LX90 Owners

acropolite (Phil) · #1 01-05-2005, 07:01 PM

Recent LX90 purchasers may come across a problem with the Autostar controller when entering multiple custom sites. If your handbox software version is 33ef (as mine was) you may experience some problems. One custom site can be entered OK but when a second is entered it will appear OK until the handbox is powered off and on again. In my case the additional site was no longer there and in some cases the original had been corrupted or was totally missing. Further attempts to reinput the site resulted in error messages. There is a new software version 33ei on the meade website which fixes this problem.
http://www.meade.com/support/auto.html
If you're upgrading your software it's important to be patient and watch the status bar at the bottom. In my case the update was quite slow, over half an hour. I also had to reset the controller after download to correct the site anomolies.

Note: please read the rest of this thread as there may be some issues with the version I downloaded which is apparently 33EL not EI.

[1ponders] (Paul) · #2 01-05-2005, 07:09 PM

Its also happening on ETX's as well. Exactly the same scenario. Nice to know there's a fix.

acropolite (Phil) · #3 01-05-2005, 07:21 PM

Bintel had no idea, seems like the left hand doesn't know what the right hand's doing....

[1ponders] (Paul) · #4 01-05-2005, 07:26 PM

I only found out 'cause and elderly friend (70's) decided to take up astronomy and bought an ETX. We loaded both his home site and my site and the damn thing p**ped itself. Reset it and only put in the one new site. seems to be working now, but I'll suggest he do the download anyway. I guess you found out about it the hard way too Phil.

trufflehunter (Wayne Robinson) · #5 01-05-2005, 07:48 PM

Thanks Phil. I haven't experienced the problem *yet* because I haven't added any extra sites, but I'll download the update. I'll have to get myself a serial>USB converter cable too as my laptop has no serial port

xstream (John) · #6 01-05-2005, 09:07 PM

I haven't struck that problem.with vers:-33ef.but then I have Dick Seymours patch installed from LX90 users site or also meade uncensored site......I think you'll find this will fix tthe problem...Just be carful Phil with ver:-33el not ei.......there seems to be a bad problem with rubber banding.........but always remember after all firm ware upgrades.....reset ......train...... calibrate
p.s. Dick also has a patch for this vers aswell....but as the a
old saying goes if it aint broke why fix it?

acropolite (Phil) · #7 02-05-2005, 08:31 AM

Thanks for that info John, I'll find the Dick Seymour info for interests sake. I had reset, retrained and recalibrated as you have suggested said and finally it's nice not to have to do battle with the beast to get it aligned. I suspect that for users who have only their home site entered, the first sign of this problem would be when gathering with others at another site e.g. star party.

xstream (John) · #8 02-05-2005, 08:44 AM

I should of added you will find the patch under the files section in either site.

What we have done in our auto star is have one set as home site and another called Any which we just change the coordinates in as necessary.

Hope this helps.

trufflehunter (Wayne Robinson) · #9 02-05-2005, 04:05 PM

John and Phil, are you saying it's ok with just your home site and one other site loaded, but problems occur when an additional third site is added? I'll need to add a second site for this weekend because I'm off to a star party.

xstream (John) · #10 02-05-2005, 05:01 PM

Wayne, if your finding it's a real problem just delete some of the sites in there.......your probably never going to need them and if you just happen to find your going to go to that special place on the globe just just reinstall the firm ware.

I know vers:-33ef will allow 5 additional sites I'm not sure with vers:-33el haven't upgraded to it because of the problems with rubber banding.......but with what ever vers you go with or use I would still install Dicks patch for that particular vers......it does make a differance.

acropolite (Phil) · #11 02-05-2005, 05:41 PM

One thing I am 100% sure of is that 33ef (unpatched) will allow one site only, any more and it craps itself. I reset the handbox and reloaded two sites several times to prove it. I think the version I got from meade was probably 33EL; its shown on the site as 33El which I took as ei but the handbox shows 33e1 which makes even less sense. I'll hunt down the patch as I think I've got 33EL.... the read me with the DL doesn't help much either as it lists the software as 33e1. Does dick's patch fix the rubberbanding problem John?? If not I might reload 33ef and the patch.

xstream (John) · #12 02-05-2005, 06:19 PM

The version you'll have Phil is is 33EL. I'm not too sure about the rubberband fix, I'll have check and see if there is anything mentioned.
But as I said in the previous post; just delete sites or even change them to your requirements......Autostar does allow you to delete and edit.

xstream (John) · #13 02-05-2005, 06:43 PM

Couldn't find any mention of the patch fixing rubberbanding, but this link will help fix it.
http://www.weasner.com/etx/autostar/...-percents.html

Just ignore the version quoted, procedure is still the same.

Rohan · #14 04-05-2005, 03:14 PM

arrrrrr explains why my dark site wasn't in my controller on saturday night. I swore it was in there. Thanks.

acropolite (Phil) · #15 04-05-2005, 04:47 PM

Still don't know if the version EL that I have is problematic, but I haven't noticed anything odd.
John, is the rubberbanding a problem with version EL or just the default settings for backlash within EL, which of course can be adjusted as per your link.

xstream (John) · #16 04-05-2005, 05:24 PM

A fair percentage of those that have installed EL seem to report the problem with backlash.......I'm not certain if it's in the firmware or the default settings but IMO it certainly wouldn't hurt to put the settings to the recommendations in the link.