I just downloaded the latest KSTars OSX Nightly and got to run it all night. Everything worked well until the Meridian Flip.

1. EKOS doesn't handle the flip well during an automated focuser run. I was 30 seconds from the flip when EKOS decided it needed to begin an automated focus due to temperature change. Just after the focus routine started, EKOS then began the flip! Of course this caused the focus routine to fail. In fact it simply stopped, but did NOT abort the process. Once the flip was over EKOS thought the focus routine was still running, It wasn't. I had to manually press the stop button, but then the focuser was no longer near the focus point as it stopped when the focuser was moved outward. I suggest the focuser not begin if within a few minutes of a scheduled flip - since I can already schedule an automated focus routine to occur after a flip.

2. My rotator started to rotate without waiting for other processes to complete. After the flip, I have my rotator set to match the same image angle vs the rotator angle. So after the flip, it rotated around 180 degrees - ON ITS OWN. But EKOS didn't wait for the rotator to finish before starting the ALIGNMENT process after the flip, So the alignment failed as the image was rotating at the same time! I suggest the rotator NOT rotate after a flip on it's own - but instead simply allow the ALIGNMENT process do its thing and rotate as part of its process. The alignment process should control rotation.

Hi Peter
Strange, that the alignment capture started BEFORE the rotation had finished. The logic flow is exactly as you wrote: The rotator is activated by the alignment process and should retain any capture until the rotator has reached its final position. So there was no message saying <strong>"Cannot capture while rotator is busy. Retrying in 10 seconds..."</strong>?
I this is not the case, could you let rotate the rotator and directly start a [Capture & Solve] by hand?

As usual some logs would be helpful.

Ok, my bad. The second issue above about the rotator did exactly as you say. It did send the message about retrying in 10 seconds. It did that about 10 times before it gave up and failed. The Moonlight Rotator is extremely slow and takes almost two minutes to rotate 180 degrees. Is there a setting that tells the alignment capture module how long it can wait for the rotator?

Any idea of what I can I do about the first issue above with the focuser and flips?

Rotator:
OK, I'm assuaged somewhat that the rotator inhibition works in principle. But you're right: I think most rotators are quite slow and need more time for a 180° turn.
I'll throw a glance at the corresponding code in the align module.

Focuser:
The scheduler, capture and align modules are currently (since version 3.6.5) undergoing a lot of changes and I suppose these are the reason for the problems ( see also here ). I'm not the specialist for this domain, but I'll keep an eye on this too.

Last night I watched it again during the flip. This time the alignment process went through a long series of pauses (4 x 10 seconds) as before. It canceled the image capture but then it tried again and again until finally the rotator completed its movement. Then the alignment process resumed and completed successfully.

Another issue though popped up that required my intervention but it was a different issue with auto focus not rotation. More testing is needed before I figure that one out.

But it does seem that the problem I had with the rotator was a fluke and it does wait and resume appropriately.