Instruction Manual 16", 20" RCX400TM Advanced Ritchey-Chrétien Telescopes with The Max Mount MEADE.COM Read this manual carefully before attempting to assemble the MAX mount and attaching the OTA. Follow steps as outlined in this manual in order to assemble the telescope safely. Failure to follow steps may result in injury or death, and/or damage to the telescope and mount. DANGER WARNING! Never use a Meade RCX400TM Telescope to look at the Sun! Looking at or near the Sun will cause instant and irreversible damage to your eye. Eye damage is often painless, so there is no warning to the observer that damage has occurred until it is too late. Do not point the telescope or its viewfinder at or near the Sun. Do not look through the telescope or its viewfinder as it is moving. Children should always have adult supervision while observing. If you have never focused an RCX telescope before, go to pages 24 to 26 for detailed information. ® CONTENTS Telescope Features ...................................................... 4 Autostar II Features ........................................................11 Assembly ........................................................................14 Tripod Assembly ........................................................14 Pedestal Assembly and Adjusting Latitude ..............14 RA Assembly ............................................................16 Dec Saddle Assembly ..............................................16 Attach Counterweights ..............................................18 Low Latitude Counterweights....................................18 Attach OTA to Dec Saddle ........................................20 Attach Autostar II ......................................................21 Align Viewfinder with OTA ........................................21 Home Position and Balancing the OTA ..........................22 Balance RA Axis ......................................................20 Balance Dec Axis......................................................21 Getting Started ..............................................................24 Attach Handbox Holder ............................................24 Mounting, Focusing & Aligning the Viewfinder..........24 Focusing the Telescope ............................................24 To Change Focus Speed ....................................24 To Focus the Eyepiece ........................................25 Presets ................................................................25 To Define a Preset ............................................25 To Focus with a Microfocuser ............................25 To Focus with an RCX and a Microfocuser ......25 To Select a Preset ............................................26 To Sync on a Preset ..........................................26 Slew Speeds ..................................................................26 To Align for the First Time ..............................................27 Automatic Alignment ................................................27 Drift Align ..................................................................28 Collimation ................................................................28 Align the OTA ............................................................29 Calibrate Home ........................................................30 Basic Autostar II Operation ............................................31 Autostar II Menus ........................................................33 Menu Tree ................................................................33 Objects Menu ............................................................34 Event Menu ..............................................................35 Glossary Menu, Utilities Menu ..................................35 Setup Menu ..............................................................37 Hot Button Menus ....................................................40 Advanced Autostar II Features ......................................41 Adding Observing Sites ............................................41 Creating User Objects ..............................................42 Observing Satellites ..................................................43 Identify ......................................................................43 Browse ......................................................................44 Alternate Polar Alignment Methods ..........................45 To Download the Latest Autostar II Software............45 Periodic Error Correction ..........................................46 Optional Accessories......................................................47 Maintenance ..................................................................50 Specifications ................................................................51 Meade Consumer Solutions ..........................................52 Appendix A: Latitude Chart ............................................53 Appendix B: The Moon ..................................................54 Appendix C: Smart Mount ..............................................55 ® The names "Autostar," "Meade" and the Meade logo are trademarks registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in principal countries throughout the world. "RCX400 " is a trademark of Meade Instruments Corporation. Patents: US 6,304,376 US 6,392,799 US 6,563,636 D 422,610 Patent Pending. © 2006 Meade Instruments Corporation. TELESCOPE FEATURES Components of MAX MAX features a unique modular design that allows a couple of individuals to assemble, either permanently or transportably, a mount twice the size of any other commercially available mount. The mount breaks down into a Portable Pier (tripod), Pedestal, RA Housing Assembly, and DEC Housing assembly. Together all of the components and an OTA assembly fit easily into a station wagon, SUV, minivan or small truck. When assembled, quick release, but rock solid, dovetail plates allow OTA and instrument packages up to 250 lbs to be quickly mounted and de-mounted. Note: Your telescope and mount may look slightly different from the one shown in some of the images in this manual. However, your telescope will still operate as the one described in this manual. Optical