Tag Archives: telescope

How to upgrade the GPS module in a Meade LX200GPS telescope for much faster GPS fixes

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The 25 year old GPS module in my LX200GPS telescope has great difficulty getting a GPS fix. (My telescope is on a wedge, so the antenna is facing north instead of “up”, plus the backup battery died and is extremely difficult to replace without removing the telescope from the wedge. The biggest reason is that it is 25 years old.)

So I bought a modern BN-280 GPS module ($25) and a $10 USB->Serial TTL programmer, and replaced it. There are some technical details you need to get right to make it work (4800 baud, sending only $GPRMC messages, getting the wires hooked up right) but the overall process is relatively straightforward. Above is my howto video, and below is my big text dump:

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Building a Telescope Tripod dolly (Meade LX-200 12″)

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I built my own Tripod Dolly with casters & Leveling bolts (out of 2×4’s and plywood) for my Meade LX-200 12″ with Giant Field Tripod (the one with the 3″ diameter legs).

I was originally thinking it would be just so I could play around with the telescope (move it in and out of the garage) and get a feel for things until I decided what commercial dolly / truck / cart to buy, but I’ve been so happy with the results that I think I’ll just use it permanently.

Tripod Dolly built from 2x4s and plywood

 

I’ve got a short 5 minute intro video here (which links to a full 40 minute how to build step by step video if you decide to follow along and build your own):

Also of potential interest to people with the Meade Giant Field Tripod is that I modeled the tip of the tripod legs and designed a 3D printed bracket for holding the tripod tips securely in place on the 2×4’s…[Of course, you could just drill a 1″ hole at a 55 degree angle, but if you’ve got a 3D printer everything needs a custom bracket….]

You can find the 3D model & OpenSCAD design file on Thingiverse here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6826864