Almost crashed another mavic..

Grungymike95 · May 12, 2017

I was in a real hurry to get a shot of the sunset earlier today, deployed my mavic and sent It up in the air without calibrating compass... few seconds in the air and the mavic started going crazy and unresponsive to my input. Lesson is; no matter how cool of a shot you'd miss if you're not quick to deploy your Mavic, don't do it. always take your time and calibrate/do whatcha gotta do to ensure the mavic is ready for flight. If my mavic wasn't in open space today it woud've crashed for sure.

Ziggy01 · May 12, 2017

Wait. How often are you calibrating your compass?

I thought there was little need for it unless one changes ones geographical location regularly.

Former Member · May 12, 2017

Ziggy01 said:
Wait. How often are you calibrating your compass?

I thought there was little need for it unless one changes ones geographical location regularly.

Or when DJI Go tells you to

HarryMerkin · May 12, 2017

Wait. I calibrate EVERY time I start or change the battery. I thought that was what you are supposed to do?

JeffM46 · May 12, 2017

The only times that the app has warned me of compass issues I realized I was too close to too much steel. After moving the warnings disappeared.

Egika · May 12, 2017

Definitely no need to calibrate anything until the app tells you so.
For your case I rather think GPS had not fully been acquired when you took off.

Grungymike95 · May 12, 2017

Egika said:
Definitely no need to calibrate anything until the app tells you so.
For your case I rather think GPS had not fully been acquired when you took off.

The app did tell me to.

hilti · May 12, 2017

Yes, no need to calibrate every time.
But I always wait until I have enough Satellites.

Dragonfly · May 12, 2017

Too many people CALIBRATE their Mavic too much and this leads to more crashes than not.
Once you have done the calibrations in your COUNTRY the first time in an open clear area then their is no need to touch it again unless you have a crash or a drop.
Even if app asks you to calibrate compass, ignore it and move to different location as you have magnegtic interference.
Its old school to calibrate all the time. The earths magnetic compass doesn't alter (well only by 0.3deg per year) not daily. Your local declination is taken from GPS data and applied to compass automatically and updated each time Mavic is started. So each time you do a calibrations you risk doing a bad one or saving bad info and risking a crash. If its flying OK after first one, initial one, then leave it alone.

Mad_Angler1 · May 12, 2017

Grungymike95 said:
I was in a real hurry to get a shot of the sunset earlier today, deployed my mavic and sent It up in the air without calibrating compass... few seconds in the air and the mavic started going crazy and unresponsive to my input. Lesson is; no matter how cool of a shot you'd miss if you're not quick to deploy your Mavic, don't do it. always take your time and calibrate/do whatcha gotta do to ensure the mavic is ready for flight. If my mavic wasn't in open space today it woud've crashed for sure.

What was the ground you took off from ?

Concrete, grass etc ?

How far away from the last place you calibrated were you ?

Can you post the log file.

People should not calibrate before every flight, one good Calibration away from any metal including anything on your person like smart watches etc is all that is needed.

Then you should only calibrate again if A: Prompted to by DJI Go or B: you have traveled over a few hundred miles.

It's very likely they was metal around the OP take off point as as soon as you took off the compass values shifted and it went into Atti or TBE.

Derlisz · May 12, 2017

I've only calibrated mine once before my first flight and had no problems at all. I always check compas and sensor readouts before taking off.

Cut.Aussie · May 12, 2017

I've now been building and flying drones for 5 years now. Only calibrate when the App tells you too

mavic6611 · May 12, 2017

I've been flying for 6 years. I was always taught by my friend who fly's professionally that it's good practice to calibrate the compass before every flight. My take on it is its best to Ayr on the side of Caution when putting these flying machines in the air.

I've never crashed once in all these years and never had any fly aways or erratic behaviour of any kind.

Another tip is calibrate your imu if you had a problem. This cures most problems.

Robin · May 12, 2017

I have NEVER calibrated my compass.

Its been from China to USA and then to Europe.

Ziggy01 · May 12, 2017

Robin said:
I have NEVER calibrated my compass.

Its been from China to USA and then to Europe.

What? On one battery???

Robin · May 12, 2017

Got a solar cell on top

Gp™ · May 12, 2017

Ziggy01 said:
What? On one battery???

Ahahah

Alex ROV · May 12, 2017

Hello!

I understand that we must calibrate the compass when we travel through magnetic declination lines...

What is Magnetic Declination?

willhay555 · May 12, 2017

Over seventy five flights in three months now.

Never calibrated anything, apart from my undies when I flew too close to the tree by a river once.

Alex ROV · May 12, 2017

mavic6611 said:
I've been flying for 6 years. I was always taught by my friend who fly's professionally that it's good practice to calibrate the compass before every flight. My take on it is its best to Ayr on the side of Caution when putting these flying machines in the air.

I've never crashed once in all these years and never had any fly aways or erratic behaviour of any kind.

Another tip is calibrate your imu if you had a problem. This cures most problems.

Calibration before each flight is good IF you make SURE you do it RIGHT, otherwise it will be a chance to replace a previous good calibration by another one with interference anomalies. IMHO, being on the side of caution means to avoid the chance of get troubles.