TheSkySearchers

Greetings, everyone. I live in Florida near a great dark sky state park (Kissimmee Prairie Preserve) and have recently purchased an old Celestron Ultima 2000 8" SCT (at an unbelievable price) from a neighbor whose late son used it up until the Y2K chip problem made it too difficult to properly align. The scope, heavy tripod and many accessories are in fantastic condition, but I was told that the hand controller is not useable. What can I do to bring this great old scope back to a useful life? Many thanks, and I look forward to participating in the forum.

Hi and Welcome to TSS! Sounds like a great pick-up for the price. As I am not a Schmidt Cassegrain expert one of our SCT experts will be by soon to chime in on your question.

Welcome to TSS!
Congratulations on the "new" telescope. Celestron had quite a reputation for producing fantastic optics for this model, so it's a keeper for sure!!

Here's a review from another forum that has a lot of good information on your scope https://www.cloudynights.com/articles/c ... 2000-r1768

You say the hand controller isn't usable. What are the issues?

Welcome to TSS and congrats on that great SCT!

Welcome to TSS JTW!

It’s great to have you here.

I read the great article that Gordon attached.
Sounds like an amazing scope!!!

Hi JTW, and welcome here to the Forum!

smp

Hello and welcome to TSS. Glad you joined us.

I think your issue with the hand controller is something we may need to take to uncle Rod and see what info he can give us.

Cheers,

Hi and welcome to TSS good luck with your scope

Gordon wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 5:38 pm Welcome to TSS!
Congratulations on the "new" telescope. Celestron had quite a reputation for producing fantastic optics for this model, so it's a keeper for sure!!

Here's a review from another forum that has a lot of good information on your scope https://www.cloudynights.com/articles/c ... 2000-r1768

You say the hand controller isn't usable. What are the issues?

The U2K hand controller apparently doesn't have the "Y2K" chip that made alignment and tracking possible after 2000. I looked around and couldn't find a solution (or a chip). Thanks so much!

JayTee wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 9:38 pm Hello and welcome to TSS. Glad you joined us.

I think your issue with the hand controller is something we may need to take to uncle Rod and see what info he can give us.

Cheers,

Thanks for the welcome!
How do I take this issue to Uncle Rod?
I really appreciate your input and a possible lead!

Welcome on board JTW! Can you move the scope with arrow keys on the handset? If so you can operate it in manual mode without alignment.

JTW wrote: ↑Sun Sep 10, 2023 4:19 pm

JayTee wrote: ↑Thu Sep 07, 2023 9:38 pm Hello and welcome to TSS. Glad you joined us.

I think your issue with the hand controller is something we may need to take to uncle Rod and see what info he can give us.

Cheers,

Thanks for the welcome!
How do I take this issue to Uncle Rod?
I really appreciate your input and a possible lead!

https://uncle-rods.blogspot.com/

Welcome to TSS.

Well I found some more information that might help you: https://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/arc ... 33171.html

The information is pretty old but it gives us some hope. I checked and the original poster OICURMT is still active on iceinspace so you may want to join and post your question there also.

Gordon wrote: ↑Sun Sep 10, 2023 5:21 pm Well I found some more information that might help you: https://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/arc ... 33171.html

The information is pretty old but it gives us some hope. I checked and the original poster OICURMT is still active on iceinspace so you may want to join and post your question there also.

Interesting info Gordon. According to the last post in that link, it seems the only issue is pointing to the planets. Considering the planets are for the most part naked-eye objects, manually pointing to them should not be a problem.

Welcome to TSS JTW, thanks for joining us

I haven't had the opportunity to resurrect one of those yet.

They have great optics, many folks do a "forkectomy" and place it on a modern mount, personally I would only do that as a last resort.
I prefer to keep things original if possible.

Here's another interesting link; http://www.company7.com/celestron/products/sch8.html

Ylem wrote: ↑Sun Sep 10, 2023 6:15 pm Welcome to TSS JTW, thanks for joining us

I haven't had the opportunity to resurrect one of those yet.

They have great optics, many folks do a "forkectomy" and place it on a modern mount, personally I would only do that as a last resort.
I prefer to keep things original if possible.

Here's another interesting link; http://www.company7.com/celestron/products/sch8.html

Thanks! I found this sentence in the above link: "Through the RS-232 port you can control the Ultima® 2000 by a personal computer using a variety of third party software that we offer most notably "TheSky" by Software Bisque." Though it's very old information, how would I do this now (and locate the RS-232 port)? I have a spare laptop that could be put to use.

JTW wrote: ↑Mon Sep 11, 2023 6:02 pm

Ylem wrote: ↑Sun Sep 10, 2023 6:15 pm Welcome to TSS JTW, thanks for joining us

I haven't had the opportunity to resurrect one of those yet.

They have great optics, many folks do a "forkectomy" and place it on a modern mount, personally I would only do that as a last resort.
I prefer to keep things original if possible.

Here's another interesting link; http://www.company7.com/celestron/products/sch8.html

Thanks! I found this sentence in the above link: "Through the RS-232 port you can control the Ultima® 2000 by a personal computer using a variety of third party software that we offer most notably "TheSky" by Software Bisque." Though it's very old information, how would I do this now (and locate the RS-232 port)? I have a spare laptop that could be put to use.

First, the RS-232 port is made via an adapter cable that turns the USB handcontroller port to Serial 9pin and then turns back around to a standard USB A connector. Sort of like this adapter. https://www.amazon.com/Eagle-Electronic ... 136&sr=8-4
That's if your handcontroller has a mini USB connector on it. If it's different, you'll just have to search for the right cable. I seem to remember you needing one with either a Prolific or FTDI chipset, but I don't remember which one.

As far as software goes, back when that manual was written, The Sky was about the only well known program that would work with the scope. Nowadays there are many different options, several completely free. Two that I can think of off the top of my head are Stellarium and Cartes du Ciel.
Stellarium looks better but in my opinion, has become quite bloated in recent years. Cartes du Ciel is much more basic but lightweight.

JTW, I don't know if you have or found a manual on the scope, but I found one here;
https://www.manualslib.com/manual/26555 ... tml#manual