You're supposed to set up with the declination gearbox on the right side. It matters otherwise it will collide with the mount. I had a the LXD-55 SN8 when these first came out in 2001 or so. At the time it was ground breaking for the price. The OTA was actually very nice. Some people just wanted the mount, others just wanted the OTA.
I have a 10 inch version and you are right, the mount sucks. The focuser seems fine and feels and sounds like it is made of metal (not magnetic), could have finer controls but good enough for me. Maybe the one you have is newer with a cheaper plastic focuser. I replaced the straight thru viewfinder with a right angle. I recollimated it using the link Ed Ting provided. I found that the secondary was like 20 degrees off. It came that way. I built an alt-azimuth fork mount out of PVC pipe. I just need to add some silicone grease to make the motion smoother.
Nice job on the upgrades! I did find the bones of the OTA quite good, and got great views from Yosemite. I had borrowed the scope though, not sure if my bro-in-law will ever make the required modifications.
"VGA cable" :) Sorry that's 15 pins - this is a CGA cable! :) (It's called a DB9 serial cable.) I owned the 10" version on the upgraded mount. Like all Schmidt telescopes of that era, SNT or SCT, it was hit or miss. Some were optically excellent, some were average. Mine was average. I sold it to a deep sky imager who loves it. I still have the LXD75 mount 20 years later and it still works perfectly.
I recently bought an old 10” Meade SN10, the next size up from the one in your video. My first big scope, and my first equatorial mount. The LXD55 mount looks like a pro setup to me, but I think that it’s not sturdy enough for the weight of the scope. Also, the controller was DOA. It turned out to be a bad LCD, which I’ve replaced. I’m still learning how to use this setup, but it doesn’t seem very user friendly lol. Thanks for the video. I’m subbed and bought both of your books on Amazon. I’m still working my way through those. Great info!
Thanks for picking up the books! Did you order 110 Things to See with a Telescope? If so, be sure to leave a review :-) clear skies, and thanks for the sub!
Good video man. The cable you referred to as VGA is actually a serial connection. You cannot use VGA cables for this purpose. Serial is good as its very common a used by other brands suck as SkyWatcher.
My Celestron star Sense acted the same way. Turned out to be dirty contacts on the RJ11 connectors for the hand set and camera. When I look under a magnifier and they had a green colour to the brass contacts.
Hi. I am new to this hobby. And your chanel has encouraged me a lot about stargazing to the point that I am considering buying my First telescope for myself and my 2 sons aged 8 and 6. Where I live in Dhaka, Bangladesh telescopes are hard to come by and pretty expensive because of shipping and duty. Most of them are high/intermediate ones and very pricy or toys. Very rarely we come across good beginner telescopes. After much searching I found 2. If you or anyone here could give me advice it'll super helpful. My 2 options are Celestron Starsense 114LT and another is 70×700 mm refractor. I gather from my limited knowledge is the 114LT is better but here it is about $120 more than the 70×700mm Refractor which is coming in about $220 as it is. I'm not sure if 114LT at $340 will be worth for me as a beginner or not. Or is it better to go for the simpler $220 70×700mm refractor. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
This design is not free of coma, but it reduces it by 1/2 compared to a straight Newtonian. That was a nice capture of M27 without even really working hard! I would put some work into this guy. It will pay off. Put it on a modern mount with at ST4 autoguider port - the LXD55 mount is really not great for anything more than 12 lbs or so, but it's better than its reputation. Note, the cables on these scopes are notorious for glitchy-ness. I have to regularly go at the connectors with a scraping device. and have replaced the handbox cable several times. You will find a vast lore on this mount online - it was an inexpesive go-to solution and sold like hotcakes. The aluminum tripod is the worst aspect of the setup - just too flimsy for all the weight.
Hi there, have you still got it? What is your opinion about the optic? I was looking for something like the Mak-Newt but there are not many of this in market and very dificult to get one here in Chile. I was quoting one Explore Scientific in Poland, but the shipping to South America make me change my mind. All the comments and reviews said that is like a refractor Apo quality, but at a very affordable price. Greetings from BelloCielo - Chile.
I have the Meade SN 10" OTA. I replaced the focuser and finder bracket with a Synta/Vixen shoe. It is mounted on an EQR-6 Pro mount and I do use a Baader coma corrector on it for imaging.
Okay, ignore the scope talk to me about that beauty of a car ... please. What a nice ride you have, I thought you were a proper geek driving some sort of stupid Prius ... Well done bro.
Is this one better or skywatcher 130/900? I want to see planets and maybe some smaller things, mostly want to see how much i can in our galaxy and see something around
A Dobsonian would be the best option for seeing the most objects with your eyes. But an astrophotography rig (using a computer screen instead of your eyes) would bring in far more objects, keeping in mind that stargazing and astrophotography are quite different hobbies.
@@LearnToStargaze so there is no possibility to use my eyes in one of them? Only computer? Which one I can use my eyes and should be best for ameteur? It's gonna be my first telescope- should I choose 150/750 or 130/900?
@@Internautao it’s not that simple to choose a beginner telescope. Please watch this video and form your questions based on the specific section. How To Use Any Telescope: From Setup To Stargazing th-cam.com/video/eQ3IP60Fj9c/w-d-xo.html
You're supposed to set up with the declination gearbox on the right side. It matters otherwise it will collide with the mount. I had a the LXD-55 SN8 when these first came out in 2001 or so. At the time it was ground breaking for the price. The OTA was actually very nice. Some people just wanted the mount, others just wanted the OTA.
Haha, a Frankenstein setup on so many levels. Nice work getting that thing alive again!
