HELP!...Runaway RA drive in Meade 12" LX200GPS

[wayne anderson (Wayne)]

I have a random runaway in the RA drive in my Meade 12" LX200GPS, always left key direction on the autostar keypad regardless of north or south pointing and always at the speed saved on settings (all speeds max to guide).

I visually checked all connections and sensors in handset and drive base internals, they all look OK.
When connected to the laptop via the rs232 port the RA drive responds normal, only when using the keypad i have problems.

I think i may have problems with either the cord, keypad or connectors, any help or suggestions would be appreciated, thanks Wayne.

[AndrewJ]

Gday Wayne
If it works OK via serial commands, the mainboard and motor cards can be discounted.
If always "runs away" at the speed set on the handbox, and not max, that also clears the mainboard, motor cards and encoders.

Based on your symptoms, it sounds like the key on keypad is sticking somehow.

Andrew

[wayne anderson (Wayne)]

Thanks Andrew for your help, yes it was a problem with the left slew button.

3 years ago the handset buttons were not working they had lost conductivity on the contact points so i fixed them with a carbon glue button contact repair kit as recommended on "cloudy nights" forum for fixing this problem, the keypad has worked very well since but this week one of the 2 contacts for the left slew button had lost the repaired carbon glue contact and it was floating around in the button randomly shorting out the button contacts.

All fixed and repaired now and working well again, thanks Wayne.