Owner manual

ManualsBrandsMeade Instruments ManualsOptical devicesRCX400

Parts Listing

Getting the telescope ready for first observations requires only a few minutes. When

first opening the pac

king box, note carefully the following parts:

J RCX400 Telescope with fork mount system and GPS Receiver

J AutoStar II handbox and interface coil cord; handbox holder

J 8 x 50mm viewfinder assembly

J 2" diagonal mirror and

2” visual back barrel

J Series 5000 UltraWide 24mm eyepiece

J V

ariable height tripod

J USB cable and software CD ROM

How to Assemble the Tripod

Remove the parts of the tripod from the shipping carton. Assembly of the tripod will

take just a few minutes.

To assemble the tripod:

1. Slide a leg (1) into a leg receptacle (Fig. 7), making sure that the screw (3) in the

leg (

Fig. 8) slides into the groove (4) on the receptacle (Fig. 9).

2. Rotate the leg attachment lock (6) and tighten to a firm feel.

3. Press and hold down the trigger release lever (5) slide the tripod leg to the

desired length (thereby setting the height of the tripod). See

Fig. 11. Let go of the

trigger when the tripod leg is at the desired length.

5. Repeat steps 1 through 4 for the other two tripod legs. The tripod should now be

stable.

How to Assemble Your Telescope

The telescope’s fork mounting base attaches directly to the tripod. The telescope in

this way is mounted in an “altazimuth” (“altitude-azimuth,” or “vertical-horizontal”) for-

mat. It is recommended that two people attach the mount to the tripod.

Caution for 12” and 14” model users: Due to the weight and size of

these products, please use extreme caution whenever assembling,

disassembling, lifting, transporting or storing these products. Two or more

persons should always be used whenever performing any of these tasks.

Disregard for the above warning could result in serious injury or death.

Note: The field tripod also can be used in conjunction with the optional

equatorial wedge (see your wedge’s instruction sheet for more

information) for long exposure astrophotography.

The tripod base comes with a tangent arm attached for use with the superwedge.

o attac

h the mount:

1. Take note of the T-handle under the tripod base. The T-handle is spring-mounted

into position.

Note also that there is a hole on the bottom side of the mount base

2. Lift the mount and position the mount base over the tripod base. Line up the hole

on the mount base over the T-handle rod. When they are lined up, place the

mount down onto the rod and the rod will “pop up” into the hole (

Fig. 12).

Rotate the

-handle until the rod is tightened to a fir

m feel (

Fig.

To install the batteries:

Assemb

ly of the

RCX400 telescope requires eight C-cell (user-supplied) batter

ies or

the optional RCX A

Wall Adapter to a standard 115v home outlet . Plug the adapter

into the 12vDC In port of the computer control panel (

B, Fig. 1d).

1. Turn the Dec. lock (

17, Fig. 1a) counterclockwise to unlock the the optical tube

(

19, Fig. 1a). Move the optical tube to the position depicted in Fig. 1a and turn

the Dec. lock clockwise to a firm feel to relock the position of the optical tube.

2. Remove the battery compartment covers (

7, Fig. 1a) and carefully remove the

battery holders, being mindful of the connector wires (

Fig. 15). Insert four user-

supplied C-cell batter

ies into each batter

y holder

, or

iented as sho

wn on the dia-

gram on the battery slots inside the battery holder. Return the battery holders to

their respectiv

e compar

tments and replace the co

ers.

Caution: Use care to install batter

ies as indicated b

y the batter

GETTING STARTED

Fig. 11: Lift the trigger lever (5) so

that y

ou can adjust the height of the

tripod leg.

Fig. 7: Attach leg (1) to leg

receptacle (2).

Fig. 8: Slide the screw (3)...

Fig. 9: ... into groove on the

receptacle (4).

Fig. 10: Tighten the leg adjustment

loc

k (6).