Meade LXD-650 Declination Runaway repair

The last time I wanted to do some deep-sky astrophotography, I ran into an issue with our astronomy club’s LXD-650 mount – immediately after switching it on the declination motor started to run at high speed.

After some research on the internet I was able to resolve the issue, by tweaking the setting on the potentiometer responsible for the declination encoder LED light.

Some notes to anyone interested in doing this:

  • To remove the manual declination and rectascension knobs you have to lift the rubber grip around the knob to be able to loosen it from the axis
  • Imperial Allen keys are necessary (I had some in the form of extra bits for my Leatherman wave)
  • you only need to loosen the screws in the corner of the plates on the mounts housing
  • take care to note the orientation of the connectors before unplugging them, as some can be used in either orientation

Here are some links I found helpful while trying to resolve the issue:

  • http://www.b82maidbronn.de/lx200.htm
  • http://www.cloudynights.com/topic/447376-ugh-dreaded-%E2%80%9Cmeade%E2%80%9D-boot-error-haunts-my-lx200/page-2#entry5810815
  • http://www.bbcl03736.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/LX200%20Faults.htm