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Sad to hear of Sirius passing. They have served both the domestic and international market for years.
Sirius were probably a bit too expensive really for many to afford and that affected their bottom line. The cost of labour in this country is high but if you pump out more units you can compensate for this cost, its really a matter of efficiencies.
Scope dome makes automation kits which will fit Sirius domes and will work perfectly well. In fact their automation kits work well for ROR systems too. I have a version 2 USB card for my roll off roof system. The astronomical society of South Australia has one installed in their new 8 meter 4 tonne turret system. We are currently installing the roof component with a 12V system. Such is the flexibility of the Scope Dome control system.
I have owned a 3M Scope Dome 3 years. I am using a version 1.1 USB card in that dome. Its been through about 6 major storms with wind gusts over 125km/h. Never had any issue with it; wide slit, good security, excellent wall thickness which stops deflection, great for automation and it was affordable when I bought mine. The current prices for Australia are over inflated in my opinion. I paid $10K for my dome with full automation. My ROR automation kit cost $2500+ 200 for freight from Poland 4 years ago. It came with rack and pinion, three phase motor, variable speed drive, internal and external thermometers, hygrometer and both bottom and top control units.
Despite domes being really sexy, I still think a ROR is going to be king with an automation kit. You only need to have the roof open and close with monitoring for weather. You alleviate the need to have a dome rotate about the scope and you can carry more than one system under a ROR if you plan it out well.
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