Thank you for this idea. I thought that it would immediately work as it should remove the auto connect confusion.
I replicated your instructions and the connection still failed.
I think there might be one more problem that may or may not need untangled.
The image below shows that there are 2 port connection options. Highlighted is the Focus Cube unique serial ID even though I'm in the INDI control panel under the PPBA device. Is there a way to remove the unwanted device's serial id. I think that my PPBA wants to connect as the Focus Cube.
Hopefully this might resolve some of the conflict. Thank you.