Could not get compass calibration

[Dovetail]

Took my mini up to Cochrane Ontario while sledding. Drove the sleds to the top of the highest peak around to visit an abandoned Ranger Tower. I was going to do a programmed flight around the base of the tower. Took off and found that the compass needed calibration. Tried to calibrate but the mini would not calibrate. Did a short flight around the tower but did not want to lose the mini through using a circular flight path. I think the massive amount of steel in the tower caused my problems. Later the same day I flew in another area and was able to calibrate the compass. The mini fits in my backpack and is very fast to setup and fly.

 

[Gagey52]

I had it happen only once and I just moved away from what I thought was the source of interference. Flew okay after that.
Regards

 

[Dovetail]

I could not get away from the steel structure because the peak of this hill was very small and the sides were very steep and full of very deep snow. It is a very popular destination for sledders

 

[Meta4]

I was going to do a programmed flight around the base of the tower. Took off and found that the compass needed calibration. Tried to calibrate but the mini would not calibrate

Your compass did not need calibration.
DJI's warning message is badly worded.
What you needed to do was to move away from the magnetic interference that the compass was trying to warn about.

 

[Dovetail]

Too bad I did not realize that because the views were spectacular and I would of liked to stay up in the air longer. I saw the warning and feared I could lose my mini with a fly away.

 

[EricJT]

Too bad I did not realize that because the views were spectacular and I would of liked to stay up in the air longer. I saw the warning and feared I could lose my mini with a fly away.

Post a video or pics, please.

 

[sar104]

Too bad I did not realize that because the views were spectacular and I would of liked to stay up in the air longer. I saw the warning and feared I could lose my mini with a fly away.

It may have been fine, or it may still have caused problems if you launched from within the magnetic disturbance of the structure (if that was what was causing it). It depends on whether the compass correctly initialized the heading in the IMU. The simple way to check, as always, is to see whether or not the aircraft heading arrow on the map is pointing in the correct direction, relative to north. If it is incorrect then do not take off.

 

[Yaros]

Your compass did not need calibration.
DJI's warning message is badly worded.
What you needed to do was to move away from the magnetic interference that the compass was trying to warn about.

True, however I also experienced the issue recently and it would not let me arm the drone, it doesn't even spin the motors if DJI thinks that calibration is needed. It just flashes red and yellow, and in the app appears a red message saying to calibrate to takeoff, very annoying, especially this happens at night a lot.

 

[Meta4]

True, however I also experienced the issue recently and it would not let me arm the drone, it doesn't even spin the motors if DJI thinks that calibration is needed. It just flashes red and yellow, and in the app appears a red message saying to calibrate to takeoff, very annoying, especially this happens at night a lot.

Unless something has changed about your drone, there is no physical reason that the compass would need recalibrating.
Did the message actually say that recalibration was needed, or did it say something like: Move aircraft or calibrate compass.

 

[Yaros]

Unless something has changed about your drone, there is no physical reason that the compass would need recalibrating.
Did the message actually say that recalibration was needed, or did it say something like: Move aircraft or calibrate compass.

It said Compass Calibration Required

 

[umanbean]

however I also experienced the issue recently and it would not let me arm the drone, it doesn't even spin the motors

That's simply because you were too close to whatever was causing the magnetic anomaly. Your compass did not need calibrating. As meta4 has said a hundred times that I've read, probably more than that that I missed, the DJI warning is misleading

 

[umanbean]

It said Compass Calibration Required

Did you try simply moving the Drone?

 

[Yaros]

Did you try simply moving the Drone?

I figured out the problem. It was simply a failsafe.
It only happens at night to me, it wants me to calibrate the compass every time when I fly at night.
During the day it doesn't happen. I fly from the same exact place during the day & night.

 

[Faster]

I figured out the problem. It was simply a failsafe.
It only happens at night to me, it wants me to calibrate the compass every time when I fly at night.
During the day it doesn't happen. I fly from the same exact place during the day & night.

How do you get things solved?

 

[umanbean]

How do you get things solved?

Buy a gen 1 mavic or one that does not use the fly app, fly any time of day you like

 

[Faster]

Buy a gen 1 mavic or one that does not use the fly app, fly any time of day you like

I have no doubt that's one option but what about his solution?

 

[Yaros]

How do you get things solved?

I just calibrate every time I fly in the night. During the day it should not happen, if it does happen that means that you have some magnetic interference nearby.

 

[Meta4]

I figured out the problem. It was simply a failsafe.
It only happens at night to me, it wants me to calibrate the compass every time when I fly at night.
During the day it doesn't happen. I fly from the same exact place during the day & night.

It sounds like they have changed the wording for DJI Fly.
Whether the compass actually needs calibration or you've just put the drone down close to something steel, there's no way that the drone can tell the difference.
So you get the same message either way and 99+% of the time it's due to placing the drone too close to steel.

There's no physical reason the drone would need compass calibration because it's dark and nothing compass calibration would do.

 

[Yaros]

It sounds like they have changed the wording for DJI Fly.

Yes, and they did, recently.
Back when I started flying it wasn't an issue.

So you get the same message either way and 99+% of the time it's due to placing the drone too close to steel.

There's no physical reason the drone would need compass calibration because it's dark and nothing compass calibration would do.

True.

 

[sar104]

True, however I also experienced the issue recently and it would not let me arm the drone, it doesn't even spin the motors if DJI thinks that calibration is needed. It just flashes red and yellow, and in the app appears a red message saying to calibrate to takeoff, very annoying, especially this happens at night a lot.

It said Compass Calibration Required

I’ve seen this asserted by numerous users, but no DJI model that I’ve used has ever refused to arm the motors when displaying that message. Are you trying to arm manually with a CSC, or requesting auto-takeoff?