My 2nd Bad Celestron AVX / Advanced VX Mount, This Is My Replacement Mount!

[@aratanaenor]

They must have sorted out the issue because I've had mine for 2 years now, and the action of the DEC axis is smooth with no binding.

[@luiscalle]

I also have a Celestron AVX mount, i afforded it to make astroimaging. I just discovered that it happens EXACTLY the SAME thing. The problem of not adjusting the "lock nut" at all is that the bar tends to destabilize, even worse if you're using 2 counterweights and a 20lbs Newton OTA. My problem gets worse: I live abroad !! Luckily, you gave me a solution that really works. Thank you! Regards !

[@JerHetrick]

try putting the lock nut on backwards. It should work perfectly, nice and tight.

[@luiscalle]

You're right. It works nice and all problems dissapeared. C/weight Bar is stable, it doesn't stuck at all and the RA axis works perfectly, clockwise and counterclockwise. I presume now I'll have an excellent guiding onwards. Regards and thanks again!!

[@JerHetrick]

not a problem, glad it worked for you.

[@davehuntz1636]

I've had my AVX mount for several years now and had no problems. About once a year I have to do a factory reset when it starts acting strange and that clears things up. The problem with the counter weight bar is something new, I have no problem with mine. One of our Club members just got an AVX and was having this problem. When we first noticed it we also noticed that the clutch lock was installed wrong and it was hitting the hosing. After we corrected that, I noticed his weight bar is just a bit bigger than my weight bar. My smaller weight had a very tight fit on his bar than on my bar. Looks like they maybe using a different vender to make the bar. He sent his AVX in for repair and has not got it back yet.

[@anata5127]

What does mean factory reset?

[@GaryMCurran]

Wow, that's even worse than mine was. First, I agree with those who told you not to buy one, and two years later, I've seen nothing to change my mind. Next, that Dec axis should have much less striction and 'stickiness' than it has. I had to completely disassemble my AVX, and cleaned it of all the gunk they called 'lubricant.' I used a white lithium grease in it instead, and after that I would get everything to move freely. In fact, I was actually able to balance my scopes with some degree of accuracy, and I found out that my RA wasn't too bad, but the Dec axis was horribly out of balance with my gear on it. I had to end up adding a counterweight to the Vixen bar to get everything in place and balanced Light scope, heavy camera! No, don't buy another AVX. Spend the money and buy an iOptron CEM25P mount, and you'll be happy ever after. I would never recommend buying a Celestron mount of any kind, and I feel sorry for those who have them.

[@Tony67032]

i regret selling mine , it worked very well without any issue at all

[@hovlandbound]

Hi Tony. I have been looking at a lot of reviews on this mount. I can't decide if I should take the chance on getting it. So you have had very good luck with yours? Before selling it. What is your thought, sounds like you are in favor of it. Any input would be great! Just so you know, I would be putting my Celestron 8SE on it.

[@Tony67032]

hovlandbound i had mine with a explore scientific comet hunter and it was spot on everytime i set it up, 3 star alingment and after that every object was on the field of view with a 15mm meade eyepiece

[@hovlandbound]

Thanks for your input Tony, I think I'm going to get one.

[@b509har]

EXACT same issue here. Serious binding happened at that axis so i had just removed the lock screw from the bar. I still have the lock piece, I'll do what you did and put it on backwards next time. My AVX has performed well for me still being this is my first mount. Will be looking for a more permanent upgrade in the future.

[@tedwilliams3875]

Hi, I had the same issue with mine and not only did mine lock up but I lost power to my unit. I just got my second mount today in the mail and have not put it together yet. I was going to send the head back only but they told me that could take 60 days for repairs and I was like no too long so they told me to send back my entire mount which I did and they would just replace my entire mount which they did. Mine died like 30 days later after 4 uses. When I bought it I could not use it right away due to bad weather and then when I got it out. I used it like 4 nights over a two week span and on the 4th night during polar alignment it locked up and died. Praying this does not happen a second time. Supposedly they said they were going to test the replacement before mailing it out. Its hard to tell if they actually tested it before shipping it out to me. When I tried to free the counter weight bar I could barely remove it since not only did it lock up on me. It was like the bar would not unscrew. It took three of us to break it free. Unfortunately I would not wing it since this mount cost me over 1200.00 with the 8 Inch Newtonian Telescope. I also notice that my alignment peg is on the backside between the two back legs. On the first one I bought the alignment peg was on the side with the single tripod leg.

