Hi everyone, I'm back on the list after a 3-month absence. I've been increidbly busy and nursing some injuries while off list- and still am, but I miss the astronomical thought every now-and-then and my schedule is going to lighten up soon. What did I miss while away? I have a problem that perhaps some of you can help with. I am attempting to ressurect a 12-year-old Meade 4.5" equatorial reflector for one of the owners here at work. It came to me partially disassembled with only one 6mm Ramsden eyepiece, plastic lens Barlow, (shame on you, Meade) and the electronic drive motor disconnected. I'm not going to get into the myriad shortcomings of design and construction- this telescope has no real reason to live other than it's sale generated some cash for Meade; it's a terrible telescope even fresh out of the box. I was going to offer the owner 20 bucks for it but after familiarizing myself with it, wouldn't take it for free. No lie, it's junk, a "trash telescope". I cleaned and re-aligned the optics, got the drive re-assembled and the motor re-installed, but it runs backwards! There is no external N/S hemisphere switch. There is no internal switch on the hand paddle; I have not opened-up the motor case yet because I don't want to deal with re-assembling a gear train if it all comes spilling out. The motor cannot be mounted on the opposite side of the worm. The plastic bracket will only fit on the eastern side. I've thought about changing the polarity of the battery pack, but intuitively that shouldn't work since it appears to be a pulsed electronic system. The red LED pilot light wouldn't even work if it was a case of reversed polarity. The hand controller uses a 9v battery, permanently connected to the motor housing with a phone-style cord & connector. There is also a separate pack using 10 AA cells that plugs into the motor housing directly. Now, get this: The drive motor works with the 9 volt battery in the hand controller, but not for long. Maybe 20 minutes to a dead battery. The motor runs backwards with the AA pack plugged-in and with no battery in the hand controller, the fast slew/slow buttons work fine. But with a battery in the hand controller AND the AA pack plugged-in, nothing works. This particular model does not seem to be supported by Meade anymore. I've found a similar telescope on their Website but this drive and control is no longer listed (I can see why). Any ideas? TIA! C.