Hello everyone,

I hope you don’t mind me reaching out to the community for some advice.

I’m currently running a roll-off roof observatory with a fully automated setup (mount control, power distribution, and remote operation). I have been using the ScopeDome system, but after experiencing a number of reliability issues, I am now considering switching to the Lunatico Dragonfly controller.

For context, I am already using the Lunatico SOLO and the AAG CloudWatcher for weather monitoring, so I am already somewhat familiar with the Lunatico ecosystem.

Before making the decision, I would really appreciate hearing from those of you who have hands-on experience with either (or both) systems.

A few things I’m particularly interested in:

1. Reliability

  • How has your experience been with ScopeDome vs Dragonfly in real-world operation?

  • Have you experienced failures (e.g. roof not closing, glitches, loss of control), and how were they handled?

2. Ease of setup and programming

  • How advanced is the configuration and scripting required for Dragonfly?

  • Is it relatively straightforward to implement basic logic (e.g. “only open/close roof when mount is parked”)?

  • How does this compare to ScopeDome in terms of ease of use?

3. Integration with automation software

  • I am using Voyager for observatory control.

  • How well does Dragonfly integrate with Voyager compared to ScopeDome?

4. Fail-safe capabilities

  • Have you implemented fail-safes such as:

    • Automatic roof closure in bad weather

    • Backup logic in case the main automation software fails

    • Power outage handling (e.g. via UPS + controller logic)

  • How easy/difficult is this to achieve with Dragonfly?

5. Support and documentation

  • How responsive and helpful have you found support for each system?

  • Are documentation and examples sufficient for a smooth setup?

6. General experience

  • If you have switched from ScopeDome to Dragonfly (or vice versa), what drove that decision?

  • Looking back, would you choose the same system again?

My goal is to build a robust and reliable system, where the roof will always close safely even if something goes wrong.

Any insights, experiences, or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!