Compass calibration problem

[mmmoishi]

Hi,

I am having an issue where the compass on my Mavic cannot calibrate anywhere I've tried. I've been out in a back yard, an open soccer field, etc. The thing just refuses to calibrate. Yes, I have read the compass calibration guide.

I've attached a few photos showing what I'm seeing. The first one is this little message that pops up on the side that says "Compass Redundancy Switch". This happens whenever Compass2 goes from green bar to just completely disappearing and saying "IMU error. It cannot be..." (something something, it's cut off in the app). So when it's on the ground, it'll fluctuate between that IMU error message and green values, but as soon as I hold it up a few inches Compass2 will all of a sudden consistently display green values all the time.

Things I've tried so far include: Refreshing the firmware (on latest one), calibrating the IMU, calibrating the gimbal, using a different battery, having a 2nd person hold the controller far far away. I've tried many things by now...

When I perform the calibration, I'm positive I am wearing nothing metallic. I can do the horizontal rotation, which I do holding above my head. As soon as I do the vertical rotation with the camera pointing downwards, it goes into the fast red blinking sequence and the app shows the error popup that there's too much magnetic interference.

Unless I have to strip naked in 32F weather and do the dance, is there anything else I can do besides submitting an RMA. I was weary of not calibrating the compass before the Mavic's first flight, but it seems to fly fine without it given both compass values are green. However, my concern is when I travel somewhere far away. And the more research I do on this, the more I suspect it's some kind of hardware or software issue. Any thoughts?

 

[gregw]

Sounds like a HW issue.. I would suggest you contact DJI support... They will probably ask you to return it for checking... DON'T FLY.... It could get away from you, then you're going to be Mavic-less for much longer than it takes to get it repaired/replaced...

 

[Jixxer]

Hi,

I am having an issue where the compass on my Mavic cannot calibrate anywhere I've tried. I've been out in a back yard, an open soccer field, etc. The thing just refuses to calibrate. Yes, I have read the compass calibration guide.

I've attached a few photos showing what I'm seeing. The first one is this little message that pops up on the side that says "Compass Redundancy Switch". This happens whenever Compass2 goes from green bar to just completely disappearing and saying "IMU error. It cannot be..." (something something, it's cut off in the app). So when it's on the ground, it'll fluctuate between that IMU error message and green values, but as soon as I hold it up a few inches Compass2 will all of a sudden consistently display green values all the time.

Things I've tried so far include: Refreshing the firmware (on latest one), calibrating the IMU, calibrating the gimbal, using a different battery, having a 2nd person hold the controller far far away. I've tried many things by now...

When I perform the calibration, I'm positive I am wearing nothing metallic. I can do the horizontal rotation, which I do holding above my head. As soon as I do the vertical rotation with the camera pointing downwards, it goes into the fast red blinking sequence and the app shows the error popup that there's too much magnetic interference.

Unless I have to strip naked in 32F weather and do the dance, is there anything else I can do besides submitting an RMA. I was weary of not calibrating the compass before the Mavic's first flight, but it seems to fly fine without it given both compass values are green. However, my concern is when I travel somewhere far away. And the more research I do on this, the more I suspect it's some kind of hardware or software issue. Any thoughts?

I had a similar issue with compass cal also IMU issue . I uninstalled the dji go app then reinstalled. Problem went away. May work may not but worth a try .

 

[mmmoishi]

I had a similar issue with compass cal also IMU issue . I uninstalled the dji go app then reinstalled. Problem went away. May work may not but worth a try .

So far, I've tried the DJI Go and DJI Go 4.0 apps on an iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, and iPad Air 2 and they all exhibit the same error. Thanks for the suggestion though!

 

[Mako79]

I don't know where the compass is..
On the (older) phantoms, we used to degauss the compass by simply waving a magnet near it till we got a mod value of 1400 or so. Things have changed now. There are 2 compasses and a colour bar to represent what is good or bad...

 

[mmmoishi]

I don't know where the compass is..
On the (older) phantoms, we used to degauss the compass by simply waving a magnet near it till we got a mod value of 1400 or so. Things have changed now. There are 2 compasses and a colour bar to represent what is good or bad...

