Forgot to mention I had guide limit set to 5 degrees past, slew limit 2 degrees past, and meridian flip set in EKOS to 3 degrees past. This works very reliably for me when the time sync is correct.

hi Scott,
maybe it's not the issue but I didn't see mentioned explicitly in your post: in my experience the only way to control meridian flip from a client software is to enable unattended flip on the mount first.
That's a setting I didn't find on the handpad but software like MW4 allows to enable / disable unattended meridian flip (see attachment).
Once this is set I never had an issue with meridian flips (tested also on kstars 3.5.0)

ferrante

Ferrante,

Thank you very much! I had no idea this setting was buried in there. I wonders why this option doesn't show up on the keypad?

For that natter it would be wonderful if (1) the setting were exposed in the INDI driver; and (2) it was toggled by Ekos when the Meridian Flip box was checked!

Anyway, it's checked now. Thanks again.
Scott

Glad to hear that it worked.
Bear in mind that the mount doesn't store that setting. You have to set it every time the mount powers on.

I reported to Hans, the developer of the 10micron driver, and the good news he's now working on that.

This is great -- thanks!

I tried this last night and my mount flipped just fine (twice, unattended).

Andrew,

You are over-riding the time and location from the mount; do you have a GPS (MGPBox) in your setup?

I have another problem that I suspect is related to the mismatch between Kstars and the mount (MGPBox). A few times each night my DEC jumps, then slowly recovers over many minutes. Maybe this is mismatch in latitude that gets smoothed out over 15 minutes.

I've been pulling what's left of my meager hair out over this for weeks. I will try just ignoring the GPS time/location and see if I get round stars again.

If you happen to find your other thread about this, would you please post a link or PM me?

Many thanks!
Scott

Andrew,

Never mind -- I found your old thread about time sync between Kstars and 10micron.

I'm going to try unguided imaging without the GPS sync.

Weird. I wonder if this is an INDI driver issue?

Scott

Here's the thread. I never came to a successful conclusion. Even if I could get the times to match in both EKOS and the mount, the meridian flip would happen one hour early. I believe Somehow EKOS was compensating for DST even using only UTC time without an offset.

The only way I can successfully get flips to work on time, is if I let EKOS update the mount. I do have an MBox (regular) but GPS module on the 10Micron, which I use to create and build models. Basically I polar align the mount after GPS has updated it. Then load MountWizard4, and EKOS, which syncs time and location to the mount. Meridian flips work perfect this way.

If I set the mount to update EKOS, I have time mismatches between the hand control and EKOS, and I believe DST in EKOS still counts whether or not it's on or off on the mount. Then the flip doesn't occur correctly. Anyhow, feel free to look through the thread at what I tested.

indilib.org/forum/general/7928-why-is-th...y-mount.html?start=0

Another issue that crops up for me if I have EKOS update the mount with time and location. The second night out GOTO starts to get off by a few arc seconds. EKOS can barley nudge it back into position after plate solving. It saves, moves it a tiny fraction, then solves again, and continues to do this while it slowly nudges it over about 30 tiny moves until the object is centered again. The only way I've found to fix this, is to build a new model each night I use the mount. Annoying, but it only take about 20 minutes since it's automated. I never SYNC any plate solves. I only have EKOS update the time and location to the mount.

Just for reference here, there are three "implemented" ways to point to an object unattended:

- iterative plate-solving with syncs to the mount, no mount model (check align or slew to target).
- preliminary mount model, two-step plate-solving without sync (in the Ekos options).
- preliminary mount model, direct slew with no plate-solving (uncheck/don't use align).

First item suffers from rounding when there are too many sync points. Second and third items suffer from quality of the mount model and refraction, and will offset after some days. Second item is supposedly the safest. First item is choice for mobile astronomy or without model.

-Eric

Hi Scott,
I'll add an interface to manage unattended flip setting. Tracked here github.com/indilib/indi/issues/1276

On the flip initiating afaik KStars indeed just issues a slew command. This is awkward for a 10micron because it has a #:FLIP# command in the API for this very purpose and we should use that instead.

```
#:FLIP#
This command acts in different ways on the AZ2000 and german equatorial (GM1000 – GM4000) mounts.
On an AZ2000 mount: When observing an object near the lowest culmination, requests to make a 360° turn of the azimuth axis and point the object again.
On a german equatorial mount: When observing an object near the meridian, requests to make a 180° turn of the RA axis and move the declination axis in order to point the object with the telescope on the other side of the mount.
Returns:
1 if successful
0 if the movement cannot be done
```

-- Hans

For clarity, Eric is talking about the mount models in EKOS. These are not related to the pointing models inside a 10micron mount.

Good to know. I'm still not sure which would be preferred for a 10micron mount that has a proper pointing model though.

-- Hans