Here again is what is - and is not - happening with emphasis on the differences between two scenarios where flips do and do not occur. It's all been nicely colour-coded to aid in following along. You can pretend I'm a dimwitted idiot who shouldn't be anywhere near an equatorial mount at all if it makes you feel better about being dismissive, but that still doesn't change what the logs say.
Scenario 1:
Live EQMOD mount, simulated camera, no guide camera real or simulated. Accordingly, in the Schedule tab, the 'Align' and 'Guide' boxes are UNCHECKED. Meridian flip set to >0.05h
When I set up a schedule that involves a meridian flip with this scenario and run it, the mount successfully carries out a meridian flip, as expected.
So, under this circumstance, I am able to get the mount to flip.
Fwiw, these dummy runs were carried out during the day, but I see no reason it wouldn't work under clear night skies either. I could test that out too on the next clear night.
Scenario 2:
Live EQMOD mount, simulated camera, live ZWO ASI guide camera on a real guidescope. So, in the Schedule tab, the 'Align' and 'Guide' boxes are now CHECKED. Meridian flip is set to >0.05h
As there is no live camera, alignment is being carried out by the guide camera on the guidescope. This run is also being carried out under clear night skies, so Ekos goes through an alignment routine after the mount has been aimed at the target.
When I set up a schedule that involves a meridian flip with this scenario and run it at night under clear skies, here's what happens:
-the mount is moved to the target, with the mount head on the west side
-once on target Ekos goes through an alignment routine to centre the target
-once the alignment routine is satisfied that the target is centred, a guide calibration is initiated
-once the guide calibration is successful, the guiding begins
-once guiding begins, the capture sequences are initiated
-at this point, on the Mount tab, I can see a count down to the meridian flip
-once the meridian flip countdown gets to 0, it goes into a waiting stage while the current capture finishes
-once the current capture finishes, a meridian flip *IS INITIATED*
-but almost instantly the meridian flip is INTERRUPTED or stopped
-Ekos then proceeds to carry out an alignment using and recentres back on the target
-on the Mount tab the meridian flip status is now Inactive
So just so we're clear, with a live mount and a live guide camera on the guidescope and the guide camera serving as the alignment device, with 'Align' and 'Guide' checked in the Schedule tab, under clear night skies, a meridian flip is initiated and then almost instantly stopped. That's in contrast to when it did fully carry out a flip when there was no guide camera set in the profile and the 'Align' and 'Guide' steps were unchecked in the Schedule tab.
And you can see for yourself in the logs I've attached. In my first post, i.e. 'Scenario 2':
[2019-12-02T21:19:22.226 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.mount] - Setting meridian flip status to 4
[2019-12-02T21:19:22.232 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.mount] - Slewing to RA= "01h 58m 47s" DEC= " 37° 55' 49\""
[2019-12-02T21:19:22.316 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Guide State "Aborted"
[2019-12-02T21:19:22.316 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Capture State "Meridian Flip"
[2019-12-02T21:19:22.826 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Checking job stage for "NGC 752" startup 2 "02/12 20:59" state 3
[2019-12-02T21:19:22.828 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Checking Park Wait State...
[2019-12-02T21:19:22.830 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.mount] - Mount status changed from "Tracking" to "Slewing"
[2019-12-02T21:19:22.840 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Mount State changed to 2
[...]
[2019-12-02T21:19:25.877 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.mount] - Mount status changed from "Slewing" to "Tracking"
[2019-12-02T21:19:25.879 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.mount] - Setting meridian flip status to 5
[2019-12-02T21:19:25.923 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Mount State changed to 3
That's 3 seconds.
Now take a look at the log from my second post, where it does carry out the flip fully, i.e. 'Scenario 1':
[2019-12-03T11:51:13.896 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.mount] - Setting meridian flip status to 4
[2019-12-03T11:51:13.898 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.mount] - Slewing to RA= "16h 33m 37s" DEC= "-13° 05' 36\""
[2019-12-03T11:51:13.907 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Checking job stage for "M 107" startup 2 "03/12 11:46" state 3
[2019-12-03T11:51:13.909 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Checking Park Wait State...
[2019-12-03T11:51:13.985 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Capture State "Meridian Flip"
[2019-12-03T11:51:14.828 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.mount] - Mount status changed from "Tracking" to "Slewing"
[2019-12-03T11:51:14.840 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Checking job stage for "M 107" startup 2 "03/12 11:46" state 3
[2019-12-03T11:51:14.843 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Checking Park Wait State...
[2019-12-03T11:51:14.862 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.scheduler] - Mount State changed to 2
[...]
[2019-12-03T11:52:38.828 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.mount] - Mount status changed from "Slewing" to "Tracking"
[2019-12-03T11:52:38.829 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.mount] - Setting meridian flip status to 5
That's a minute and twenty four seconds (1:24), i.e. the time it took for the mount to flip.
So, quite frankly, whether or not I understand how a meridian flip is supposed to work is a moot point given that under both scenarios the flip is initiated. It's just that it will complete the flip under a limited scenario but won't under a slightly more involved scenario with more equipment attached. For some reason, the meridian flip is initiated but it is stopped in the scenario where the guide camera is attached and operating. It's repeatable - I've run both scenarios thrice and get the same results each time, so it's not a one-off fluke.
I'll run them again with logging of the INDI messages as well to see if that turns up any more useful information.