How many times do you have to calibrate the compass?

[Courtervideo]

Am I the only one who has to calibrate compass almost every 3rd flight? I have been noticing compass calibration is a very frequent activity on MA as compared to Spark. I was in Yakima county over the weekend and lost count how many times I did the calibration :/

I have noticed that if I try to launch from one concrete pad on my property it typically asks for calibration but if I launch from a different pad on the other side of the house, it doesn't ask for calibration. I think the first one may have some large steel rebar inside.

 

[Kevjones777]

Nope I am not buying this Bs anymore. I travelled 1000km from my home and it still requests a calibration all the time. I was careful to select a take off spot where there were no metal items. My tablet and controller were 20m away. Flew came back, changed battery and it requested a calibration again.

 

[Ajinkya]

I calibrated when I purchased my Mavic PRO (I) 7 months back. After that I flew almost 20-25 flights in different locations of country. Never calibrated, it flew fine. Only once I calibrated when I traveled more than 1000KM and then when I came home I did calibration just to be safe. But it never asked me to calibrated. But you should calibrate sensors every 6 months.

 

[Mike Mas]

It's more risky over calibrating then not - unless you're traveling great distances, you're wasting your time, I have drones that were only calibrated when I bough them, this is not something that changes flight to flight or after time. Also, if you do it wrong, then you'll have problems.

If it makes you feel better try to calibrate once a month and you'll be fine

Fly Safe - Mike

 

[Kraquin]

I live in the midwest U.S., calibrated my MP last January at home, went to central Pacific coast area of Mexico a couple weeks ago and flew for the first time there. Never needed to recalibrate.

 

[Endeavor]

I calibrated the compass once when the unit was brand new and unless the aircraft notifies the compass is off I don't. I get compass errors if I try to take off the tailgate of my truck no matter what so I just make sure the craft is in the clear and let it fly. When in Mexico I never received any errors and did not calibrate. To date not an issue. That being said I don't think it hurts to is detrimental to calibrate as often as you wish however I just don't as to me it seems as a waste of time.

 

[chezedog]

How many times do you have to calibrate the compass?

Once so far.

 

[JimPickett]

I get it also. Not every time, and not always in the same locations. I fly a spark also and treat both the same with respect to where I take off, fly and land, and never have this issue with the spark.

 

[alanren]

My initial flights were in disused and decontaminated steel works and was continuously recalibrating. This was due remedial iron in the area. When I switched away to other areas the problems disappeared.

 

[garethshaw]

Anytime you take off more than 10km from your last take off site you must calibrate.

If the weather conditions are significantly different, say a storm or it’s gone from wet to sunny. Calibrate.

If you haven’t flown for s week, calibrate.

Simple rules given the reason for recalibration is magnetic interference which alter hourly, minutely depending on weather conditions and this deviation is geographic specific. Meaning the calibration calibrated it to the local, time specific interference.

Hope that helps
Gareth

Am I the only one who has to calibrate compass almost every 3rd flight? I have been noticing compass calibration is a very frequent activity on MA as compared to Spark. I was in Yakima county over the weekend and lost count how many times I did the calibration :/

 

[sar104]

Anytime you take off more than 10km from your last take off site you must calibrate.

If the weather conditions are significantly different, say a storm or it’s gone from wet to sunny. Calibrate.

If you haven’t flown for s week, calibrate.

Simple rules given the reason for recalibration is magnetic interference which alter hourly, minutely depending on weather conditions and this deviation is geographic specific. Meaning the calibration calibrated it to the local, time specific interference.

Hope that helps
Gareth

Unfortunately you have misunderstood the purpose of calibration. It has nothing to do with the earth's magnetic field and, specifically, nothing to do with magnetic deviation or declination.

A simple consideration of the process of calibrating should make that obvious - since all that the aircraft magnetometers can detect and measure are the magnetic field components at their location, and they do not need to be rotated to make that measurement - they are 3-axis magnetometers. Furthermore, no amount of measuring, with or without rotation, will allow the FC to determine the deviation or declination at a location, since it has no idea where true north is.

Rotating the magnetometers only achieves one thing - it allows the FC to separate the fixed external field (the earth's magnetic field) from the magnetic field of the aircraft itself. It can separate them because in the process of rotation, the aircraft's field remains constant in the frame of reference of the magnetometers, while the earth's field rotates.

That's the purpose of compass calibration - to measure the components of the aircraft's magnetic field so that they can then be subtracted from the total measured field, leaving just the earth's magnetic field that is needed during flight.

Declination is determined from a global declination model in the firmware. Deviation is unmeasurable and cannot be compensated for, which is why taking off in areas of significant magnetic deviation will lead to unstable flight.

 

[Ex nihil]

My MP has been around the world and has only asked for a compass calibration once, after I put in my iPad Pro case, which has a magnetic clasp. I keep them well separated.

 

[sar104]

My MP has been around the world and has only asked for a compass calibration once, after I put in my iPad Pro case, which has a magnetic clasp. I keep them well separated.

That certainly could cause a change in magnetization of something on the aircraft.

 

[Dabrain]

Anytime you take off more than 10km from your last take off site you must calibrate.

If the weather conditions are significantly different, say a storm or it’s gone from wet to sunny. Calibrate.

If you haven’t flown for s week, calibrate.

Simple rules given the reason for recalibration is magnetic interference which alter hourly, minutely depending on weather conditions and this deviation is geographic specific. Meaning the calibration calibrated it to the local, time specific interference.

Hope that helps
Gareth

It is recommended to calibrate the compass in any of the following situations when flying outdoors:
1. Flying at a location farther than 10 km away from the last flight location.
2. The aircraft hasn’t been flown for more than one month.
3.A compass interference warning appears in the DJI GO 4 app, and the warning persists after changing location.
Restart the aircraft when calibration is complete.

 

[Slowcaptain]

So many back and forth replies! Since I posted the topic I have not had a chance to fly my bird. Weather here in PNW is increasingly bad past few days. I am going to try few steps that were suggested earlier and see what happens. General consensus seems that there is no need for calibration so many times though. I raised a ticket but have not sent the drone back yet. Just waiting for 1 test flight lol

 

[Slowcaptain]

Rotating the magnetometers only achieves one thing - it allows the FC to separate the fixed external field (the earth's magnetic field) from the magnetic field of the aircraft itself. It can separate them because in the process of rotation, the aircraft's field remains constant in the frame of reference of the magnetometers, while the earth's field rotates.
.

Sorry for exceedingly noob question, but what are FC and AC please? Not familiar with abbreviations.

 

[Slowcaptain]

Nope I am not buying this Bs anymore. I travelled 1000km from my home and it still requests a calibration all the time. I was careful to select a take off spot where there were no metal items. My tablet and controller were 20m away. Flew came back, changed battery and it requested a calibration again.

Yeah! I just don’t want a flyaway because of my compass being faulty but assuming that it’s normal. I will be the fool in that case for ignoring all the signals.

 

[KelloggKid]

Sorry for exceedingly noob question, but what are FC and AC please? Not familiar with abbreviations.

FC = Flight Computer
AC = Aircraft

 

[msinger]

So many back and forth replies!

Lots of people have ideas about how they think the compass works. Post #51 above contains the correct information.

Still not sure when you should be calibrating your compass? Then check out the Compass Calibration Guide.

 

[Cheech Wizard]

Make sure that you are not wearing a smart watch, it may throw off the sensor.

That's a great tip, I wouldn't have thought of that.