Compass error

Neon Euc · Oct 11, 2016

So there I was flying the P3A and no problems. So I decided to put the 3rd party battery in. It worked last two times flawlessly but today during flight it said compass error and decided to drift off. I landed it, turned off the controller and the bird, booted up and it said firmware , imu, and a few other things not working. So I took the battery out, put it in, done a compass recalibration and it worked. So my questions are....

1) if I travel a few miles and try to fly in a different place do I have to do the calibration once for the bird or
does each battery need to be calibrated when in a new area?

Thanks in advanced [emoji4][emoji4]

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msinger · Oct 11, 2016

Batteries do not need to be calibrated. You do need to calibrate the compass though. See more details about when it should be calibrated here.

Neon Euc · Oct 11, 2016

Thanks msinger. I am guessing I was flying near a phone tower and that might have had an issue even tho it was ok a few times. Could be the 3rd party battery but I will put it down to compass needed recalibrating again for some odd reason

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Neon Euc · Oct 11, 2016

msinger said:
Batteries do not need to be calibrated. You do need to calibrate the compass though. See more details about when it should be calibrated here.

Also one last thing... As you can see in this pic with the phone tower... Def not a good place to fly and calibrate. But what I don't understand is...

1) The first flight was perfect. Went so near to the tower with no problems. But the second flight went nuts and I wasn't even as close to the tower. In fact I went in the opposite direction.

2) what makes concrete bad to calibrate? I understand there is metal in the walls for the structure but what about the floor?

Thanks for the time to read and hopefully answer

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Neon Euc · Oct 11, 2016

This is where I Calibrated the drone

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Richard R · Oct 12, 2016

Neon Euc said:
Also one last thing... As you can see in this pic with the phone tower... Def not a good place to fly and calibrate. But what I don't understand is...

1) The first flight was perfect. Went so near to the tower with no problems. But the second flight went nuts and I wasn't even as close to the tower. In fact I went in the opposite direction.

2) what makes concrete bad to calibrate? I understand there is metal in the walls for the structure but what about the floor?

Thanks for the time to read and hopefully answer

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Often rebar or reinforcing screen in the floor too.

msinger · Oct 12, 2016

Neon Euc said:
The first flight was perfect. Went so near to the tower with no problems. But the second flight went nuts and I wasn't even as close to the tower.

This usually occurs when you take off with a bad compass calibration or there is magnetic metal near your Phantom when you take off.

Neon Euc said:
what makes concrete bad to calibrate? I understand there is metal in the walls for the structure but what about the floor?

Yes, the concrete floor most likely contains metal tool. It's safer to calibrate on the ground -- even more so in an area you know is metal-free.

JohnnyB · Oct 12, 2016

Also, keep in mind if you are really close to some towers, they may have no effect on calibration when your in the ground because if it's signal path. As soon as you take off and get higher or farther away, your then getting the strongest signals from the tower. Something to think about.

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Eeh, typos