LX90 Motor Fault?

[david.saunders40]

Hi,

Once again my LX90 has bit the dust, second time in 18 months!! and its only 3 years old. I'm getting so fed up and disappointed in it after spending so much time and money on it I'm seriously thinking of giving it all up! It's so much hassle to get it repaired, 3hour journey for a start,then the expense.

This time it keeps coming up on the Autostar handbox " Motor Unit Fault". It gives a list of causes,have checked these out and eliminated all. Did a "Calibrate Motor" also did a Reset but this made it worse, now when the handbox is switched on it will ONLY say "Motor Unit Fault" even if I press 0 or Mode.
I also tried downloading an update on the handbox but this also has made on difference.

It's not as if it gets lugged around from place to place,it's kept in it's own cosy little observatory and just gets switched on now and again (with our weather that's not that often)!!
Perhaps I should take up a less stressful hobby like Bungee jumping or something!!!

Happy New Year anyway,  Dave.

[Conroy]

Are you absolutely certain the fault is with the motor. The reason I ask, is I had an experience over a year ago now, where I got a Motor failure warning too, but I had a gut feeling that it was something else.
 I started with a continuity test on the curly cable that connects the controller to the LX90 HBX input, and to my surprise, but in another way pleased, There were two open circuits.
 I was intending to use the scope in my observatory, and control it from a warm room I had built adjacent to the Obs., so I ordered a long replacement cable. A couple of days later, it arrived. I plugged it in and said a prayer. Brilliant, it worked, and I was delighted.

          So, If you have not checked your cable, I would do so. You may be fortunate, and find the faul is down to the same problem I had with mine. I hope so. It is a lot cheaper to fix.
I wish you luck anyway.
     Conroy.

[david.saunders40]

Thanks for the tip Conroy,
 I'm not that electrically minded and haven't the tools but did make a close inspection of the cable etc. It was still the same!!
Anyway thought I'd bring it from the observatory to the house ready to pack it up to send for repair. I left it in my study for a couple of hours and went back to check on it as bringing it indoors from well below freezing to indoor temp of about 70'c it had a fair bit of condensation on it ,however it had dried off ok.
Now the good bit. Thought I'd switch it on just one last time and guess what, IT WORKED!!!!!.
Now I know that's very good news but it seems I've got a scope that doesn't like going out in the cold!!! In this country were winters can be very cold this could be a problem. The Handbox now shows the correct scope (LX90) and also when you scroll down utilities I now can find GPS, this was not showing when cold.
If anybody has any ideas how to get over this problem I'd be pleased to know, other than lug it back and forth every time I use it or keep the observatory heated (that would be TO expensive) cant think of anything else

Regards Dave.

[david.saunders40]

Hi, just a quick update,

think I may have cured the problem with the help of a old lamp with a low powered bulb (40W). It sits on top of the pier just under the scope and it keeps the temp. around 10/15 degrees above freezing. I cover the scope with an old padded jacket,making sure its not in contact with the lamp, this keeps the heat in.
This has got to be cheaper to run than a 2kw heater and I don't need to heat all the observatory. As long as I fire up the scope and get it running before it cools down everything is ok and with this little amount of heat it doesn't take long to cool down.
Have now tested it for a week with 100% success, better not say that too loud I'll be inviting the Gremlins back!!!!!

Regards Dave.