Magnetic Interference Issue Unable to Fly

kschmidt626 · Sep 3, 2019

I have the Mavic 2 Zoom. I really like the aircraft. However I haven't been able to fly much lately. I am getting a message on the controller MAG INTERF - CHECK APP. I was in an area where I had flown before with no issues. I sent in to DJI and it came back supposedly fixed. I tried to fly again and same message. The aircraft will turn on and then the controller flashes MAG INTERF - CHECK APP. I have packaged it up for another try at a repair. I am using an Ipad attached to the controller. Any suggestions or similar issues. ??

Thomas B · Sep 3, 2019

Have you tried to fly in a different location?

sar104 · Sep 3, 2019

kschmidt626 said:
I have the Mavic 2 Zoom. I really like the aircraft. However I haven't been able to fly much lately. I am getting a message on the controller MAG INTERF - CHECK APP. I was in an area where I had flown before with no issues. I sent in to DJI and it came back supposedly fixed. I tried to fly again and same message. The aircraft will turn on and then the controller flashes MAG INTERF - CHECK APP. I have packaged it up for another try at a repair. I am using an Ipad attached to the controller. Any suggestions or similar issues. ??

That's a request to calibrate the compass. Have you done that?

kschmidt626 · Sep 3, 2019

Thomas B said:
Have you tried to fly in a different location?

I have tried several different locations. I have a Mavic Air and it flies in the same location

kschmidt626 · Sep 3, 2019

It won’t allow a calibration

sar104 said:
That's a request to calibrate the compass. Have you done that?

sar104 · Sep 3, 2019

kschmidt626 said:
It won’t allow a calibration

It will always allow a calibration. And that's what it is asking for.

Meta4 · Sep 3, 2019

kschmidt626 said:
I have tried several different locations. I have a Mavic Air and it flies in the same location

What does the app tell you about your compass in the Sensors section of the app settings.

sar104 · Sep 3, 2019

Meta4 said:
What does the app tell you about your compass in the Sensors section of the app settings.

It likely doesn't matter what the interference value is - on the Mavic 2 "MAG INTERF - CHECK APP" is the calibration notification that you get after 30 days or 50 km.

darrrius · Sep 4, 2019

sar104 said:
It likely doesn't matter what the interference value is - on the Mavic 2 "MAG INTERF - CHECK APP" is the calibration notification that you get after 30 days or 50 km.

Is that 30 days of flight time? Or 30 actual days? I think we've had our Mavic 2's for over 2 months now and have not had any notifications like that regarding calibration. Are we supposed to calibrate the compass every 30 days? I was under the impression a compass calibration is needed only when the aircraft tells you so (or the App)... Perhaps I did get that message at some point but missed it.

sar104 · Sep 4, 2019

darrrius said:
Is that 30 days of flight time? Or 30 actual days? I think we've had our Mavic 2's for over 2 months now and have not had any notifications like that regarding calibration. Are we supposed to calibrate the compass every 30 days? I was under the impression a compass calibration is needed only when the aircraft tells you so (or the App)... Perhaps I did get that message at some point but missed it.

That's every 30 calendar days. Yes - calibration is generally only needed when the aircraft requests it or if the compass interference levels climb out of the green. Some Mavic 2 aircraft appear not to implement the 30 day or 50 km requests, for reasons that have not been explained, in which case I would not bother calibrating.

PHZ · Sep 4, 2019

Check this out. I have had this same issue (but it mysteriously went away as it came.). CFixer is the Compass Error Fixer

sar104 · Sep 4, 2019

PHZ said:
Check this out. I have had this same issue (but it mysteriously went away as it came.). CFixer is the Compass Error Fixer

That's a good solution if the problem is magnetization of aircraft components. That's most likely not what's happening in this case.

darrrius · Sep 4, 2019

sar104 said:
That's every 30 calendar days. Yes - calibration is generally only needed when the aircraft requests it or if the compass interference levels climb out of the green. Some Mavic 2 aircraft appear not to implement the 30 day or 50 km requests, for reasons that have not been explained, in which case I would not bother calibrating.

Thanks for clarifying! In that case I will wait for either an aircraft/app request or compass interference levels indicating a need. Out of interest, would the latter promt the former?

sar104 · Sep 4, 2019

darrrius said:
Thanks for clarifying! In that case I will wait for either an aircraft/app request or compass interference levels indicating a need. Out of interest, would the latter promt the former?

Consistently high compass interference levels (as opposed to transient interference due to a local external magnetic field) imply that either the magnetometers have drifted or the magnetic field of the aircraft has changed, and should lead to a calibration request. If the aircraft has become too magnetized then the calibration will fail or leave the interference values high, in which case it may need demagnetizing.

ff22 · Sep 4, 2019

Any chance you are subjecting it to some magnetic field driving to your flying location. Location in car or truck? or how or with what you are packing it?

kschmidt626 · Sep 4, 2019

Unfortunately I attempted to calibrate but the app on the IPad wouldn’t allow calibration

sar104 said:
It will always allow a calibration. And that's what it is asking for.

kschmidt626 · Sep 4, 2019

Interesting. Well the aircraft is on it’s way back to DJI. Hopefully it will come back ready to fly

darrrius said:
Is that 30 days of flight time? Or 30 actual days? I think we've had our Mavic 2's for over 2 months now and have not had any notifications like that regarding calibration. Are we supposed to calibrate the compass every 30 days? I was under the impression a compass calibration is needed only when the aircraft tells you so (or the App)... Perhaps I did get that message at some point but missed it.