Posts Made By: Paul Gruener

Geoff,
I have an LX200 Classic. It is the 7" Maksutov. As it sits and tracks the meter shows it is drawing .3 amps at 18 VDC. When it slews, it peaks for just a moment at .6 or so then slews at about .45 amps. I have not checked the power draw at boot up, but I could, just let me know.

I would guess if you had at least an amp or an amp and a half you would be just fine. I do not have the Meade power adapter and the catalog I have does not list the amperage.

If you have a good way of converting 12 VDC to 18 VDC, I would be very interested to you know your approach.

Good luck, Paul G.

Welcome!
May the joy of the stars and planets touch your soul often.

Paul G.
Wisconsin

Dave,
I use a 12v battery with the Scopestuff.com 12v to 18v converter and the scope runs very well. If you do not have one, you might want to look a the converter from Scopestuff, it is very well made and is a good price. If you give them a ring they will tell all about the thermal protection and other enhancements over the Meade converter.
Good luck and clear skies, Paul G.

Vars,
Do you think it would work well in my 60mm finder rings?
Thank you for the feedback,
Paul

Mike,
Sorry to hear about your Mak, that is a nice scope.

I have owned several Meade Maks. I had an LX-200 version and a Tak FS102 APO at the same time. I observed from my back yard at the edge of a city.

These two scopes could not be any more different. They are complementary. The Tak was super sharp, displayed excellent contrast, and showed a nice wide field compared to the F-15 mak. For example, views of the double cluster, and M45 were just great. It also did a fantastic job on the moon and the planets. Contrast, contrast, contrast!

Where the Mak did very well was on deep sky objects. The FS-102 would show M13 as a fuzzy patch with a few stars, the Mak would resolve the cluster in to many more stars for me and was much brighter. M57, as another example, was significantly brighter and more detailed then in the 4 inch APO. I liked the Mak for its relatively high contrast and sharpness with its ability to gather enough like to bring out detail many deep sky objects.

If you pick up a 4" apo, I think it will affect your deep sky observing.

Both scopes were fun, but very different.

As for a suggestions, if you like to view deep sky objects, a larger 5" APO would be nice. Today, I have a Russian F-15 7" Mak and I am very impressed with the quality of the optics. They are very sharp. This might be something to consider as well.

Good luck,
Paul G.

Jeff Arrington said:

Unfortunately, an accident has caused serious damage to my Meade Mak 7. Meade tells me it will cost about $1000 to fix. Given that expense, I am considering taking that money and applying it to a 4" apo refractor, such as the Televue 101 or 102, or the Takahashi 102FS. Can anyone comment on what I am likely to gain or lose in the observing experience if I do make such a switch? Does anyone have other suggestions for an upgrade from the Mak 7?

I live in Los Angeles, and have used my Mak only for visual observing. I intend to try astrophotography at some point. My parents and my in-laws live on farms, and I would like to be able to take my scope to those locations.

Harry,
The 7" Mak LX-200 will take about 30-45 minutes to cool down in the winter if you use the fan. One approach I took was to put the scope outside before dinner so it would have a chance to adjust. I would take the mount \ OTA unit outside without the tripod and let it sit without the fan running. After dinner I would put it on the tripod and get everything setup. With this approach, I would sometimes still need to run the fan for 10 minutes to finish the cool down. Once the OTA was settled down, I would have no trouble for the rest of the evening. I live in Wisconsin.

Note: I have learned a flexible dew shield is important in the summer and the winter with the Maksutovs.

Another option to consider is to purchase only the OTA. Meade sells the OTA with UHTC coatings. When you purchase the scope in this configuration, Meade does not install the rear counterweight needed for balance in the fork mounts. I am guessing the lack of the OTA weight will help speed the cool down, but I do not know for sure. My scopes were all fork mounted. Add a dovetail, mount, and dark sky.

I had several of these scopes and I think they are very good value for the money. I found the images to be nice and sharp along with displaying high contrast. Last year I had some wonderful views of Saturn with my (now sold) LX-200 7" Maksutov.

I found my 7" Meade Maks gave images that were much brighter and had significantly more detail then my 4" APO. Compared against a C-11 (no averted vision), and the 7" using averted vision, I came close to matching brightness, but not (as you would expect), the C-11's resolution. The Mak displayed higher contrast then the C-11.

In addition to the Meade Maksutov, if you have not checked into it, ITE, an AM sponsor, sells a Russian made 7" F15 Mak. The deluxe version of this OTA includes a fan to help with cooling. I have had mine since last fall and I really, really like it. The color, sharpness, and contrast are all terrific. The CO is small, there is no focus shift, and the OTA is easy to handle. It is however, more money then the Meade OTA.

Good luck,
Paul G.

John,
I have the I-M 715 DX. I live in Wisconsin and observe in the cold. I was out last week when it was below 10 F and two nights ago when it was about the same temperature. If I have time and plan ahead, I put the OTA outside with the case open for an hour or two before I head out to observe. When I am ready to observe the OTA is in good shape requiring maybe another 15 minutes with the front cap off to settle in. Some times this is not even necessary. Once the optics are stable, I put on my flexible dew shield to prevent frost. With this approach I do not need the fan at all.

If I do not have time, then I find I need to set the scope up and run the fan for about 45 minutes to cool everything down. It is close to zero, the cool down will extend to an hour. After that, I put the dew shield on and I am good to go for the rest of the night.

Once the scope is stable, if never find I need to run the fan.

The dew shield does a great job in summer and winter. During the last lunar eclipse, we had a very cloudy and damp night here in the land of cheese. I put the shield on and my front corrector was perfect all evening. If I do not use it, the glass gets covered in dew quickly.

Regards,
Paul

Alan,
I have had the UO RA amici prism finder since the holidays. I think it is great.
Paul

Nico,
You can also try:
http://www.arksky.org/index.htm

Take a look under services. The contact on this site has helped me with a few quesitons.

A few things to consider:
Use some electrical cleaner on the Autostar cable contacts. I have had to do this.

Reset the Autostar and retrain the drives, then make sure all your settings for location and time are correct.

Make sure you have enough power. Are the batteries fresh, or is the power supply cable in good shape?

Good luck,
Paul

Fred,
I sent you a Private Message.
Regards,
Paul