[@JerHetrick]

Once you get things ironed out you should have a decent mount. The AVX is fickle beast

[@tedwilliams3875]

Yeah its not a bad mount. Celestron just needs to work out some of those issues in updated batches. I only went with Celestron since they been out longer than most companies and they come highly rated. I never had any issues with customer service thankfully. Alex from support was actually who I dealt with over a two week period. He even sent me out a free level since my manual said my mount had one. I did not ask him too but wanted to let them know that some people may want one if the manual claims it comes with one. I plan to get an Orion Atlas or Atlas Pro next time when I get the funds together. So far everything seems okay with my second mount; knock on wood! Lol Now I am just waiting for the skies to clear up so I can actually test it normally.

[@JerHetrick]

If I had to do it over again I would have purchased the CEM25 from Ioptron

[@tedwilliams3875]

Maybe I will look into that one and the reviews on it or known issues! I have a quick question for you. When you power your unit on and its sitting in home position does your motor head hum or make noises? I am curious because I noticed the motor head is humming like the first one. I do not know if that was what caused the first problem I had but just curious if yours makes any kind of noise when parked in the home position.

[@JerHetrick]

No, it doesnt hum, once I run through a star alignment if you listen really, really close you can hear the mount working. But even then it's not making a humming noise.

[@GoDodgers1]

I just got mine and it does not have that issue. The counter-balance bar however, is loose enough that it needs pipe tape, otherwise it will rock around and even clunk in the mount giving you a "what was that?" moment in your star guiding.

[@ronkramer3476]

Just checked mine works right and the black lock nut does turn. Though I also have a Mach1 (the AVX is a budget mount) not medium. I had a atlas had to rebuild it to stop it from grinding (was new) and sold it 6o later and got the Mach1. The AVX will be my portable mount.

[@wrangler0829]

Mine doesn't bind up. Very smooth, but when I hit the button to move the dec axis it does nothing. Already contacted celestron. Waiting on a reply.

[@robertw1871]

Just received mine and it’s DOA, DEC motor is non functional…. I really should have went with the other brand, I already had some accessories from a NextStar so I decided to go with it… Packing this thing and returning it, if possible is a huge nightmare…

[@JerHetrick]

The AVX is really a cheap piece of garbage, to many week points, very poorly manufactured. Most AVX's look like they were machined with dull tools. The biggest downfall is the fact that the DEC axis has NO bearings and the RA Axis has crappy bearings and is poorly engineered. This specific mount took a major dump because of that, a fragment from one of the poorly machined surfaces in the DEC axis gave way and jammed the entire Axis, completely destroying and marring the machined surfaces, it's garbage now. I would NEVER purchase another Celestron product again. In fact I've held off buying a new mount, until I am able to order an SB, considered a CEM120. An astronomer suggested to me once, if the mount is made in China, don't buy it, it's garbage! I tend to agree.

[@gettingpast4391]

guessing they missed a spacer during assembly at the factory. had 2 of these old and new version no problems

[@ftlaud911]

Did you ever get this fixed? I have one of the first mounts and it has been working great for like 5-6yrs. Sorry to see your having issues. There is definitely something wrong with that part. Seems like they made a bad batch of that collar.

[@markc7889]

Hi Jeremy, I have the same AVX Mount that has the same issue. I figured it out the way making it work by not using the lock nut at all. Or you may using it by not tightening it until you are done with balancing the telescope and counter weight.

[@JerHetrick]

Thanks for responding Mark. You can thread the lock nut on backward, or shim it with a washer as well.

