[ toc ]

Meade Instruments Corporation - Meade LX200 Instruction Manuals

this manual. Be sure to use your local hour setting appropriately in either 12 hour or 24 hour format as predetermined by the 12/24 HOUR TELESCOPE menu file option.

The long-life lithium battery (Panasonic CR2032 3 volt or Duracell DL2032B) is stored behind the Power Panel of the Drive Base. See Appendix E. in this manual for battery replacement information.

[ toc ] 4. Mode Four: TIMER/ FREQ a. TIMER = Menu Option

The TIMER = menu option is for accurately timing different observing or imaging tasks for up to twelve hours long. Counting down to zero, in the hours, minutes, and seconds format, it will give a pleasant beeping tone to notify you that the time is up.

To set the TIMER, move the LCD arrow to TIMER= 00:00:00. Then press and hold the ENTER key to get the double beep tone and the blinking cursor. Enter the number of hours, minutes, and seconds that you require. If you need to correct an error in entry, use the E and W keys to move the blinking cursor and then type in the correct information. After entry, press the ENTER key again and the cursor will eliminate. When you are ready to start your time count-down, press the ENTER key once more. To pause the count-down press ENTER again, and then again to resume.

If you merely want an automatic 12 hour count-down, just press the ENTER key without holding. Then press ENTER to count-down.

[ toc ] b. FREQ= Menu File

FREQ= (Frequency) allows you to adjust the tracking speeds (not slew speeds) of the LX200 digitally in tenths of a hertz from 56.4 Hz to 60.1 Hz, so that you can match virtually every celestial motion in the sky. Some popular drive rate settings are:

Table 7: Drive Rate Settings

FREQUENCY RATE DESCRIPTION

NOTES

 

 

 

Default rate at power up. Gives sidereal

60.1

Hz Q

Sidereal Rate; Quartz setting frequency accuracy to + or - .005%; Best for

 

 

 

most astrophotography.

60.0

Hz

Solar and Planetary rate

Average rate for tracking planets; Actual rates

vary due to retrogrades, oppositions, etc.

 

 

 

57.9

Hz

Lunar rate

Best for tracking the Moon.

Note: If you have trained the Smart Drive in the 60.1 Hz Q setting (see SMART menu file in this section), you will find that Smart Drive will still give periodic error corrections in all of the other frequency settings. There are three menu file options in FREQ=. To see or set the options, move the LCD arrow to FREQ= and press the ENTER key. At power up, the FREQ= default is the 60.1Hz Q setting. The quartz rate is precisely fixed and cannot be altered. To choose a rate other than the quartz setting, press the ENTER key to see

60.1M and then again to see 60.1 M with the up and down LCD arrow. These two menu file options can adjust the tracking speeds. The adjustment techniques are described below:

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Meade LX200 Toc 4. Mode Four TIMER/ Freq a. Timer = Menu Option, Toc b. FREQ= Menu File, Drive Rate Settings