My telescope slews erratically and it's not locating objects. What can I do?

October 5, 2018

If your telescope isn’t performing well, you can try the following three steps yourself:

  1. Power supply: Fresh batteries in a clean holder, or switch to a PowerTank or similar external DC supply. Try an AC adapter that is a Celestron-recommended 12V DC, 2.5 amp output, tip positive source. For any external source, be sure the power port on the scope is clean and the pins in the center are slightly spread ensuring good contact with the car battery or AC adapter jack. Check the car battery adapter itself. Check AC extension cords and wall plugs.

    2. Reset to factory settings: Utilities > Factory Setting. This will put the hand control back to its default settings.

    3. If your mount is older you will need to reflash the hand control and motor control firmware: Download to your PC and install the HCUpdate Firmware and MCUpdate Firmware programs. Using the RS232 cable and your PC, connect your scope through the hand control and run the update software either replacing your current versions of hand control and motor control firmware or upgrading to the latest versions. If you have a newer mount, you will need to use Celestron Firmware Manager (CFM).
If none of these steps work, it's most likely that your mount and hand control will require Celestron factory service to restore proper function.