Compass calibrate every flight?

[805hd]

You must have read the second post above

Haha! My bad! I had not seen that and randomly found this doing some reading on the subject. Apologies [emoji482]

 

[KevMo Photog]

I stopped calibrating compass when I got into the P4P. Prob done it once on it. No issues at all.

 

[MarcelV]

I have not calibrated mine even once. It has been flown in Los Angeles and Albuquerque without any problems. It flies a straight line (or straight enough at least).

 

[KingDad1985]

I calibrated the compass once so far. I've flown in Las Vegas to Barstow to San Diego with out any issues

 

[WithoutATrace]

Well I'm glad Google steered me to this thread. I used to always recalibrate before every flight. But one time I got a clean calibration without error but near a bridge. Well the unit took off, went on a left spiral, crashed straight into the bridge and promptly fell into the river.

 

[Raptorman0909]

I calibrated the compass of my Inspire 1 Pro almost every flight but I seldom do so with the P4P. I do check the status and if it says all is OK I fly as is. If I do an IMU calibration or firmware update, however, I pretty much always calibrate the compass afterwards.


Brian

 

[Top_Speed1]

This thread has been flipping back n forth, it's a yes, then a no and then back to yes. Holy rollers.

Any defined outcome that has come of this?

 

[RunningWithScissors]

Well I'm glad Google steered me to this thread. I used to always recalibrate before every flight. But one time I got a clean calibration without error but near a bridge. Well the unit took off, went on a left spiral, crashed straight into the bridge and promptly fell into the river.

Sorry to hear about your loss. Thank you for sharing that. There's been no shortage of discussion or opinion on this subject in this forum, and your experience could provide some insight for others who have suffered a similar fate. Personally, I don't calibrate unless there's a notification during the preflight check, and I've had no issues. That's been my preference, but I'll use your personal experience as further validation for not calibrating unless I'm prompted to, and then only done far enough away from ferrous metallic sources.

"The comments expressed in this posting do not reflect the views or opinions of PhantomPilots.com".

 

[Meta4]

This thread has been flipping back n forth, it's a yes, then a no and then back to yes. Holy rollers.

Any defined outcome that has come of this?

The latest manuals don't advise recalibrating, experienced flyers don't recommend recalibrating, superstitious flyers do.
Under normal circumstances there should be no need to ever recalibrate your compass.

 

[RunningWithScissors]

@WithoutATrace,
This excerpt from the link above appears to confirm what you experienced...

'IMPORTANT: A good MOD value does NOT mean your compass is working and calibrated properly. For example, if you calibrate next to some rebar, your mod value may still be OK until you fly away from the rebar.'

 

[Raptorman0909]

I have, on a couple occasions, taken off right beside railroad tracks. I would not recommend doing so as the large amount of steel can easily cause a disturbance to the compass. Fortunately I managed without any problems. It can be something of a crap shoot.


Brian

 

[Top_Speed1]

The latest manuals don't advise recalibrating, experienced flyers don't recommend recalibrating, superstitious flyers do.
Under normal circumstances there should be no need to ever recalibrate your compass.

I’m going to stay with this theory then and only calibrate when the UI says to. Thanks

 

[Meta4]

I’m going to stay with this theory then and only calibrate when the UI says to. Thanks

If you think the Phantom is telling you to recalibrate the compass, first try moving away from the steel that's upsetting the compass.
99% of the time, moving is all that's required.