Hello everyone, I've been dabbling in unguided astrophotography for a few years but I'm trying to make the leap to guiding. I stumbled upon Ekos and Astroberry and have been trying to make this work, but I haven't yet had a successful night with guiding. I recognize there is quite the learning curve but I am here for it. There are a few issues I've recognized that I would like to ask about.

1. I know the date and time on my RPi are not updating because I am not connecting it to the internet. I read a few other posts that said this will cause problems with plate solving and polar alignment routines. Is there anyone out there who has had success solving this issue by manually updating the date and time at the start of each session via the terminal?
2. Does plate solving allow Ekos to override the existing calibration of the mount? My mount forces me to update the alignment calibration on startup, but Ekos has given me error messages saying there is no need to update the calibration because the mount is already aligned.
3. Given that my initial attempts at plate solving used incorrect date and time information and that most attempts to plate solve failed outright, are there any other likely factors that could have contributed to a nearly 90 degree solution error? The guide scope was pointed close to Polaris at the time, but it solved for coordinates that were well below the horizon.