Calibrate compass in a saline

[RodPad]

That was a very interesting read , just 1 question isn’t it good practice to recal compass when u move spots ? . It won’t hurt and only takes a few seconds.

These should answer your questions..

Looking for Trouble ??
Compass Calibration, A Complete Primer

Rod

 

[Meta4]

That was a very interesting read , just 1 question isn’t it good practice to recal compass when u move spots ? . It won’t hurt and only takes a few seconds.

It's completely unnecessary and if your Phantom is hovering in place without slowly rotating, you won't improve anything.
The frequent recalibration superstition developed from bad wording in old DJI manuals and was not supported by results of field testing.
Here's what a current DJI manual says about when you should recalibrate your compass:
Only calibrate the compass when the DJI GO 4 app or the status indicator prompt you to do so.

 

[Aussie markD1969]

These should answer your questions..

Looking for Trouble ??
Compass Calibration, A Complete Primer

Rod

Thankyou Rod.

 

[Aussie markD1969]

It's completely unnecessary and if your Phantom is hovering in place without slowly rotating, you won't improve anything.
The frequent recalibration superstition developed from bad wording in old DJI manuals and was not supported by results of field testing.
Here's what a current DJI manual says about when you should recalibrate your compass:
Only calibrate the compass when the DJI GO 4 app or the status indicator prompt you to do so.

Cheers meta4 , thinking l was doing the right thing , when in fact l may have almost , without realising put the bird in harms way . By recalibrating in an inappropriate area .. Glad lam part of the phantom chat club , always a good read and plenty of informative people to put us back on track ..

 

[joeyjan19]

Calibrarion does not cancel or compensate for external magnetic distortions. ONLY those created by ferrous metals WITHIN the aircraft. This is why you spin or rotate the aircraft to perform the compensation.

If you have a proper flying aircraft and no warnings in the app leave it alone.

In other words if it ain’t broke don’t fix it....

 

[ArgenBrewer]

It's completely unnecessary and if your Phantom is hovering in place without slowly rotating, you won't improve anything.
The frequent recalibration superstition developed from bad wording in old DJI manuals and was not supported by results of field testing.
Here's what a current DJI manual says about when you should recalibrate your compass:
Only calibrate the compass when the DJI GO 4 app or the status indicator prompt you to do so.

The status indicator always asks you to recalibrate, but I do not know, the Phantom goes very well without deviations, is this right or am I wrong in my actions?

 

[Meta4]

The status indicator always asks you to recalibrate, but I do not know, the Phantom goes very well without deviations, is this right or am I wrong in my actions?

That screenshot isn't showing the app asking you to calibrate.
The box around the word Calibrate is simply to indicate that it is a button that can be used when/if you need to calibrate.

If calibration is genuinely required, you would get a red warning across the top of your flying screen and you could not take off.

 

[BudWalker]

The status indicator always asks you to recalibrate, but I do not know, the Phantom goes very well without deviations, is this right or am I wrong in my actions?

This isn't telling you to calibrate. It's just the button you would use to calibrate if you wanted to. Very poor GUI design. You are not the first to be confused by this.

 

[joeyjan19]

I need to ask a question to the most experienced; I will soon have the opportunity to travel to a large expanse of salt mines in my country and it occurred to me that it could be the ideal place to calibrate the compass in an environment absolutely free of electromagnetic interference, buildings, power lines, cement, elevations, rocks, etc. but I have doubts about the salt that forms the soil of the place, will it have any influence on the Phantom's sensors?
Thank you for your attention!

You don’t have to worry about this with your drone, this concerns with flying solely with a magnetic compass. You could Say that’s “a tip off the old salt block”...

 

[joeyjan19]

My personal method is to calibrate the compass if I travel 100 miles from where I last calibrated it.
Depending on where you live the magnetic declination can affect it.

View attachment 96063

Thank you, Thank you, if you flew a drone in a straight line, say west to east until the battery failed you would travel what? Say 15-17 miles,unless you were very close to one of the poles(north,south) it would make no difference. Also,the applications for navigating have the magnetic variation included in it and there is no need to add or subject degrees as you move.

 

[LuvMyTJ]

So there are some differences in the models apparently that justifies my original method. Strange how there are so many variations.

P4P.........................................

Mavic Air.........................................

Spark.........................................

 

[sar104]

So there are some differences in the models apparently that justifies my original method. Strange how there are so many variations.

View attachment 96190
P4P.........................................
View attachment 96191
Mavic Air.........................................
View attachment 96192
Spark.........................................
View attachment 96193

There's no doubt that the manuals have given various and conflicting advice. One thing we can say, definitively, is that if there is any basis for the advice to calibrate when changing location, it certainly has nothing to do with declination.

It really would be nice to know if the calibration process ever recorded anything about the external (earth's) magnetic field, rather than just the known, and obvious, need to measure the aircraft's magnetic field.

 

[BudWalker]

There's no doubt that the manuals have given various and conflicting advice. One thing we can say, definitively, is that if there is any basis for the advice to calibrate when changing location, it certainly has nothing to do with declination.

It really would be nice to know if the calibration process ever recorded anything about the external (earth's) magnetic field, rather than just the known, and obvious, need to measure the aircraft's magnetic field.

The only things left are inclination and field strength. It makes a lot more sense to measure inclination after batteryOn and before flight. Inclination can also be part of the algorithm that computes declination from the GPS coords.

Although the geoMagnetic field strength varies [0.25, 0.65] Gauss I can't imagine how it's value could be used in computing heading. But, if a launch site is geoMagnetically distorted that means there will be spots where field strength varies from the normal field strength that was determined in a compass calibration. I always assumed that was the phenomena underlying the P3 Mod value check.

 

[Meta4]

So there are some differences in the models apparently that justifies my original method. Strange how there are so many variations.

The differences are due to DJI's poor documentation rather than any real differences in the compass systems.