I would like others opinions on this....Compass Calibration

[MavicMike55]

OK, I am not as seasoned a drone pilot as some of you, but I have been flying a lot since I got my first drone (MA1) back in August of last year. I now have a MA2 since around May 18 and have flown it on 4-5 different occasions, a couple of which were well out over the SF Bay without a single issue. I have not yet calibrated the compass or IMU since opening the box.

Now, not to far back (before the MA2 was released) I read opinions on Compass calibrations that said: "ONLY calibrate the compass when the app requires you to".
I am also hearing: "whenever you fly more than 31 miles away from the last flight. Calibrate."

The manual (MA2) also says to calibrate if you haven't flown in 30 days. Or if you get a compass interference warning.

Question: Am I OK to continue without doing a calibration? Has anyone else been flying their MA2 without doing any calibrations?

 

[Meta4]

I am also hearing: "whenever you fly more than 31 miles away from the last flight. Calibrate."

The manual (MA2) also says to calibrate if you haven't flown in 30 days. Or if you get a compass interference warning.

Question: Am I OK to continue without doing a calibration? Has anyone else been flying their MA2 without doing any calibrations?

Compass calibration is the most misunderstood aspect of drone flying.
Many flyers don't understand it at all and will give opinions that are quite wrong.
DJI don't help either with very confusing and contradictory coverage of the topic in their manuals.

There is no physical reason to recalibrate your compass if it is flying properly unless you modify the drone.
However DJI make some of their models ask for recalibration after a time period and/or distance from last flight.
I haven't calibrated anything on my main drone since new over 3.5 years ago and it still runs perfectly.

 

[MadMaqx]

Compass calibration is the most misunderstood aspect of drone flying.
Many flyers don't understand it at all and will give opinions that are quite wrong.
DJI don't help either with very confusing and contradictory coverage of the topic in their manuals.

There is no physical reason to recalibrate your compass if it is flying properly unless you modify the drone.
However DJI make some of their models ask for recalibration after a time period and/or distance from last flight.
I haven't calibrated anything on my main drone since new over 3.5 years ago and it still runs perfectly.

Do you just have that on copy and paste! [emoji16]

 

[sar104]

OK, I am not as seasoned a drone pilot as some of you, but I have been flying a lot since I got my first drone (MA1) back in August of last year. I now have a MA2 since around May 18 and have flown it on 4-5 different occasions, a couple of which were well out over the SF Bay without a single issue. I have not yet calibrated the compass or IMU since opening the box.

Now, not to far back (before the MA2 was released) I read opinions on Compass calibrations that said: "ONLY calibrate the compass when the app requires you to".
I am also hearing: "whenever you fly more than 31 miles away from the last flight. Calibrate."

The manual (MA2) also says to calibrate if you haven't flown in 30 days. Or if you get a compass interference warning.

Question: Am I OK to continue without doing a calibration? Has anyone else been flying their MA2 without doing any calibrations?

I added an explanation of the common questions regarding compasses, compass errors, and calibration to the Mavic Crash & Flyaway Assistance forum. That might address part of your question.

A short explanation of compass function, calibration and errors.

BACKGROUND The aircraft compass is often misunderstood, both in terms of function and purpose, but it is important to understand what the compass measures, why, and what happens to that information. At the most basic level the purpose of the compass is to measure the earth’s magnetic field in...

mavicpilots.com

 

[boblui]

"ONLY calibrate the compass when the app requires you to".

You can calibrate your compass any time you want. It won't break anything or do any harm. It's just whether it's necessary.

"whenever you fly more than 31 miles away from the last flight. Calibrate."

The one who says this has zero knowledge about what compass calibration does.

The compass consists of 3 magnetometers that measures the strength of magnetic fields in the X, Y and Z directions. The data allows the direction of magnetic field to be established hence the drone knows where the magnetic north is.

The purpose of calibration is to allow the magnetometers to measure the external magnetic field strength correctly. There are two sources of errors (1) stray magnetic field produced by the drone due to some parts being magnetized, (2) offsets in magnetometer readings. Both of these errors can be established by exposing the drone to an external magnetic field of constant direction and strength in different orientations. By subtracting the known errors from the magnetometer readings, external magnetic field can be measured correctly. It's roughly like zeroing a scale before using it to weight things.

As these errors do not change with location, there is definitely no need to re-calibrate the compass when the drone is moved to different places.

Am I OK to continue without doing a calibration?

Yes if you are sure that the stray magnetic field produced by the drone have not changed over time.

 

[Dave Maine]

Unless you add or subtract magnetized parts, or place the drone in a strong magnetic field, the drone’s magnetic field will not change.

 

[Scooped]

Why not calibrate the IMU right out of box? Sure it wS banged around during shipping

 

[Slade]

If you feel comfortable calibrating your compass even if not prompted to do so, then do it. It’s your drone. Other folks opinions, though helpful at times, end on the tips of their noses. There’s great news here. Lots of crap, also.

 

[swooshdave]

Unless you add or subtract magnetized parts, or place the drone in a strong magnetic field, the drone’s magnetic field will not change.

The MA1 constantly required a compass recalibration, although I think it got better with the last update. Possibly a bug that caused it to think it needed calibration.

 

[Meta4]

If you feel comfortable calibrating your compass even if not prompted to do so, then do it. It’s your drone.
Other folks opinions, though helpful at times, end on the tips of their noses. There’s great news here. Lots of crap, also.

Lots of people do that because they don't understand what compass calibration actually does, and doesn't do.
They do it as a superstitious ritual to make them "feel comfortable".
It makes more sense to properly understand how your drone works.

 

[method007]

Calibrating the compass when unnecessary is more likely to cause you problems than anything else. I have only ever calibrated the compass when prompted by the software, after double checking that I wasn’t in an environment that could be adversely impacting the compass.

 

[boblui]

Calibrating the compass when unnecessary is more likely to cause you problems than anything else.

It will be more convincing if an explanation on the cause of potential problems can be provided.

There is a BIG misconception that the calibration process tells the drone directly where the north is by allowing it to see the earth's magnetic field from different angles. That's not true. It's just to enable the magnetometers to measure the external magnetic field strength accurately. What need be ensured is that the external magnetic field the drone is exposed to has constant direction and strength when the calibration is being done. That magnetic field does NOT have to be the earth's magnetic field nor does it need to be in north-south direction. The earth's magnetic field is used just for our convenience.

 

[MavicMo]

I only do it when it the app asks me to do so. I live in Colorado and took my drone (Mavic Pro) with me to Hawaii. Flew it a couple days with zero issues. The next went to fly and it asked for a CC. Did it and still no issues....