[@markc7889]

Hi Jeremy, thank you so much for suggesting shimming a washer at the upper end of the bar. I just found a piece of rubber of about 0.5 inch tall and diameter a bit smaller than that of the bar end. It fixed the problem. Guess what? This makes the bar a bit longer and I do not have to use a second counter wt. Now my mount looks nice and works! Otherwise I think it is a good mount. I do not do astronomy for living. I am not willing to dole out $15k for another mount. Moreover I have found that the power supply is so important. It needs 5Am current for it to slew smoothly when load is pushed to the limit. Otherwise it would hiccups. I got an ac-dc adapter ($12) to use in my backyard. It works pretty well. Initially I called Celestron for the hiccups I was advised to buy their power supply ($70) that works but it does not last long. Enjoy.

[@JerHetrick]

Awesome, yeah it doesnt take much width to fix the problem. The mount is good, Ive been working with the AVX for quite some time now and can not guide @ less than about 1.5 RMS average,. I am considering the CEM60 which is about $2500, I need something more accurate and more reliable. I understand that some receive very accurate AVXs, though most are just average as far as guiding and track goes. Which is I guess what you can expect for $800.

[@luiscalle]

The problem of not adjusting the "lock nut" at all is that the bar tends to destabilize, even worse if you're using 2 heavy counterweights. The risk of unscrewing is inminent. The Jeremy's solution works better.

[@j-astrobackyardobservatory1213]

I just got mine yesterday and it just stopped powering up during setup. Now nothing. Light on the mount and adapter is just blinking. Still not one person from the company has tried to help me. This is crazy.

[@raylyndaschilke8686]

I have my second mount too. Is your axis still tight or did it loosen some after use? My first one was stiff and the replacement is as well. I returned it for another reason and they just sent out a new one. Thanks

[@fiorenzomanganiello2853]

Hi, avx is good or not for astrophoto?

[@blschneider]

My AVX is not the nicest the mount on the market. It’s actually one of the cheapest motorized autoguiding goto mounts available. When payload is kept within spec I’ve gotten great guided subexposures in the 5 minute range. My counterweight bar and lock nut move together with the declination axis and I’ve never had it bind up during normal operation. It looks like you are overtightening the lock nut whose primary goal is to keep the counterweight bar from falling off if the dec axis causes it to UN-screw. Neither case should be common because the dec axis will never make a full rotation during normal use before the scope hits the tripod leg and you have to do a meridian flip. Try cinching the lock nut finger tight and using the mount as designed and everything should work fine. Anything can be broken with enough force.

[@JerHetrick]

I really appreciate your wisdom, but you could not be more wrong in your assumption of this situation and have completely missed what is going on here. The mount that I purchase was OUT OF THE BOX DEFECTIVE, it was REPLACED WITH ANOTHER DEFECTIVE MOUNT BY CELESTRON, it has nothing to do with over tightening a lock nut which SHOULD BE securely tightened into place by hand, not to keep to bar from falling off, but to stabilize it. without it the counter weight shaft has excessive horizontal play the counterweight shaft can be removed with or without the lock nut being in place. Anyway the defect that I am addressing here has nothing to do with what your assuming, THIS IS A KNOWN DEFECT ADMITTED BY CELESTRON! THEY REPLACED MY MOUNT BECAUSE OF THIS KNOWN DEFECT! Again this has nothing to do with over tightening the lock nut, the counterweight lock nut should be tightened and secure, it should never at any point come in contact with the mount case which is the problem being addressed here. The issue has since been fixed by me taking Celestron's advice of installing a spacer behind the locknut to give it enough clearance to function without binding.

[@blschneider]

I hear what you’re saying. It sounds more like a design flaw than a defect. I own this mount and haven’t had the problem you describe. I haven’t heard of this problem from other users either. In your video it looks like you are cranking down pretty hard on the lock nut which may be contributing to the problem. Either way, I’m glad you got it sorted out.

[@projectnemesi5950]

@@blschneider Bro, are you a customer or a celestron activist? lmao

[@XPFTP]

dude i get bein pissed off after spending 800 bucks.. but its a know issue . a 20 cent washer. i love my avx. i never had issues with there CS. bummer you had this.. now funny thing. i can say this about orion there CS sucks....hahhaha...