Compass calibration

[stefan2211]

Dear All, I am using my MA at a refinery which means there is a lot magnetic interference at site. I need to start my MA some 50 m away before I can fly. If I want to take off inside the site then it requires compass calibration. Is there a way to overwrite the required compass calibration? I do not have problems with an inaccurate positioning of my home point as I dont fly but it is a hazard to not been able to take of within the site or from a higher platform. Thanks for any advise.

 

[Meta4]

Dear All, I am using my MA at a refinery which means there is a lot magnetic interference at site. I need to start my MA some 50 m away before I can fly. If I want to take off inside the site then it requires compass calibration. Is there a way to overwrite the required compass calibration? I do not have problems with an inaccurate positioning of my home point as I dont fly but it is a hazard to not been able to take of within the site or from a higher platform. Thanks for any advise.

It does not require re-calibration to fly around the refinery.
If it's bringing up a warning, rad it carefully.
It's the compass warning you of magnetic fields close to where you are trying to launch and recalibrating won't cure that situation - moving away from the problem will.
Calibration doesn't "fix" things and is not about local areas, it's about the drone and nothing has changed with your drone (unless you've modified it).

 

[stefan2211]

Meta4, it is clear but I cant take off with the compass warning. So I am forced to place my MA outside the site, climb my tank farm or steel structure (30-40 m high) and take off. The hazard is, that sometimes I would like to change the battery and I can hand land the MV on top of the tank but with the new battery I cant take off anymore since the compass warning will be active due to the high magnetic field. Means I have to go back to launch outside the magnetic field interference. My site is near shipyard and high steel structure. Sometimes it takes 3 attempts to calibrate the compass even outside the site. I wished to be able to override the warning on my own risk and take off.

 

[Meta4]

Meta4, it is clear but I cant take off with the compass warning.
Sometimes it takes 3 attempts to calibrate the compass even outside the site. I wished to be able to override the warning on my own risk and take off.

Your compass knows what it's doing when it warns you there is a problem.
The correct action is to move away from the problem it's warning you about.
Powering up your drone within significant magnetic fields is asking for trouble that you really don't want.

Recalibrating is not necessary. It doesn't fix anything and the best that can happen is you replace the existing calibration with an identical one.
But because of the extra surrounding magnetic fields it mostly just fails to calibrate at all.
Really, recalibrating will not fix anything for you.

 

[Smalls]

Can you just hand launch?

 

[SpitFire]

Just wondering IF you can access the refinery, and hand carry or make some make shift attachment to still record but not fly where your having difficulty? I use a monopod that is attached to my Air Cam in areas where having difficulty with GPS, Magnetic fields Etc. Walk thru area, with no propellers running, then get more shots further away from interference. Like to play it safe.

 

[Manitol]

I wished to be able to override the warning on my own risk and take off.

Hi stefan, Did you ever find an answer to your question? The answers this this thread seem ... off point, so perhaps you found help elsewhere? I would like to be able to do the same. I've had the experience of having to land my drone (Mavic Air) at some distance, and then be unable to take off again because of the 'out of calibration' error message. Forcing me to hike over bad terrain to get to it and do the re-calibration dance. Some times you just need to get your drone in the air, regardless of GPS lock or compass calibration so you can visually fly it back to a place you can reach.

 

[DanMan32]

You do not want to take off with a magnetic interference problem, especially if the problem will go away once you leave the ground. On takeoff, the IMU calibrated itself with compass heading as part of the equation. It doesn't expect the compass to suddenly change heading a few feet off the ground. When that happens, one typically gets a yaw creep as the IMU tries to correct the discrepancy. Depending on the severity of the discrepancy, you could get a very unpredictable flight response leading to a crash.
Doing a compass calibration in a magneticaly compromised environment makes the discrepancy more permanent since now the compass encorporated a temporary external influence into a permanent one part of the AC.

If a request for calibration is too frequent, that is it occurs everywhere, even far away from the refinery, then your compass/AC may have become magnetized and needs degaussing.