Compass calibration " When to perform"

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Reading the inspire forum it was very interesting to see guys talking about getting a good calibration and to stick with it rather than perform one every flight, reason for this is that there might be some external factors that will influence the calibration and now you stuck with those values till the next calibration, I personally do not perform compass calibration every flight but do check my values pre flight!

Seems the general consensus is that 1500 is the sweet spot, how do you guys see this?

I have had 14 flights since my last compass calibration with no issues at all. I will calibrate if I fly in an area far away but around my town I don't see the need if I have a good calibration and my values look good. What do you guys think?
 
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Agree 1500. Do one at the first of your series of flights. So, if you have 4 batteries. Do one on the first battery. CHECK YOUR MOD VALUES BEFORE EVERY FLIGHT. this is simple to do and will verify ~1500. You only need to do one at the first flight. If I come back in the afternoon or later time, I do one again. As long as you have 1500 before lift off, you should be GTG.

I think if everyone checked their mod values before every flight, lots of flyaways could be prevented.
 
Only ever done my compass calibration once and no issues. On the p3 it will tell you if it needs it anyway.

With the older phantoms will also let you know by how the lights are flashing.

Calibrating to often can cause more issues in the long run. Better off getting one good calibration and leaving it, like I said if your p3 needs it, will alert you, as the p3 checks all this before takeoff and anything needs calibrating will come up with a message.
 
Only ever done my compass calibration once and no issues. On the p3 it will tell you if it needs it anyway.

With the older phantoms will also let you know by how the lights are flashing.

Calibrating to often can cause more issues in the long run. Better off getting one good calibration and leaving it, like I said if your p3 needs it, will alert you, as the p3 checks all this before takeoff and anything needs calibrating will come up with a message.

I have a P2, to what are you referring?

There's no visual compass related indication from the lights that I've ever heard of or seen other than acknowledging you have course lock heading stored.

Please advise.
 
Only ever done my compass calibration once and no issues. On the p3 it will tell you if it needs it anyway.

With the older phantoms will also let you know by how the lights are flashing.

Calibrating to often can cause more issues in the long run. Better off getting one good calibration and leaving it, like I said if your p3 needs it, will alert you, as the p3 checks all this before takeoff and anything needs calibrating will come up with a message.

Waiting until the Phantom detects a compass problem is not a good idea. The Phantom can only detect strong magnetic anomalies which means it can still let you fly with a badly calibrated compass. You should calibrate based on the suggested guidelines which means not every time but more than just once.
 
I have a P2, to what are you referring?

There's no visual compass related indication from the lights that I've ever heard of or seen other than acknowledging you have course lock heading stored.

Please advise.


Yes there is. Red and yellow indicate a compass error.
 
Waiting until the Phantom detects a compass problem is not a good idea. The Phantom can only detect strong magnetic anomalies which means it can still let you fly with a badly calibrated compass. You should calibrate based on the suggested guidelines which means not every time but more than just once.
 
If you go far enough from your location the compass will come up with an error.

This is not true. And again, the Phantom cannot detect most compass anomalies. It can only detect when it is really out of whack.

All my phantoms have only ever calibrated once and no problems at all.

You've been lucky or have only ever flown in a limited area. If you understood how the compass works, you would know that is a risky proposition.
 
With p3, just check the mod values around 1500.

Unfortunately you cant with the P2 unless you plug into a laptop in the field (I used to do this).
But use common sense - The moment i'm in an open grassy field that I think has minimal magnetic influence I do a compass dance. The more frequent, the better but you really need to make sure this field is free of interference.
And avoid doing it in built up areas with heaps of buildings.

Spend time studying the radar. If you see the ARROW (the phantom) not in reference to your smartphone/home point or the ARROW spinning around before take off then DO NOT TAKE OFF!

Another is to take off about 3 meters and check the controls and movements. Does it swirl around? is fwd really fwd?? Is Course/Home Lock in reference???
 
With p3, just check the mod values around 1500.

Unfortunately you cant with the P2 unless you plug into a laptop in the field (I used to do this).
But use common sense - The moment i'm in an open grassy field that I think has minimal magnetic influence I do a compass dance. The more frequent, the better but you really need to make sure this field is free of interference.
And avoid doing it in built up areas with heaps of buildings.

Spend time studying the radar. If you see the ARROW (the phantom) not in reference to your smartphone/home point or the ARROW spinning around before take off then DO NOT TAKE OFF!

Another is to take off about 3 meters and check the controls and movements. Does it swirl around? is fwd really fwd?? Is Course/Home Lock in reference???

Stupid question? How do I check the mod value?
 

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