Derek, thank you so much for sharing your experiences. This was exactly the type of feedback I was looking for.
Regarding reliability, yes I agree, this depends as much, or even more, on the equipment than the software. And I'm sure some of the reliability issues I have encountered over the years had to do with setting up and breaking down the system each time. As much as you do it the same each time, a cable snag, a loose screw, or a differently plugged USB cable is always around the corner and can cause issues. That would be much less of course in a remote observatory. Not upgrading, or only rarely and only during off-time is another very good suggestion.

As far as automation goes, you have worked out a nice setup. Like you say, for the last 10% or so, writing scripts is probably the way to go. It makes a lot of sense, just another thing to keep in mind. The 'monitoring it for a while' before letting go automatic is exactly how I use it now as well. Interesting you mention that first autofocus run needing a bit of tweaking, as that is exactly what I experience as well. But the goal would be to build the setup such that this initial monitoring is not necessary. Perhaps too optimistic?

Indeed weather monitoring is done centrally, so that takes some complexity out of the equation. But still need to respond to an incoming boltwood file that indicates a (temporary) closing roof.

Again, thank you very much for sharing your experiences, much appreciated.

CS, Willem Jan.

Read More...