Compass Calibrate

Slow Polk · Feb 12, 2016

How many of you Calibrate your compass before each flight?

alokbhargava · Feb 12, 2016

Why do you want to collect this data?

Shimien · Feb 12, 2016

Every time. Besides I get to tell anyone near me to stick around for my lame calibration dance lol.

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NotARubicon · Feb 12, 2016

I used to only do it when flying in a new area, but since I've been getting compass errors I do it every time. So far, I've never gotten the dreaded Compass Error after calibrating before flying.

Meta4 · Feb 12, 2016

I haven't calibrated for months but I've looked into lots of crash reports that start with "I calibrated before the flight like I always do".
And quite a few of them were caused by bad compass calibration.

sonof40 · Feb 12, 2016

Read this:
10 things that could save your drone | Paul Joy – Freelance Filmmaker

mikecorn1 · Feb 12, 2016

I am a noob at this and I will do it every time I fly.

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TheRealNick · Feb 13, 2016

I have calibrated once and done 52 Flights. I have never messed with the factory IMU calibration.

sonof40 · Feb 13, 2016

mikecorn1 said:
I am a noob at this and I will do it every time I fly.

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Well good luck then.

Flying Dutchman · Feb 13, 2016

Only calibrate after updates ore when I am flying at a new place a long way from home. Otherwise better leave whats good.

alokbhargava · Feb 13, 2016

Flying Dutchman said:
Only calibrate after updates ore when I am flying at a new place a long way from home. Otherwise better leave whats good.

Calibrate compass before flying at site once on that day.

Traveler · Feb 13, 2016

I do it less and less the more I fly. I have always made sure I was in a area free of known causes for compass degradation, but I could never observe a benefit from doing them. I believe the phantom is smart enough to calculate where a phantom should be, given the compass heading and the predictability of a gps location. In other words, if you travel at a compass heading of 270, the phantom should be able to calculate you passing over point x on the map, if this fails to come true, then I would expect the phantom to view this as a compass error.

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Flying Dutchman · Feb 13, 2016

We clearly have other opinions, Its really not nessesary to calibrate every time. Only when you're a hunderd ore more miles away from your last location. Only result is a probabel ****** of your already good calibrated compass with errors as a result. Ore worse.

m0j0 · Feb 13, 2016

I have about 50 flights I calibrate when I travel more than a couple hundred miles away.

Phantom 3 Pro / iPad Air 2

Slow Polk · Feb 13, 2016

alokbhargava said:
Why do you want to collect this data?

I have been flying out of the same site for about 25 flights and get a compass error 2 times. Just wondering what was causing it.

Slow Polk · Feb 13, 2016

Interesting on the wide response that I got. Thanks all.

alokbhargava · Feb 13, 2016

Slow Polk said:
I have been flying out of the same site for about 25 flights and get a compass error 2 times. Just wondering what was causing it.

You should investigate why did you get compass error while flying as that could result into loss of P3.

Did you forget to calibrate before flights?

m0j0 · Feb 13, 2016

alokbhargava said:
You should investigate why did you get compass error while flying as that could result into loss of P3.

Did you forget to calibrate before flights?

You don't need to calibrate before flights. You need a good calibration and then don't do it again unless you travel a good distance away from the calibration location. If you calibrate before every flight you risk getting a bad calibration which really could cause you an issue. Get a good calibration and leave alone.

Phantom 3 Pro / iPad Air 2

Meta4 · Feb 13, 2016

mikecorn1 said:
I am a noob at this and I will do it every time I fly.

alokbhargava said:
You should investigate why did you get compass error while flying as that could result into loss of P3.

Did you forget to calibrate before flights?

The usual reason for calibrating every flight is that the user doesn't understand what calibration does or how it works.
People do it as something of a superstitious ritual, thinking that somehow it will ensure safe flight and some even think it tells the GPS where it is!
Calibrating every time is completely unnecessary and introduces the risk of getting a bad calibration.
Most compass error related crashes are caused by "calibrate-every-time" flyers.

If you understand compass calibration, you can fly a lot safer.
Read this thread to get an understanding:
Compass Calibration, A Complete Primer

RedHotPoker · Feb 13, 2016

I usually do my calibrate IMU, Gimbal and Compass, after the firmware or app updates. Only done them 5 or so times... It's fun, but actually unnecessary before each and every flight. Could cause problems too.
No, I do it when needed only. & Never had a hitch. Well you know, I Never owned a horse either though. Hehe

RedHotPoker