Tube Assembly (OTA) Viewfinder Assembly Declination Housing Assembly Counterweight Assembly RA Housing Assembly Pedestal Assembly Eyepiece Assembly Low Latitude Counterweight Assembly [Optional: Required if within 20° of the Equator] Tripod 4 Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun. Do not look through the telescope as it is moving. Pedestal Assembly MAX's Pedestal assembly can be configured to cover three latitude ranges without the need of disassembly. Together, the three ranges allow the mount to operate anywhere on the planet. Latitude Lock Knobs (x4) RA Lock Knob Dovetail Ejector Knob Latitude Scale Latitude Range Bolts (8x) Azimuth Adjustment Knob Azimuth Lock Knobs (x5) Tripod/Pier Interface Plate PEDESTAL (WEDGE) ASSEMBLY RA Female Dovetail Dovetail Ejector Knobs (2) Azimuth Adjust Knob Latitude Adjust Knob Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun. Do not look through the telescope as it is moving. 5 Right Ascension Housing Assembly The RA Housing mates to the Pedestal easily, sliding firmly into a dovetail block that measures over 100 square inches. When locked in place, this broad footprint assures that your mount will operate as a single rigid block delivering accurate and repeatable pointing and tracking performance. The RA Housing contains Meade's patented Autostar II telescope control system, a massive 13.625" pitch diameter worm gear attached to a 3.84" diameter 6061-T6511 aluminum alloy main shaft supported by one 6020 Ball bearing (5.9055 OD x 3.9370 ID x 0.9449 wide) & one 6013 ball bearing (3.9370 OD x 2.5591 ID x 0.7090 wide) . Declination Lock Knobs Declination Safety Lock THE RA ASSEMBLY Control Panel (see page 10) Declination Female Dovetail (not visible, on bottom side) DB-25 connector Low Latitude Counterweight plug RA Male Dovetail 6 Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun. Do not look through the telescope as it is moving. Declination Housing Assembly The Dec Housing mates to the RA Housing using another huge dovetail block. The RA Housing, DEC Housing and Pedestal are all designed to allow you to track more than 6 degrees past meridian without interference. This mount will let you cover the whole sky. In addition to accepting quick change dovetail plates, MAX has two generous wing mount platforms that will allow you to attach guide scopes, piggy back cameras, short focal length refractors and a wide variety of secondary instruments without interfering with Max's "all sky" design. DEC ASSEMBLY OTA Safety Lock OTA Lock Knobs (2x) OTA Female Dovetail Dec Balance Hard Stop Bolt Accessory Wings (2x) DB-25 connector Saddle Panel Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun. Do not look through the telescope as it is moving. 7 pedestal attachment lever course adjustment lock lever fine adjustment turnbuckle THE TRIPOD MAX Tripod The MAX mount tripod can be transported or permanently installed. It provides a wide stance to assure that it can safely carry MAX's massive payload in all orientations, but still collapses down to a size that is easy to handle. Its design assures that despite its wide stance, it will not interfere with optical systems observing on the meridian. Like Max, it sets up, knocks down, and adjusts without the need of tools. Counterweights Matching Slots Counterweight Quick Release Buttons Fixed Counterweight Knobs (8) Safety Cap Fixed Counterweights (2) The MAX counterweights are beautifully crafted with sure locking, but quick release, buttons. They allow you to quickly locate balance so you can get back to work. Counterweight Shaft Adjustable Counterweights THE COUNTERWEIGHTS 8 Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun. Do not look through the telescope as it is moving. Optical Tube Assembly MAX is sold stand alone, or it is available bundled with Meade's 16" RCX400TM or 20" RCX400TM Optical Tube Assemblies. RCX OTA's integrate seamlessly with MAX. Together you get pinpoint stars from Meade's unique Advanced Ritchey-Chrétien optical system: · · · · · · Zero expansion carbon fiber body Advanced Ritchey-Chrétien optics Electronic Collimation Integrated Dew Heater OTA fan for quick cool down Digital Electronic Focus with Presets Viewfinder Optical Tube Assembly (OTA) Dust Cover 2" Eyepiece 2" Accessory Adapter OTA Alignment Bolts (concentric) 2" Star Diagonal Visual Back OTA Panel OTA Male Dovetail THE OTA Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun. Do not look through the telescope as it is moving. 9 CONTROL PANELS AND PORTS Off/On 12vDC In 12VDC Switched Out USB Port AUX port HBX port (Handbox port) Serial port RA ASSEMBLY CONTROL PANEL SADDLE CONTROL PANEL Reticle Port 12VDC Switched Focuser RA TO DEC JUMPER CABLE Smart Accessory Ports JUMPER CABLE BETWEEN OTA AND SADDLE PANEL (use one of the Saddle panel Smart Accessory ports) USB Ports Auto Guider HBX port 10 Looking at or near the Sun will cause irreversible damage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near the Sun. Do not look through the telescope as it is moving. AUTOSTAR II FEATURES ¸ µ Fig. 2: The Autostar II Handbox. Tour the Cosmos with Just the Push of a Button Control of Max and RCX400 telescope models is through the operation of the standard Autostar II system. Nearly all functions of the telescope are accomplished with just a few pushes of Autostar II's buttons. Because the Autostar II system uses flash (rewritable) memory, your system will be able to grow when new features and enhancements become available. Download the latest satellite data, star and object catalogs, tours, serial commands list, and software revisions, directly from the Meade website (www.meade.com). Some of the major features of the Autostar II system are: Automatically move the telescope to any of the more than 180,000 objects stored in the object library, including: Library # of Objects New General Catalog (NGC): 7,840 Index Catalog (IC): 5,386 Messier Catalog (M): 110 Caldwell Catalog: 109 227 Named Objects: 400 Herschel Catalog: 2,712 Abell Catalog of Galaxy Clusters: 645 Arp Catalog of Irregular Galaxies: Uppsala Galaxy Catalog: 12,940 12,939 Morphological Catalog of Galaxies: 28,484 General Catalog of Variable Stars: 17,191 SAO: Hipparcos Star Catalog: 17,325 .... ...