How many of you calibrated your mavic 2?

[laura schlenker]

Hi guys , I'm still pretty new to the initial setup of drones, I have a mavic pro 1 and I did all the calibrations every one recommended at that time including remote control stick calibration ect. What does everyone recommend I do for the setup of my mavic pro 2? I'm sorry and I. Sure this is asked alot but I sure would appreciate your guidance.

 

[akniering]

Hey there, I am new to the 'fancy drones', so I took the liberty of doing the IMU calibration (took a few times to do correctly as the pictures were incorrect in the guide on my phone) and then the compass calibration which I THINK worked as once I did the two motions the guide disappeared and everything flew fine.

I tried doing the calibration of the control but no idea if it worked or not, I'm finding the only one of the three calibrations that gave me a "SUCCESS!" message in some form was the IMU, the other two pretty much just left me hanging not knowing if they worked.

That being said, the drone flies and it flies well, so it must've!

To answer your question though, I think these are one and done types of things unless you travel far particularly overseas you may want to do it then, but I do not think it is necessary to keep doing it once it's done once if you're just flying as normal.

I'll let the Pros pipe in but that's my 2c!

 

[WilliamG]

Nope. Drone didn’t ask me to do I didn’t. Flies great.

 

[electricblue]

I only did the magnetic calibration it always wants you to do the first time you fly, and sometimes randomly if there's interference. It seemed to go a lot smoother than with my Phantom but maybe because I've done it a few times now?

 

[ChipDjipro]

On any of the DJI Drones you should always do IMU and compass calibration when you first get it.

 

[flybug]

Absolutely! Any knowledgeable drone pilot knows that literally the first three things you do before you a DJI drone new out of the box is...
1. Update everything... app, controller, and drone (if it shows you there is a new updatea)
2. DO AN IMU CALIBRATION. This thing has been banging around in the box and you want to make sure the flight sensors are good to go. Watch this short video on how to do it and why...

3. Do a compass calibration. This thing came from China so you should calibrate the map for where YOU are.

So will it likely be able to fly without all that? Probably. But so many people have issues and start crying on forums when they didn't even do the BASIC steps.

I don't personally have spare $1449 lying around so I try to do what I can to make sure I have a safe flight.

 

[4wd]

You can check the state of sensors in the app.
It makes sense to do the compass at your location.
If the app says it's OK you probably don't need to.
I wouldn't do IMU or control sticks unless things don't seem right.

 

[cpokrywka]

On any of the DJI Drones you should always do IMU and compass calibration when you first get it.

Per MANY posts I saw when the Mavic Pro came out lots of people were actually saying NOT to calibrate unless the drone prompts you to.

 

[bobomet]

You can check the state of sensors in the app.
It makes sense to do the compass at your location.
If the app says it's OK you probably don't need to.
I wouldn't do IMU or control sticks unless things don't seem right.

I flew from a place 20 miles from home a couple days ago, and the App prompted me to calibrate the compass. Every time you change locations (unless it's within a couples miles of your normal flight place) it's a good idea to do the compass calibration.

 

[ChipDjipro]

Per MANY posts I saw when the Mavic Pro came out lots of people were actually saying NOT to calibrate unless the drone prompts you to.

Once you do it one time after you purchase it you don’t need to. But when you first purchased it it’s being shipped so it’s bouncing around and it’s coming from China so you need to do the calibrations.

 

[SprayingMango]

No need to do it unless it tells you to in the app.

 

[mau5_h3ad]

Just wanted to share my IMU calibration experience with everyone.
After my maiden, the drone seemed a bit erratic and not as predictable, so I went ahead and opted in to do the IMU calibration as I have with all my previous generation products. I ensured that I was on a level surface, away from any magnetic interference etc. I opened the sensor menu to get into the IMU Calibration and began the process. In step 1, the app asked me to set the drone down normally (legs down, normal position). Step 2 is to lay the drone on its left side, and step 3 was to go back to the "normal" position, but with the drone facing 5 oclock. At this point, I let the drone sit in the desired position for 10 minutes and but the process would not let me continue. I powered everything down and reached out to DJI support immediately. Attached are the screenshots of the IMU instructions.

Unfortunately, the DJI rep offered little assistance but opened up a ticket with the developer to look into this issue and get back to me.

I tried this process a few times, and each time it would not let me move past step 3 - I assure you I was doing everything down to the T.

