9 replies to this topic

[Betty L Myers]

I am having loads of problems with my LS 8" Telescope and setting keep changing on me during operation..  And strange thing keep happing during alinements.. Can't get a good alinement, it goes 360 for finding tip mount and will not stop when I push the scroll button to stop and does not find its star and goes around 360 for that too..  I have to crash it to stop.. witch is not good to do..  I am on battery power and my warranty is now up on the scope.. I have sent it back 3 times to Meade ,  so now I am on my own to get it working..

   Can a hacker get into the scope by GPS signals?..  I have neighbors that are pretty bad at trying to get into electronic ...     Thanks  Betty

 

[Mark Sibole]

No it can not be hacked.Ive had issues on batterys and i will only use an external power for it.The batterys dont like to loast long so I have a power cable and use a battery backup battery to run mine.No more issues,This is a battery muncher if you use c cells in the scope.Hope this helps

 

Mark

[MistrBadgr]

Hi Betty,

 

I do not know enough about GPS to be sure, but I think a GPS satelite sends out fixed signals with whatever the information is, including time.  The format, I suspect, is fixed.  The scope would just have to listen for the signals and not actually have two way communications with any of them.  The likelihood of anyone sending you bogus information at the specific times you try to use your computer is extremely slim.  However, the likelihood of having some continuous electromagnetic interference in your area that messes up the signals the scope is trying to read is much greater.

 

Communications over the internet could be a very different story all together.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Bill Steen

[Betty L Myers]

OK Mark:  I am using a Big External Power Meade LX P17 Battery on the LS Telescope..  I had a #10 cable too.. And was still getting troubles and my husband says that they were getting though the electric wires and messing up signals in the scope..because we are on the same electric transformer..  Sort of like a baby monitor works..  So thats why I got a big battery and it has plenty of power for the scope..   I am in the piney woods of Tx.  and  can not understand were electromagnetic interference would be coming from..  May be UFO's   LOL...   I am working to try and solve this..  Thanks for the suggestion       Betty

[RickScofield]

Betty,
It is possible that you have a bad power supply or your power cable from the battery to the telescope may be bad, however your issue sounds like a intermittent problem I was having with my autostar. I replaced my autostar and solved my problem.
RickScofield

[MistrBadgr]

Hi Rick,

 

I thought I might bring you up to speed on the long history of troubles Betty has had with her scope.

 

Betty's LS scope is AutoStar 3, which uses a dumb handset with all the brains in the scope.  However, the point of a handset issue is well taken.

 

The problems she has had in the recent past is when the scope is going through all its activities before a person takes control with the handset.

 

My thoughts on internal things have ranged from the GPS going bad, to the programming getting garbaged somehow, to a bad chip somewhere in the scope.

 

She had troubles with her first LS, sent it back and I believe Meade replaced it.  However, there could have been more moves back and forth.  With this being her second scope with troubles, it causes me to think more along the lines of an external interference of some sort.  However, if those issues are double-checked and eliminated, it will only leave something internally wrong with the scope itself or, as you have suggested, a bad handset or cable to the handset.

 

You know a whole lot more about computers in general than I do, so please speak up on anything you can think of that Betty could try.  She has gone through a lot with her scope and I would personally like to see those troubles come to an end.

 

If all else fails, she can send the scope back to Meade for repairs on her money, where they can get it on the work bench and go through it with "a fine toothed comb."  With that kind of repair, she gets another year's warranty, I believe.

 

Thanks for the help!

 

Bill

[E Sully]

Has a factory reset been tried?  This is the first step Meade recommends trying.  I have also read of some having issues with GPS until updating the software to later version using a mini sd card, not usb cable.

https://www.cloudyni...r-iii-problems/

[Betty L Myers]

Thanks MistrBadgr;   For following my problems..  And I am still fighting it..   Sometimes I think this scope has a mind of its own.  LOL..  I was out with it a couple of nights ago, it was a beautiful night too..  I moved to a different location in my yard, were the trees were blocking the light from peoples houses and no mettle from fences or cars were in close contact.. I had done a factory reset and shut down the night before.  So I was going to start out fresh, I though..  I hooked up the scope to the Meade 17 big battery, no cables, I did a manual alinment, put in the date, time and location. Not using GPS. and went to 2 star alinement, from there the first star was Alderbaron.  I ck. back to scope info. to make sure that my co-ordence went in ok and it did.. The scope then slue to the star stoping about every 15 to 20 degrees to ck the sky and when it got to Aldegaron it passed it and kept going around, when I made an effort to stop it, it would not stop no matter what key I press...  The only way I could stop it was to switch the power off..   I do not like doing that, but no choice..    

   So now I switch back on and it let me move the scope so I put it back in the home position  facing north and moved it to the vertical position for the proper shutdown , switch off and back on and preceded again to aline. It seem that it could not fine north and went directly vertical   and froze on me..  From there I gave-up and went in.. Frustrated..  So now the next day I inserted the SD 2G mini card and turned the scope on and it told me it deleted all files and then preceded to download the firmware witch tock about 20min.  and verified it.. So it told me to take out the card and shutdown so I did and thats were I stand now.. till I get a clear night again..         Thanks for your interest..     Betty

[RickScofield]

Good Luck Betty

[Betty L Myers]

Thank you all I will need some Good Luck.  Now I got clouds and rain here for a week....  Ohh My....