Meade ETX 125 Telescope heavy electrical wiring mod

This modification is intend to address several electrical wiring issues discussed on the great online resource of Mike Weasner: http://www.weasner.com/etx/menu.html

The main issue is actually: "Too many hanging cables!"

In particular:
-The DEC motor cable had been removed from the RA axis hole. Thus allowing to remove the RA axis hard stop mechanism. This helps a lot during the initial alignment of the telescope, and during long observation sessions guiding. It is also helpful for the scope tuning, which requires disassembling of the base.

- The serial port signal is routed from the AutoStar box to the base of the scope and then to the top of the right arm of the fork to accept the BlueTooth transmitter for remote control and/or GPS connection.

- The Aux port and a couple of simple 2 wire power plugs for the auxiliary peripheral devices are conveniently mounted on the same fork arm to shorten the required cabling and preventing them from tangling around the scope.

Final look:

Step 1 The parts and tools

I've got several RJ45 and RJ14 plugs, an RS-232 male connector, a couple of 3.5mm mono audio plugs, and a roll of color coded wire band. Also I've found in my garage a coiled telephone handset cord to connect to the AutoStar serial port.

I've used a Multimeter, a soldering iron, a hot glue gun, a Dremel tool, an Utility knife, some files and drill-bits. The scope's plastic is very easy to deal with.

It's nice to have a soft brush and a a vacuum cleaner at hands to remove the accumulating shavings often. Wear safety glasses working with Dremel (or any other rotary) tool.

Comments

[thorpozon]

hello, I hope you can help me. I have a bushnell northstar . I lost the real voice output remote commader. how can I still make the telescope work? you seemed to know much about it. thor

[kouker]

I don't have any experience with that model. Sorry. But I would recommend you to join the best amateur astronomers forum ever on cloudynights.com, and ask your question there http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?Cat=

[thorpozon]

by the way, my email address is [e-mail]

[bedbugg2]

i found a parabolic telescope!