozzie (Peter)]

sirius optics are your closes dealer in qld..speak to peter he will get you in the right direction..

[redbeard (Damien)]

Howdy expat,

Not sure if this applicable, I have a Meade ETX 125PE and where the batteries go, there are cheap metal springs, (flat metal types), that keep the tension onto the batteries. These broke very early in the scopes life which caused issues at the time, .

Another thing would be to power the scope from a 12v plugpack, making sure you get the polarity correct.

I'll use a long extension cord and plugpack before using the Meade internal batteries, just to be sure. A UPS helps in case of blackout and another option is the large gel cells.

Cheers and good luck gettin it sorted.

Damien

[expat (Geoffrey)]

Thanks to all who made suggestions. Really impressive to have knowledgable help at hand.

In the event I am shipping it to Don Whitemen at Bintel, referred to me from Sirius, where Peter no longer works.

So I guess it"ll be a couple of weeks till I use it again, but they"ll update the software as well as replace the power board. User repairs are not recommended by Meade.