calibrate compass

[MuckyMav]

just about every time before I fly I have to recalibrate the compass. Am I doing something wrong or not doing something I should. Its a pain in the butt doing it like its on the pre flight checklist.

 

[PhantomFandom]

That is not normal at all. I never need to calibrate my MA compass after the initial calibration, the first time I flew it.

So I am thinking that either you have a hardware issue with the MA, or you are taking off from an area with heavy magnetic interference. What sort of area and takeoff surface have you been starting from? Are there any large metal structures within a few feet of you? Are you taking off from an open grassy area?

 

[MuckyMav]

It verys, sometimes sidewalk,grass,top of the bbq smoker. I have to pick it up turn like a record then nose down and spin it like a top. Usually it dont work the first time and I have to repeat it.

 

[PhantomFandom]

It verys, sometimes sidewalk,grass,top of the bbq smoker. I have to pick it up turn like a record then nose down and spin it like a top. Usually it dont work the first time and I have to repeat it.

Top of BBQ smoker is bad since that is a metal surface. Sidewalk may also be bad depending on what's below the surface of the concrete. There may be construction rebar or pipes close under the surface. If on grass, you want to make sure you are in an area where there's also nothing metallic buried right under the surface. I would try a big open field and if it tells you to calibrate, move a few yards away and try again.

 

[MuckyMav]

Ok, I feel like you hit it on the head with the first suggestion of a hardware issue. But I'll make sure and take of from someplace I know there's no metal, so I can absolutely cross that off or affirm it.

 

[Moose1967]

Goto a ball field and calibrate it

 

[Chas2379]

just about every time before I fly I have to recalibrate the compass. Am I doing something wrong or not doing something I should. Its a pain in the butt doing it like its on the pre flight checklist.

I have a large, 43" landing pad. When I put my Phantom 4 Advanced on it I get a compass error. I move it to a friends 30" pad and no error. Too much metal in my 43" pad.

 

[Shon]

I have to recalibrate every time I fly, but usually it has been hundreds of not thousands of miles of travel in between flights, and according to the manual this is to be expected.

If you are only flying in your city you may not be required to recalibrate at all.

As others have said, stay away from metal objects when recalibrating. It might seem obvious, but rotating the drone slowly seems to work better than a “fast” rotation.

 

[MuckyMav]

I appreciate it guess I will try that and keep you posted.

 

[Astom22]

I appreciate it guess I will try that and keep you posted.

You aren't the only one, I recalibrate almost every flight too.

But after reading through this, many of my flights are after traveling hundreds of miles, then the subsequent flights don't require a calibration.

I'm going to do an experiment now and fly in the same spot a couple of days in a row and see if I have to recalibrate on subsequent days.

 

[mcoulter]

Interesting. I have a Mavic Air with just under 20 flights so far. I have not been prompted once to calibrate. However, I did notice some unsteadiness in a flight I did last night. I'll definitely be doing a calibration before my next one...

 

[tonyb]

just about every time before I fly I have to recalibrate the compass. Am I doing something wrong or not doing something I should. Its a pain in the butt doing it like its on the pre flight checklist.

I have been fortunate with my Mav. I have flown it over a thousand miles from home no calibration, have launched from atop a 4 wheeler(all metal) never a problem, near power lines always flies beautifully

 

[InvisibleName]

Have you searched for all the other threads on this subject? All the advice given above is spot on, along with don’t wear a digital watch when using drone

 

[Steve Murray]

I had a strange problem while flying with my son, both with Mavic Pros. Although I had flown from the site several times in the past, on this occasion we both had trouble with compass calibration. I had to move away from the wall overlooking the sea before I could do a clean calibration. My sons Mavic Pro seemed to complete calibration, but on hovering about 10 metres, the green light turned red whenever he turned the quad to face North. We tried his quad at a different site later, with the same result. On re-calibrating at the new site, the fault disappeared, and test flights were completed without problem.

 

[KennyL]

I do a lot of traveling for work
I pretty much have to re-calibrate every time I travel over a hundred miles ( give/take )

 

[Fred Lewis]

To KennyL. comment. I travel a couple of hours and I need to recalibrate.