Should I calibrate IMU? And how to fly from a house or car?

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I have a p3p.. I was flying in a very right area on my porch the other night and my quad clipped the side of one of the pilers on my porch and fell down slightly grazed the wooden railing and fell about 6 feet to the ground. I stopped the motors right away as they were squeezing when they hit the ground. I have flown many many times and have never crashed either one of my drones. I got too comfortable and pushed my limits and it def was a nice wake up call..

However I did get very lucky, the drone drone sufferd zero damage, not even a scratch, all the was broke wa the one prop that clipped the piller. Other than that the drone the camera gimbal and all the sensors seem to be reading just fine and working fine. I replaced the props took it out for a spin and all seems good.

I'm just wondering if since It took such a fall, is it a good thing to recalibrate the IMU anyways? What would you do? I have never calibrated the drone since I got it months ago, only have calibrated the compass.

As I said I went into the sensors on the go app, the accelerometer X-is at 0 and Y- is at 0 and Z-is at 1.00.. As I had the quad just sitting on a flat table ...I moved the quad in my hands back and forth side to side and diagonal slowly to make sure the accelerometer was ready fully and correctly and all seems good. The compass is averaging just over 1400 as usual. The gyro I'm not sure how to read, but I think they all stayed at low numbers if not O when it was just sitting on the table..

Like I said all the sensors seem to be reading well. It seemed to fly well. But I would feel like because of it taking such a fall, and because I have never done an IMU Calibration that maybe it's time? Or should I "if it's not broke don't fix it" sorta deal.. And leave it be?

I do get every once and while a compass error, but usually all I gotta do is turn it off, move 2-10 feet one direction and power back up and the compass error goes away.. This doesn't happen much and has done that even before the "crash" if that's what you wanna call it.

Also once and a great while the gimbal will glitch out when I boot it up, like it will be off center and will very slowly make its way back to center, but if I power it down and back up the gimbal will be fine.. Again this is something that would happen before the crash, and again was something that would just happen every and again and didn't do it very often.. So I guess what I'm Saying is enough evidence that should grant me a IMU Calibration? Or should I just leave it be cuz it does seem to fly just fine, even After the "crash" or should I be on the safe side and just do the calibration. I just don't want to make anything worse if it's not bad to begin with is what I'm getting at..

Also, I live in a huge open field and now that it's winter out its super cold where I live and I wanted to try to fly my drone outside, but from me standing inside looking out my big kitchen window.. Is there an antenna I can make or buy that would allow me to have around the same range as I would normally, but from flying from inside the house , or possibly from inside a vehicle? This way I can keep warm, yet still fly the quad and enjoy it. I wasn't looking at going horribly far, maybe just 1000-2000feet distance I would be happy with that.

But whenever I would try to fly from inside the signal would be super poor even at 10 or so feet away. Obviously lightbridge signal can't penetrate through walls and glass very well, so I'm looking for some sorta ground station or antenna station that can be placed outside along with the drone, yet the controller being inside with me controlling it.


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MUI calibration should be done on perfectly (bubble leveled) surface, not bumping or touching it while it is done.
I built external antennas with amps. that work well. In some cases (no objects in the way) over 4,000 ft range has been done. I use Nvidia shield HDMI output to large screen monitor.
 

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This flight was done with 8 watts and TP-Link panel antennas. I had installed drone-side modded antennas which I was not happy with and since reverted to stock. But it does show this config will work well. There was quite a few obstructions so signal was worse than if there were none. I will refly this same mission with stock drone-side antennas when the weather permits. Snow/wind/rain don't like Phantoms...:
 
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Every time I think I should maybe calibrate my IMU, I go get it ready, get it perfectly level (which is a PITA), plug it into my desktop, and then I find the values are already where they're supposed to be. Most of the time, I just unplug it without calibrating. But twice I've calibrated it anyway, and both times it seemed to fly better afterwards.

Re flying inside, it's very complicated. You need to install an antenna outside the house, and you'll need expensive high quality cable, and you'll need to minimize the length of that cable, and you'll need an amp, and your view of the AC will obviously be hampered at least somewhat by standing inside, and even then you may have problems because you won't be able to aim the antenna at all.

IMO it's best to tough it out and walk outside to fly.

Don't forget to warm that battery!
 
Shooting from inside a vehicle is a viable option. It limits your field of view but the windshield hasn't reduced my range that I can tell. My thumbs are shaky enough without standing in the cold!
 
MUI calibration should be done on perfectly (bubble leveled) surface, not bumping or touching it while it is done.
I built external antennas with amps. that work well. In some cases (no objects in the way) over 4,000 ft range has been done. I use Nvidia shield HDMI output to large screen monitor.

Wow that's nuts dude, I wonder if my old satalite dish woulda worked, it was an old one for direct tv, the cable was hooked up though my house it was just an old dish that wasn't in service anymore but I ripped it down last summer already. So all it really is is two dish cables connected to some sort of antenna, that you would run with long cables back into the house and into your remote... I will obviously have to modify my remote to accept the cable to connect it into my remote correct?
I would have to drill holes in the controller and run the male cable ends out of the controller so I can connect the cable to it correct? So for the most part this is all you really need to do correct? I could proly watch some how to videos on YouTube when the time comes and I when I decide I actually want to do the mod to the controller .

As for the IMU, I know how it to calibrate it and have watched lots of videos, I will most def be making sure the surface is very very level before doing the Calibration. But I am still un-sure if I should actually go and do it or not. Or if I should just leave it be since it does fly just fine..

Also you can make the surface that the drone sits on complelty level, but since the drone just sits on those 4 soft pads, how can I be sure that the drone it's self is sitting perfectly level? Or is it not gonna matter that much?

I guess how ever the drone sits doesn't matter, as long as the surface it's on us level, cuz even say the drone sits kinda un-level to one direction becusee of the 4 soft pads.. Even after the calibration the drone will always sit the same way reguardless.. So I guess leveling the drone it's self wouldn't matter


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Wow that's nuts dude, I wonder if my old satalite dish woulda worked, it was an old one for direct tv, the cable was hooked up though my house it was just an old dish that wasn't in service anymore but I ripped it down last summer already. So all it really is is two dish cables connected to some sort of antenna, that you would run with long cables back into the house and into your remote... I will obviously have to modify my remote to accept the cable to connect it into my remote correct?
I would have to drill holes in the controller and run the male cable ends out of the controller so I can connect the cable to it correct? So for the most part this is all you really need to do correct? I could proly watch some how to videos on YouTube when the time comes and I when I decide I actually want to do the mod to the controller .

As for the IMU, I know how it to calibrate it and have watched lots of videos, I will most def be making sure the surface is very very level before doing the Calibration. But I am still un-sure if I should actually go and do it or not. Or if I should just leave it be since it does fly just fine..

Also you can make the surface that the drone sits on complelty level, but since the drone just sits on those 4 soft pads, how can I be sure that the drone it's self is sitting perfectly level? Or is it not gonna matter that much?

I guess how ever the drone sits doesn't matter, as long as the surface it's on us level, cuz even say the drone sits kinda un-level to one direction becusee of the 4 soft pads.. Even after the calibration the drone will always sit the same way reguardless.. So I guess leveling the drone it's self wouldn't matter


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Best way to level it is by the tops of the prop threads - absolutely level.
 

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