Compass error

[pilot1]

The other day was flying my Mavic. Before takeoff there was no indication of a need for a compass calibration. During the flight, I was approximately 3000 ft away when I got an indication on the iphone screen of a compass error. I hit RTH and nothing happened. After having a flyaway loss with a Phanton 2, my heart stopped beating for a moment. I still had an image on my phone and could see what the camera was seeing but no response from the Mavic. About 30 long seconds later, the compass error disappeared and it did return home. Why would a compass error occur 400 ft up over a wooded area and why would it not have returned home since it was still showing GPS mode?

Thanks for any insight you may have.

 

[HarryMerkin]

I'm too new to this stuff but I calibrate EVERY BATTERY. Too expensive to lose it.

 

[Strafe1]

This may not be the reason, but did you press and hold the RTH button, then hear the confirmation beeps?

 

[Flawless]

Where were you flying, and what was the Kp index at the time?

 

[postman061]

The other day was flying my Mavic. Before takeoff there was no indication of a need for a compass calibration. During the flight, I was approximately 3000 ft away when I got an indication on the iphone screen of a compass error. I hit RTH and nothing happened. After having a flyaway loss with a Phanton 2, my heart stopped beating for a moment. I still had an image on my phone and could see what the camera was seeing but no response from the Mavic. About 30 long seconds later, the compass error disappeared and it did return home. Why would a compass error occur 400 ft up over a wooded area and why would it not have returned home since it was still showing GPS mode?

Thanks for any insight you may have.

It's really not hard to make a preflight checklist prior to flight. Always add compass calibration. I would rather do a little extra than being sorry because I didn't.

 

[HarryMerkin]

I need to make a PreFlight checklist. I constantly forget to remove the gimbal guard when I start the mavic up and one day I'm going to burn out the gimbal Motors. I remember after I get everything started but that doesn't help at the time.

 

[rockydog]

I'm too new to this stuff but I calibrate EVERY BATTERY. Too expensive to lose it.

Once you have a good compass calibration, you should stick with it....every time you calibrate, you risk introducing errors.
DJI are clear about this on p52 of the manual...Only calibrate when the app or status indicators tell you to.

 

[HarryMerkin]

Once you have a good compass calibration, you should stick with it....every time you calibrate, you risk introducing errors.
DJI are clear about this on p52 of the manual...Only calibrate when the app or status indicators tell you to.
View attachment 13157

I'll be damned. I just assumed that you still had to calibrate it every time to make sure that you didn't get interference.

 

[msinger]

I'll be damned. I just assumed that you still had to calibrate it every time to make sure that you didn't get interference.

Check out this thread for the best practices.

 

[Robin]

Never hit return to home if you loose compass.
The drone does not know where home is anymore.
Its more likely to land where it is.

Fly it home.

 

[HarryMerkin]

Never hit return to home if you loose compass.
The drone does not know where home is anymore.
Its more likely to land where it is.

Fly it home.

Good to know. I'm going to Salt Lake City next week and willl have to recalibrate there but not anywhere near my home.

 

[rydfree]

Never hit return to home if you loose compass.
The drone does not know where home is anymore.
Its more likely to land where it is.

Fly it home.

It will actually still know where home is (GPS) it just won't know which way to point to fly there (Compass)

 

[Robin]

yes it this it in timbaktoo.

 

[dbyantis]

I need to make a PreFlight checklist. I constantly forget to remove the gimbal guard when I start the mavic up and one day I'm going to burn out the gimbal Motors. I remember after I get everything started but that doesn't help at the time.

I tied a small red ribbon to my gimbal "lock", so it is visible like the engine covers for jets.

 

[dmyers7]

I always forget about Kp (sun flare factor) which can have a temporary effect on electronic guidance systems like this. If you have enough battery sometimes it's best to let it sit locked in its current position for a minute to see if it recovers like it did with yours. There are a few apps the forecast when high sun flare events will occur.

If you have a temporary gps drop (I have) you'll want to try to hold it in place or manually fly back (atti mode) as wind will carry it from its current position. I wish the Mavic had an Atti mode you could switch to so you could practice this. Many Mavic pilots don't realize what it's like to fly completely manual without the assistance of compass and GPS

 

[Carlos]

The other day was flying my Mavic. Before takeoff there was no indication of a need for a compass calibration. During the flight, I was approximately 3000 ft away when I got an indication on the iphone screen of a compass error. I hit RTH and nothing happened. After having a flyaway loss with a Phanton 2, my heart stopped beating for a moment. I still had an image on my phone and could see what the camera was seeing but no response from the Mavic. About 30 long seconds later, the compass error disappeared and it did return home. Why would a compass error occur 400 ft up over a wooded area and why would it not have returned home since it was still showing GPS mode?

Thanks for any insight you may have.

Hi, may I ask you if while the message showed up on the screen the camera was facing down (-90º)?

It happened to me a couple of times whilst flying my Mavic and I notice it was when I was facing the camera straight down.

If so, please read this thread:
Compass interference with gimbal

 

[Boomtastic]

I like to keep some sort of landmark in sight and know where I am in relation to it. Then I use it to orient the bird and fly back.

 

[lopezjbl]

I had a scare this past weekend related to a compass error. After the fact I'm about 99.99% I identified the culprit and it's my stupid fault. I was right off an unsued street in the neighborhood where there was an open field and plans for new construction will be taking place. In the grass near the street I saw a "nice looking" steel round sewer cover and I thought ahh this looks like a perfect take off point. My MP took off and immediately started drifting to the right without any kind of stablization, it was as if it was one of those cheap toy drones just drifting in the wind on its own. I immediately saw the compass error and tried to land it. I got no stick response initially as it began to "fly away"! I started getting responses from the controls but the inputs/responses were completely random. (Ex: up=right, down=forward, etc.). I had to quickly learn to fly all over again...I managed to recover control (barely) and safely get to land in the grass without a scratch. I took it away from the sewer cover and rebooted the bird and the cotroller and when it came back up I had no issues....So I learned a very valuable lesson, don't be stupid!

 

[xman1]

You can always see the distance of the Mavic to your remote on the remotes screen. Fly up above all obstacles and fly max forward in a circle looking until the distance counter counts down the fastest. That way you know the Mavic is pointed towards you and coming home.

Note I say use the remotes distance counter as it is always going to work and your tablet / phone might crash, so get in the habit of only using the remote for this.

 

[xman1]

Once you have a good compass calibration, you should stick with it....every time you calibrate, you risk introducing errors.
DJI are clear about this on p52 of the manual...Only calibrate when the app or status indicators tell you to.
View attachment 13157

This! Quit screwing around with calibrations. You are likely to cause a problem.