It is possible to remove the LEDs without tearing apart the encoder disk (not recommended). You need to heat the aluminum plate with a blow torch. The epoxy will soften, and you can pull the LEDs out with tweezers from the back. Before inserting new LEDs, clean out the epoxy from the holes with a 3mm drill bit.
Sorry, I didn't see your comment until now. We/I gave up not too long after this. I ended up getting the encoder disk off and replaced and wired the two LEDs and would have put money on the table that it would work, but hell no it was still busted. We ended up paying about $500 for a deforked mount. What a total PITA. My recommendation with all these things is to not put good money after bad.
Hi: I have a Classic LX200 f/10 from 2001. Recently repaired Dec Runaway. Was returned from a repair shop and now I have N/S reversed in Dec motor. Since I do astrophotography, my GOTO and SLEWS are reversed when planetarium software tries to communicate with LX200. Your opinion for the cause of this would be appreciated. Thank you.
@@digitalblasphemy1100 ...the issue is now solved, but my Dec motor repair was faulty as the technician wired the motor/board incorrectly. The panel switch position ( N/S) did not correct the main issue, that the motor responded incorrectly to N/S pulses.
The red wire shown on the new board should be in the 6th hole from the bottom, not the 3rd as shown. Don't think the old board could have been wired that way, either, it would not have worked.
Hi Thanks for the insight. I think this scope had things worked on at some point before I got hold of it. I never did get this to work properly and we ended up getting another fork on Astromart. I would have been happy to simply sell the whole thing and put that towards a more modern telescope, but we had someone in the club that was emotionally attached to it and whined about it being important. I did find out that the encoder disk was attached with super glue, and acetone was the correct solution to remove it. Replacement of the LEDs and photo-diodes was possible at that point, although without it being wired properly it obviously didn't work.
