45 replies to this topic

[fjhdavid]

Thank you Bob, I sent you a pm with my email.

 

It is really strange that there are two firmware version and that Meade doesn't say a word about differences between 1.6a and 1.6d...with no link on their website

 

Are they working on a new firmware version after 6 years without any upgrade?

[Bob Arnold]

Sorry it took so long to send you the link. I just returned home from work.

 

I wrote an email to Meade about a month ago asking what changes had been made to the firmware. I received a response stating that there was no functional difference between the two versions.

 

Best of luck!

Bob

[fjhdavid]

I downloaded it, thank you!

 

I will post a report as soon as I have a clear sky

[fjhdavid]

Hello,

 

Bad news: it is impossible to go back to 1.6a!

 

I programmed succesfully the mini sd card with 1.6a (thanks to Bob) (I used autostar updater)

I introduced the card and the LS6 said "erase files and press a touch"

I said yes and it said "deleting files" then "bootstraps...." and starts to dowload the 1.6a

It goes up to the end without any problem and after 25mn it said "take off card and restart"

 

I took off the card but after the restart, the screen remains blank...(I waited for 10mn); I did all the process a second time to be sure...without the C-cell this time

 

Finally, I had to reprogram the card with 1.6d and the scope went back to 1.6d...(ouf!  it could have become a brick!)

 

I suspect that 1.6d and 1.6a are not completely identical and there is maybe a date conflict somewhere (or that something written with 1.6d could not be erased...) or do I have forget something?

 

Anyway, don't go to 1.6d unless you want to stay with it!

[MistrBadgr]

Hmm....let me think about this some.  Bob, any thoughts?

 

Bill Steen

[fjhdavid]

I wrote to Meade and they answered me very quickly and friendly and I must admit that I am ok with them:

 

"

That is correct the there is no backward update.

 

If your scope is having issues not resolved by update we would then be looking at repair by the way, going backward would never be an answer to any operational issues. Restore defaults is the factory reset while maintaining calibrations done here at the factory, basically returning it to the out of box condition. "

[Bob Arnold]

Sorry  to hear of your ongoing trouble. Unfortunately it seems that sending it in for repair is the only answer. 

 

Wish I could offer some help.

 

Bob

[fjhdavid]

Hello Bob,

 

In fact, I think this a firmware issue which is not fixed in 1.6a either (but I won't be able to check);

 

I will do an Eclips picture, as you suggested, but I remembered that one year ago I took a picture of the moon with the Eclips camera and that, under "default factory" settings, the computed center was maybe 0.5° right and 0.5° up from the center.

 

Knowing that my offset is less than 1° and that the total Eclips field of view is about 10° x 8°, the correction needed for the offset will leave, without any problem, the alignment stars inside the Eclips field of view.

 

The problem is not mechanical (and doesen't need any repair), but a software issue.

 

It looks that, for the moment, with 1.6d (and 1.6a?), the "finder center" function is buggy...at least for the following auto-alignment...

 

François

[fjhdavid]

Hello,

 

Here the picture of my Eclips field of view with Vega after a "restore default" and a "good auto-alignment". I attached the picture.

 

The picture is 640x480 pixels and under Photoshop Vega is (367,256), near the geometric center which is (320,240).

 

It confirms that my scope has no mechanical issue and that Eclips is doing its job....cool, no repair!

 

Beetween two succesful alignment, I tried, one more time, a "finder center" which failed. I was not able to take Eclips pictures at that time, but I can confirm that the alignment stars were right in the center of the APN and, for sure, in the field of view of the Eclips Camera!

 

I look carefully during the alignment procedure and for each alignement stars, the LS-6 move to the stars, but add a little move at the end before the image acquisition. This little move is about the amount of the "offset".

 

My conclusion is that: After a "finder center" and power cycle off/on, the LS-6 performs "offset move" during the alignement for each alignment star.

 

It shoud do it after, when the alignment is complete, as an additional move.

 

Anyway, it is for sure a firmware issue. Except if you don't move your scope between sessions and use "park place", stay away, for the moment from "finder center" calibration.

