Hello!

A few weeks ago I began controlling my rig with a raspberry pi4 configured with Astroberry/Kstars. I almost have everything working perfectly, but there are a few issues I have not been able to figure out.

The most pressing issue has to do with the meridian flip. I have the auto meridian flip box checked, and it is set to flip once the hour angle passes 0 degrees. When the flip first initiates, the dialog box says it is flipping. However, after a few seconds it says the flip failed and that it will try again in 4 minutes. I think it slews a little because after the failure ekos begins the plate solving procedure. This cycle repeats itself until I abort the imaging plan. I've tried manually reslewing to the target in kstars, but it does not flip. Only until I park the scope and completely restart ekos does it flip. So far I have tried:

updating everything on the pi
enabling daylight savings on the hand controller
updating the location on the hand controller
disabling auto meridian flip on the hand controller

For clarification, my mount is a skywatcher EQ35, and it is connected to the pi via a serial port connected to the hand controller, which is set to pc direct mode. I ran this same setup but with my PC and different imaging software(APT and then NINA) for over 2 years with absolutely no problems, so I don't suspect the problem lies in hand controller settings on the mount.

I'm also trying to nail down good autofocus settings. Looking at my frames, it is clear that sometimes the autofocus procedure does not produce a perfect focus, and the stars are noticeably larger until the next focus. My settings:

Exposure:20 seconds
Full field is the only box checked on the settings page
Annulus from 0 to 100%
Settle time of 2 seconds
SEP detection
kernel size: 3
sigma:1.5
polynomial algorithm
backlash of 100 steps

I am using the ZWO EAF, and switching to SEP and the polynomial algorithm made a large improvement, but there is still definitely room to improve.

I'm also wondering about the twilight settings. I have it set to park the scope once twilight begins, which I love. However, this setting also forces me to delay imaging until well after the sun is down. Maybe at a dark site twilight lasts until 9 PM, but with the amount of light pollution I deal with, it's as dark as it's going to get by 8. Maybe I'm just not seeing the setting, but is there a way to allow imaging to start sooner using the twilight limits?

And then finally, I'm wondering how to warm the CCD after parking. I see there's a setting to do this upon job completion, but I never finish a job in a given night, and the scope parks due to the twilight settings I mentioned above. However, this just pauses the job and the ccd cooler stays on until I manually turn it off in the morning. I want this camera to last for many years, so I'd like to limit the amount of time the cooler is on, especially once summer comes around.

Thanks!

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