I read a little about degaussing but I'd rather not as it may alter the magnetic pole alignment of other metallic objects within the quad or damage the sensor, who knows. It is flying ok for now so I will be be careful with where this flies and try to send it in for service after the trip.

 

[conchman]

I had the same problem where the downward rotate calibration failed. I had someone else hold the RC at a distance (8m or so) and it worked. Nonetheless, I still get magnetic interference errors every time I hit the auto camera down button (or whatever its called).

 

[Terry Rodell]

I had the same problem where the downward rotate calibration failed. I had someone else hold the RC at a distance (8m or so) and it worked. Nonetheless, I still get magnetic interference errors every time I hit the auto camera down button (or whatever its called).

Degauss, degauss, nothing could be more simpler! Everything seems to be connected when it comes to having problems with the Mavic. I was getting that awful slow yaw when trying to bracket photos, disconnections, blackouts, video lag etc. Bought a cheap demagnetizer, just over €6 from ebay, the little blue box one that plugs in. Looked on YT how to use it, and where the compasses are on Mavic. So easy and she now flies better than ever, and I was one of the first ones to recieve two years ago. I'll be doing a full service regularly. Demagnetize, compass calibration, IMU and then sticks. Trust me, everone should consider degaussing if there's problems.

 

[Terry Rodell]

Degauss, degauss, nothing could be more simpler! Everything seems to be connected when it comes to having problems with the Mavic. I was getting that awful slow yaw when trying to bracket photos, disconnections, blackouts, video lag etc. Bought a cheap demagnetizer, just over €6 from ebay, the little blue box one that plugs in. Looked on YT how to use it, and where the compasses are on Mavic. So easy and she now flies better than ever, and I was one of the first ones to recieve two years ago. I'll be doing a full service regularly. Demagnetize, compass calibration, IMU and then sticks. Trust me, everone should consider degaussing if there's problems.

Hold the machine with the red button towards the Mavic, about half an inch away. Press button, hold still for about 5 seconds and then pull away slowly to about 1ft, keeping the button pressed. Do it around the nose top either side, then all around the rear left corner, including inside the battery compartment with battery out.

 

[StevenM]

Hold the machine with the red button towards the Mavic, about half an inch away. Press button, hold still for about 5 seconds and then pull away slowly to about 1ft, keeping the button pressed. Do it around the nose top either side, then all around the rear left corner, including inside the battery compartment with battery out.

Thanks for the reply @Terry Rodell. Much appreciated.

I ordered the blue demagnetizer (little blue box) and tried a bunch of times to get my mavic's compasses back in order and unfortunately, nothing has worked. Worth a shot.

I'm looking around for repair shops now to send this thing in as I'm out of options.

 

[Meta4]

I ordered the blue demagnetizer (little blue box) and tried a bunch of times to get my mavic's compasses back in order and unfortunately, nothing has worked. Worth a shot.
I'm looking around for repair shops now to send this thing in as I'm out of options.

Go to the Sensors section of the app settings and see what it tells you about the compass.
Are you seeing numbers there?
If not, the compass is disconnected (or broken) and nothing will work until that's fixed.

 

[StevenM]

Go to the Sensors section of the app settings and see what it tells you about the compass.
Are you seeing numbers there?
If not, the compass is disconnected (or broken) and nothing will work until that's fixed.

@Meta4 - thanks! Yes, have been monitoring that settings page and can confirm that I'm seeing numbers. Happy to details them in screenshots if this is something that would help find a fix. Let me know.

 

[Meta4]

@Meta4 - thanks! Yes, have been monitoring that settings page and can confirm that I'm seeing numbers. Happy to details them in screenshots if this is something that would help find a fix. Let me know.

All that matters is that there are numbers (for the compass) which proves that the compass is live.

 

[StevenM]

All that matters is that there are numbers (for the compass) which proves that the compass is live.

Cool. Yep, looks like it’s live (which is positive, obvs). I’m going to send it back to DJI to check it out.

Thanks for responding.