 

François

[Bob Arnold]

Francois,

I use a camera instead of an eyepiece for everything including the finder center procedure. I do my viewing on my laptop. My eyes have problems due to a stroke long ago.

 

When I do the finder center routine, I have noticed something strange. The scope automatically finds the target star. I then use the hand controller to center the star in the field of view. That part works well.

 

However, when I press the enter key to finalize the procedure, the controller's display says calculating or computing (not sure which). While it's 'calculating', the star drifts up and slightly to the left on my laptop display. I have to anticipate the drift distance and offset the star to compensate BEFORE pressing the enter key. 

 

I would suggest that you watch carefully after hitting the enter key to see if your scope does something similar.

 

Bob

[fjhdavid]

Bob,

 

Could you tell me the approximate drift amount in minute or degree?

[Bob Arnold]

Francois,

 

I'm not knowledgeable enough to determine the distance. Any measurement would be complicated by the fact that I use a camera, a focal reducer, and that I often use a software zoom when making adjustments. If it is any help at all, the offset from the center point is about 20% of the total field of view. 

 

Here in Philadelphia we get very few clear nights. None are expected this coming week. I would be happy to take a picture as an example if and when the clouds ever go away,

Bob

[fjhdavid]

Yes, I noticed the same drift;

 

In addition, during "finder center" operation:

- the exposure time is set to 8s instead of 1s.

- the LS6 is always pointing to the first alignment star (sometimes Arcturus, sometimes Vega), but always the first one.

 

Anyway, the drift stays inside the Eclips field of view (which is very large) and woudn't affect a new auto-alignment operation.

 

It would be intresting to know if firmware 1.6a suffers from the same bug (but I suppose it does)

[fjhdavid]

I had answers from meade.

 

They didn't hear about such a bug before and they will forward it as a potential bug report.

 

1.6d is now the official firmware and no more work will be done on 1.6a; it shoud be intresting if someone else could test "finder center" and see what happens; in the worst case, user has just to restore "default settings".

 

Thanks

François

[Bob Arnold]

I plan to keep 1.6a. I don't see any value in updating. I'm glad you reported it. It will be interesting to see if a different revision results from your effort.

 

Bob

[fjhdavid]

hello,

 

After other investigations, I found the bug which is not related to the firmware. I really apologize!

 

In fact I have a chimney and when I pointed to the second alignment star, the star looks above the chimney, but when I put my head at the LS-6 line of sight, the star was behind or in the field of view of the 10°x8° Eclips field of view!

 

As I conducted my experiment always at the same time, each night, the problem was there. Sometimes the chimney was in the field of view and prevented the Eclips to do a correct picture (even if the chimeney is only somewhere in the picture....).

 

After that, maybe, I moved the scope a little bit after "restore default" and the aligmnent was succesful.

 

I completely change the place of the Ls-6 and after two nights and 10 alignment, I can confirm that "finder center" is working perfectly. There is no bug in the firmware.

 

Thanks a lot for your answers and work.

 

I wrote to meade to let them know and apologize.

 

thanks

François

[MistrBadgr]

Thanks, Francois!!

 

No problem with the error.  What you experienced makes me smile.  I thought I was the only one that had things like that happen!

 

It does raise a good point that is easy to forget.  The little Eclips camera does not look from the same position as the observer does.  That does not show up often, but will occasionally.

 

Best Regards,

 

Bill Steen

[fjhdavid]

another trap is the dew shield....

 

with a dew shield you increase the tube length by a factor 2 and the Eclips "up angle" is about 2° instead of 4° and can introduce problem for auto-alignment..

 

François

[gfamily]

another trap is the dew shield....

 

with a dew shield you increase the tube length by a factor 2 and the Eclips "up angle" is about 2° instead of 4° and can introduce problem for auto-alignment..

 

François

Best to leave the dust cover on until you have alignment (to keep dew off) and then fit the dew shield when you're no longer needing to use the ECLIPS camera.

[fjhdavid]

Dew shield impact on Eclips field of view (the dew shield is about the same length as the Ls6 tube)

Attached Files

•  With Dew shield.bmp   900.05KB   111 downloads