At this point, I was a bit worried that if I try to take off with a half-calibrated drone that it was bound to wreck into something, so I reached out to youtube for a bit of assistance. Thankfully, DJI Support released a video on the IMU Calibration process, however, step 3 in the instruction video was quite a bit different than what the app was telling me to do. Since I had nothing to lose, I gave it one more shot, but this time followed the steps outlined in the video and I was able to get through the calibration process. For those curious, step 3 is to lay the drone on its right side (opposite step 2), step 4 is to place it on its back legs with the camera pointing up, and step 5 is to rest it upside down.

My conclusion is that the app is displaying the wrong image for step 3 & 4 and I am hoping DJI will release an update to the android version within a few days that addresses this. In the mean time - I would advise holding off on calibrating the IMU. If you happen to get stuck, follow the video instructions like I did and you should be in the clear. Ill put this turkey up in the air this evening and let you guys know if it flies away or decides to frontflip into the ground. Cross your fingers.

 

[Turn11]

I am of the school that I want the compass to be calibrated for my location. I will calibrate it again regardless when I go more than 500 miles from home (or it asks to be calibrated).
I have done 1 and 3. I will do 2
When I made my first flight with the M2P there was zero wind, it had 17 satellites. no metal or electrical anywhere around. Auto takeoff, it went up close to 4' shifted about 5' to the left and stayed there until I took control. I flew for about 10 minutes and auto RTH. It tried to land about 5' behind the original takeoff point (landing pad) orange against green grass. 2 subsequent flights all RTH was "close enough". All flights were at least or close to a half mile distance.

 

[4wd]

step 3 was to go back to the "normal" position, but with the drone facing 5 oclock.

I don't understand this part, the principle is simple enough, watch and follow the DJI video if the app is muddled.
IMU is best done indoors on a level surface anyway.

 

[waynorth]

The user manual for the Mavic says this about calibration:
It is recommended that the compass is calibrated in any of the following situations when flying outdoors:
1. Flying at a location farther than 50 km away from the location the drone was last flown.
2. The aircraft has not been flown for more than 30 days.
3. A compass interference warning appears in DJI GO 4 and/or the aircraft status indicators blink alternating red and yellow.

 

[sar104]

The user manual for the Mavic says this about calibration:
It is recommended that the compass is calibrated in any of the following situations when flying outdoors:
1. Flying at a location farther than 50 km away from the location the drone was last flown.
2. The aircraft has not been flown for more than 30 days.
3. A compass interference warning appears in DJI GO 4 and/or the aircraft status indicators blink alternating red and yellow.

I saw that, but there is no sound basis for (1) and (2) - those are just more examples of the rather random and changing advice that the DJI manuals have given over the years. It probably doesn't matter because it usually doesn't cause problems.

However, I've looked at at a couple of Mavic flight logs where the compass calibration was performed and the aircraft flown immediately without a restart (also recommended in the manual), resulting in an immediate yaw error. What had happened was that the IMU yaw value, that was initialized to the magnetic yaw on power up, no longer agreed with the magnetic yaw after the calibration maneuvers. That's not good - in my opinion the IMU at least needs to be reinitialized after compass calibration. A restart would do that but it doesn't seem to happen automatically.

 

[waynorth]

However, I've looked at at a couple of Mavic flight logs where the compass calibration was performed and the aircraft flown immediately without a restart (also recommended in the manual), resulting in an immediate yaw error. What had happened was that the IMU yaw value, that was initialized to the magnetic yaw on power up, no longer agreed with the magnetic yaw after the calibration maneuvers. That's not good - in my opinion the IMU at least needs to be reinitialized after compass calibration. A restart would do that but it doesn't seem to happen automatically.

That's a good advice - restart after compass calibration.

 

[Turn11]

in my opinion the IMU at least needs to be reinitialized after compass calibration. A restart would do that but it doesn't seem to happen automatically.

It's been a way of life since Hector-was-a-pup; any time software is updated.

 

[sar104]

It's been a way of life since Hector-was-a-pup; any time software is updated.

This is a little different, since nothing in the firmware has been updated, but a disagreement, before takeoff, between the compass(es) and IMU(s) is a recipe for disaster. The usual check that the aircraft is facing the same direction as the orientation arrow in the control app should detect the issue, but I don't think that most people know to do that simple check.

 

[Turn11]

This is a little different, since nothing in the firmware has been updated

You are correct, absolutely.
Back when I was working we built large industrial machines that were PLC controlled and there were a lot of pressure and temperature sensors and any time I calibrated one I would do an IPL on the processor "just to be certain" everything was on the same page.
I just naturally restart the bird whenever I calibrate anything. It may not be necessary but I don't think it hurts.