I have a 10 inch version and you are right, the mount sucks. The focuser seems fine and feels and sounds like it is made of metal (not magnetic), could have finer controls but good enough for me. Maybe the one you have is newer with a cheaper plastic focuser. I replaced the straight thru viewfinder with a right angle. I recollimated it using the link Ed Ting provided. I found that the secondary was like 20 degrees off. It came that way. I built an alt-azimuth fork mount out of PVC pipe. I just need to add some silicone grease to make the motion smoother.
Nice job on the upgrades! I did find the bones of the OTA quite good, and got great views from Yosemite. I had borrowed the scope though, not sure if my bro-in-law will ever make the required modifications.
"VGA cable" :) Sorry that's 15 pins - this is a CGA cable! :) (It's called a DB9 serial cable.) I owned the 10" version on the upgraded mount. Like all Schmidt telescopes of that era, SNT or SCT, it was hit or miss. Some were optically excellent, some were average. Mine was average. I sold it to a deep sky imager who loves it. I still have the LXD75 mount 20 years later and it still works perfectly.
I recently bought an old 10” Meade SN10, the next size up from the one in your video. My first big scope, and my first equatorial mount. The LXD55 mount looks like a pro setup to me, but I think that it’s not sturdy enough for the weight of the scope. Also, the controller was DOA. It turned out to be a bad LCD, which I’ve replaced. I’m still learning how to use this setup, but it doesn’t seem very user friendly lol.
Thanks for the video. I’m subbed and bought both of your books on Amazon. I’m still working my way through those. Great info!
Thanks for picking up the books! Did you order 110 Things to See with a Telescope? If so, be sure to leave a review :-) clear skies, and thanks for the sub!
Good video man. The cable you referred to as VGA is actually a serial connection. You cannot use VGA cables for this purpose. Serial is good as its very common a used by other brands suck as SkyWatcher.
My Celestron star Sense acted the same way. Turned out to be dirty contacts on the RJ11 connectors for the hand set and camera. When I look under a magnifier and they had a green colour to the brass contacts.
Hi. I am new to this hobby. And your chanel has encouraged me a lot about stargazing to the point that I am considering buying my First telescope for myself and my 2 sons aged 8 and 6. Where I live in Dhaka, Bangladesh telescopes are hard to come by and pretty expensive because of shipping and duty. Most of them are high/intermediate ones and very pricy or toys. Very rarely we come across good beginner telescopes. After much searching I found 2. If you or anyone here could give me advice it'll super helpful. My 2 options are Celestron Starsense 114LT and another is 70×700 mm refractor. I gather from my limited knowledge is the 114LT is better but here it is about $120 more than the 70×700mm Refractor which is coming in about $220 as it is. I'm not sure if 114LT at $340 will be worth for me as a beginner or not. Or is it better to go for the simpler $220 70×700mm refractor. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
This design is not free of coma, but it reduces it by 1/2 compared to a straight Newtonian. That was a nice capture of M27 without even really working hard! I would put some work into this guy. It will pay off. Put it on a modern mount with at ST4 autoguider port - the LXD55 mount is really not great for anything more than 12 lbs or so, but it's better than its reputation. Note, the cables on these scopes are notorious for glitchy-ness. I have to regularly go at the connectors with a scraping device. and have replaced the handbox cable several times. You will find a vast lore on this mount online - it was an inexpesive go-to solution and sold like hotcakes. The aluminum tripod is the worst aspect of the setup - just too flimsy for all the weight.
Hi there, have you still got it? What is your opinion about the optic? I was looking for something like the Mak-Newt but there are not many of this in market and very dificult to get one here in Chile. I was quoting one Explore Scientific in Poland, but the shipping to South America make me change my mind. All the comments and reviews said that is like a refractor Apo quality, but at a very affordable price.
Greetings from BelloCielo - Chile.
It’s not APO, there is still coma that would prevent you using it as an imaging scope.
I have the Meade SN 10" OTA. I replaced the focuser and finder bracket with a Synta/Vixen shoe. It is mounted on an EQR-6 Pro mount and I do use a Baader coma corrector on it for imaging.
Did the SN10 natively without the corrector have a bunch of COma?
I've been looking for one for a while
it is my favorite scope of all time... the Meade 6" SNT
VGA is display. Serial is coms.
Cool! Did you bring it back to Halifax?
Nope, it's not mine :-)
Okay, ignore the scope talk to me about that beauty of a car ... please. What a nice ride you have, I thought you were a proper geek driving some sort of stupid Prius ... Well done bro.
That’s my brother in laws daily driver. I drive a 2016 F-150 Super Crew.
Is this one better or skywatcher 130/900? I want to see planets and maybe some smaller things, mostly want to see how much i can in our galaxy and see something around
A Dobsonian would be the best option for seeing the most objects with your eyes. But an astrophotography rig (using a computer screen instead of your eyes) would bring in far more objects, keeping in mind that stargazing and astrophotography are quite different hobbies.
@@LearnToStargaze so there is no possibility to use my eyes in one of them? Only computer? Which one I can use my eyes and should be best for ameteur? It's gonna be my first telescope- should I choose 150/750 or 130/900?
@@Internautao it’s not that simple to choose a beginner telescope. Please watch this video and form your questions based on the specific section. How To Use Any Telescope: From Setup To Stargazing
th-cam.com/video/eQ3IP60Fj9c/w-d-xo.html
I have the meade 6in lxd 55 ,i need a new focuser any suggestions
This is not something I’ve ever investigated, but I believe Ed Ting did this upgrade on his channel.
Is it really VGA? Maybe you mistook serial for VGA?
The cord was in backwards. It worked fine after that.