Meade MAX-ACF Instruction Manual

Instruction Manual20" MAX-ACF Advanced Coma-Free Telescope on MAX RoboticGerman Equatorial MountMEADE.COM

10Looking at or near the Sunwill cause irreversibledamage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near theSun. Do not look through the telescop

Fig. 2: The Autostar II Handbox.Tour the Cosmos with Just the Push of a ButtonControl of MAX-ACF telescope is through the operation of the standard Au

12Looking at or near the Sunwill cause irreversibledamage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near theSun. Do not look through the telescop

4 FOCUS: Toggles between two functions. The first press allows you to change the focus and focus speed. The next press allows you to create presets th

14Looking at or near the Sunwill cause irreversibledamage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near theSun. Do not look through the telescop

Looking at or near the Sunwill cause irreversibledamage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near theSun. Do not look through the telescope

1216Slide the RA assembly onto the Pedestal dovetail.CAUTION: MAKE SURE THAT YOUR FINGERS ARECLEAR OF THE TRACK BEFORE YOU SLIDE THE RAASSEMBLY INTO T

1314ATHE DEC SADDLE ASSEMBLYTurn the Dec lock knob so there is no gap (see step10). Note, in the photos, the Dec assembly is alreadyshown as attached.

181920ATTACH COUNTERWEIGHT ASSEMBLYNote that there are two types of counterweights usedwith Max. One is the typical round counterweight you'repro

2321A21BSlide the bolts into the threaded holes and tighten eachsecuring knob by hand until it reaches the top. Thenuse a 1/4" shaft, such as a P

DANGERRead this manual carefully beforeattempting to assemble theMAX-ACF mount and attaching theOTA. Follow steps as outlined inthis manual in order t

2027ATTACH OPTICAL TUBE TO THE DEC SADDLETurn the OTA lock knobs on the Dec Assembly so thatthere is NO a gap.Looking at or near the Sunwill cause irr

28A28B28D28EThe OTA should have its dust cover attached when leftstored on the ground in an upright position. You canalso store it on its side.A minim

22Looking at or near the Sunwill cause irreversibledamage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near theSun. Do not look through the telescop

23HOME POSITION AND BALANCING THE OTAAfter power is applied and Autostar has initialized, pressMODE to move to the vertical home position (see photoat

24Looking at or near the Sunwill cause irreversibledamage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near theSun. Do not look through the telescop

25Looking at or near the Sunwill cause irreversibledamage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near theSun. Do not look through the telescop

Focusing the Telescope All focusing is performed digitally, using AutoStar II’s Focus key(number key 4). The Focus key functions as a toggle key:쩦 Pre

scope), you can use Autostar to control both the MAX-ACF and the microfocuser.Make sure you have connected the saddle plate to the MAX-ACF and the mic

28Aligning for the First TimeIf you wish to have precise pointing accuracy, the first time you align your telescopeyou will need to align it to using

29Looking at or near the Sunwill cause irreversibledamage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near theSun. Do not look through the telescop

Telescope Features ... 4Autostar II Features ...

30Looking at or near the Sunwill cause irreversibledamage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near theSun. Do not look through the telescop

31Looking at or near the Sunwill cause irreversibledamage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near theSun. Do not look through the telescop

32It is important to understand that menu selections are set in a loop (Fig. 44).This meansthat pressing the Scroll Down key cycles down through all t

4. Press the Scroll Down key once to display the "Sunset" option in the Event menu.5. Press the ENTER key to choose the "Sunset" o

34AUTOSTAR II's MENUSFigure 46: The Complete Autostar II Menu Tree Structure.Hold down MODE for two seconds and thefollowing data displays:• Righ

35Looking at or near the Sunwill cause irreversibledamage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near theSun. Do not look through the telescop

36Browse: Allows you to search the library for objects with certain parameters, muchlike a search engine. "Edit Parameters" lets you set var

OTA Fan: Allows you to turn the fan off or on if you have an MAX-ACF model. The fanassists with the stabilization of the optics. The fan should be act

38prompts you to turn off the telescope's power, Autostar II is unable to bereturned to operation without turning the power off and then back on.

Tip:If the "ENTER to Sync" fea-ture is accessed by mistake(holding the ENTER key formore than 2 seconds),press MODE to return tothe previous

4Looking at or near the Sunwill cause irreversibledamage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near theSun. Do not look through the telescope

40GPS-UTC Offset: Universal Time (UTC) allows you to add leap seconds to its timecalculations, GPS does not. The offset is the number of leap seconds

쩦 Serial Number: Displays the unit's serial number.Reset: Completely resets Autostar II. Most values entered into the menus revert tofactory defa

42ADVANCED AUTOSTAR II FEATURESBefore trying out the examples in this section, familiarize yourself with the basic oper-ations of Autostar II describe

43Looking at or near the Sunwill cause irreversibledamage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near theSun. Do not look through the telescop

Observing SatellitesIn this procedure, you will prepare your telescope to observe a satellite pass.1. Navigate to the "Object: Satellite" me

45Looking at or near the Sunwill cause irreversibledamage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near theSun. Do not look through the telescop

Note:Autostar II locates align-ment stars based on thedate, time, and locationentered. The alignmentstars may change fromnight to night. All that isre

computer control panel/ Plug the other end into a USB port of your PC Next,you will install the Autostar Suite software from the CD ROM. This software

48OPTIONAL ACCESSORIESA wide assortment of professional Meade accessories is available for the MAX-ACFtelescope models. The premium quality of these a

Series 4000 Nebular Filters: A modern boon to the city-dwelling deep-spaceobserver, the interference nebular filter effectively cancels out the effect

5Looking at or near the Sunwill cause irreversibledamage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near theSun. Do not look through the telescope

50#1A filter. The filter increases visual and photographic contrast, decreases glare, andhelps to penetrate haze.MAX-ACF AC Wall Adapter: Permits powe

MAINTENANCEMAX-ACF telescopes are precision optical instruments designed to yield a lifetime ofrewarding applications. Given the care and respect due

52Total instrument capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500 lbs.Aperture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

53Looking at or near the Sunwill cause irreversibledamage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near theSun. Do not look through the telescop

54APPENDIX A: LATITUDE CHARTLatitude Chart for Major Cities of the World To aid in the polar alignment procedure, latitudes of major cities around the

55Looking at or near the Sunwill cause irreversibledamage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near theSun. Do not look through the telescop

56APPENDIX C: Smart Mount IntroductionSmart Mount improves the pointing accuracy of your MAX-ACF telescope's "Go to"system. Despite car

57Looking at or near the Sunwill cause irreversibledamage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near theSun. Do not look through the telescop

APPENDIX D: How toRead the Latitude ScaleIntroductionAs Max needs to be polar aligned, you will need to set the latitude scale for you lati-tude range

6Looking at or near the Sunwill cause irreversibledamage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near theSun. Do not look through the telescope

14-7753-00 8/06 REVB27 Hubble, Irvine, California 92618(800) 626-3233 www.meade.comMEADE LIMITED WARRANTYEvery Meade telescope, spotting scope, an

7Looking at or near the Sunwill cause irreversibledamage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near theSun. Do not look through the telescope

8Looking at or near the Sunwill cause irreversibledamage to your eye. Do not point this telescope at or near theSun. Do not look through the telescope

9Optical Tube AssemblyMAX-ACF is delivered with a 20” Advanced Coma-Free™ OpticalTube Assemblie. Its 20” OTA integrates seamlessly with MAX-ACFGerman