Re: [APML]: Anyone Autoguiding a G-11 with a Pictor XT?

[Wil Milan <wmilan@airdigital.com>]

The Astro-Photography Mailing List
------------------------------------

When I purchased my 201XT I was told by Meade -- a Meade rep on
the phone -- that the relay is required for any non-Meade scopes
else damage could result to the non-Meade scope. Whether that was
due to ground-loop problems from running off a common battery I
don't know, but on the basis of Meade's advice I bought the
relay. Anecdotally, I had been cautioned against using the 201XT
straight into another mount by an individual who had his mount
damaged by a 201 autoguider, which is why I called Meade in the
first place. (I believe in his case it was a Celestron mount he
was talking about, but it's been so long that I'm not sure.)

I tried to look up some details on this in the MAPUG archives,
but I can't find them anywhere; the server (simplenet) seems to
be disconnected. Anyone know where the MAPUG archives have gone?

Wil M.      
mailto:wmilan@airdigital.com
Astrophoto web site: http://www.airdigital.com/astrophoto.html
---
"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, 
the moon and the stars which You have set in place, 
what is Man that you are mindful of him, 
or the son of Man that you care for him?"  -- Psalm 8


John F. Wall wrote:
> 
> The Astro-Photography Mailing List
> ------------------------------------
> 
> Well you guys now have me a little worried.  I just bought a GM-8 mount and
> have a 201XT to use with it.  The original S&T review of the 201XT
> indicated they just plugged it in and it worked fine.  I also checked out
> MEades web page and they state that the 201XT can be used with any scope as
> long as it has a telephone jack which the the GM-8 has.  I also had a quick
> field test and the 201XT calibrated on first try and started guiding albeit
> poorly because I had not set the Cr and Cd values for the OTA I was using.
> But it did seem to function.
> 
> Are the problems mentioned below related to the 201XT or just for the 208XT
> and up.
> 
> John Wall
> 
> At 10:14 PM 7/9/98 -0700, you wrote:
> >The Astro-Photography Mailing List
> >------------------------------------
> >
> >> Has anyone had any success autoguiding a G-11 or GM-8 with a Pictor
> 208XT or
> >> 216XT? A friend and I have been trying to get this to work without any
> luck.
> >> I'd like to know if it works for anyone before I waste any more time trying
> >> to debug it.
> >
> >Are you using a relay box (or the Meade "solid state relay" box)
> >between the Pictor and the G-11? If not that could be the
> >problem. Pictor guiders have a voltage output rather than a relay
> >output, and the voltage output has fried the mount electronics of
> >many non-Meade mounts. Meade specifically states that you must
> >not connect a Pictor guider directly to any non-Meade mount, else
> >damage will result.
> >
> >Having said all that, if you don't have the relay box you may not
> >want to get it, but sell the guider instead. The relay box is
> >ridiculously expensive (I paid something like $100 for mine) and
> >it is a royal pain to hook up. There are point-to-point wiring
> >directions, *but the wires are unlabeled*, so you have to trace
> >each wire through to see which is which. At least that's how mine
> >was; maybe they're packaging better instructions with them these
> >days.
> >
> >In my case, after spending the money and monkeying with all the
> >wiring I found that the 201XT was a lousy autoguider, and I
> >finally did what you call "the right thing": I got an ST-4. It
> >took two seconds to plug into my two mounts (including my G-11),
> >took only a few minutes to learn to use, and worked the first
> >time I tried to use it. The ST-4 is simply a better mousetrap, in
> >my humble (but now painfully experienced) opinion.
> >
> >Wil M.
> >mailto:wmilan@airdigital.com
> >Astrophoto web site: http://www.airdigital.com/astrophoto.html
> >---
> >"When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
> >the moon and the stars which You have set in place,
> >what is Man that you are mindful of him,
> >or the son of Man that you care for him?"  -- Psalm 8
> >
> >

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