An example of bad compass calibration

[tkurtz]

Great video and potential signs/symptoms to watch for. Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[ianwood]

The magnetic effect of a steel object depend upon the size of the object and how close it is.
He calibrated right on top of the pier which had a substantial amount of steel visible.
This would have had much more effect than the ship at that distance (inverse square law applies).

This!

 

[snerd]

............. This is another example of the problems you risk if you think you feel you should calibrate every flight.

Exactly. I'm in the camp of only calibrating the compass if it tells me to. "Maybe" after a major firmware update, but not always. Of course, that is after I get a "good" calibration in a known spot with no interference. I've gone months without calibrating the compass.................. why would you have to if you already have a good calibration?! Months and 100's of flights without re-calibrating it. No problems at all. The other camp says calibrate before each and every flight. My opinion is that you are taking chances to introduce a bad calibration each time you do this. So........... that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Not arguing, I can respect the other camp. To each their own. Just introducing another opinion from 6 months of flying experience.

 

[FlyingDoDo]

Hello people, I am new to this forum and to Phantom, arriving tomorrow. [emoji4] Excited!!!!

I just returned my Yuneec Q500 4K (was a mistake!) and now joining the crowd! [emoji854][emoji16]

What I wanted to add here is that, as I have been learning how to fly with X-Plane flight Sim, there is one thing real flying is involved is that 30-40 minutes prep before plane even moves off the tarmac. Flight plan and pre checks. I tried to flew Yuneec Q500 as in the same way and had one accident within 3 weeks (my fault of flying too low). Otherwise it all flew well. Highly recommend to you all to have a preflight check each time and have a plan in your mind. Rushing is dangerous. [emoji54]

Best wishes!


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[snerd]

Hello people, I am new to this forum and to Phantom, arriving tomorrow. [emoji4] Excited!!!!

I just returned my Yuneec Q500 4K (was a mistake!) and now joining the crowd! [emoji854][emoji16]

What I wanted to add here is that, as I have been learning how to fly with X-Plane flight Sim, there is one thing real flying is involved is that 30-40 minutes prep before plane even moves off the tarmac. Flight plan and pre checks. I tried to flew Yuneec Q500 as in the same way and had one accident within 3 weeks (my fault of flying too low). Otherwise it all flew well. Highly recommend to you all to have a preflight check each time and have a plan in your mind. Rushing is dangerous. [emoji54]

Best wishes!


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Howdy and welcome! There are a few pre-flight checks for download floating around the forums somewhere.

 

[Flying Dutchman]

Hello @FlyingDoDo welcome to the forum. Why was the yuneec a mistake? I thought it was a reasonable machine. Not as good as our Phantoms offcourse, lightbridge is and will stay king.

 

[RasterEyes]

This has nothing at all to do with the ship or its antennas and everything to do with unnecessarily calibrating his compass on a pier lined with steel sheet metal...

I said what I did about the antennas because the problem happens when crossing the ships path and also I believe I read in the full phantom manual to be careful crossing the ends of ships because their antennae have been known to cause problems. No doubt calibrating directly on top of sheet metal and probably rebar would also make for s bad day.

You mentioned an inverse square law can. You reference that so I may read more about it. There is s similar law for the falloff of light I'm wondering if radio waves behave the same...




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[ELHEAPO]

This has nothing at all to do with the ship or its antennas and everything to do with unnecessarily calibrating his compass on a pier lined with steel sheet piling.

The magnetic effect of a steel object depend upon the size of the object and how close it is.
He calibrated right on top of the pier which had a substantial amount of steel visible.
This would have had much more effect than the ship at that distance (inverse square law applies).

This is another example of the problems you risk if you think you feel you should calibrate every flight.

meta you do a lot of flying out to sea etc and probably around marinas are you under the same understanding as me that once you get a good compass calibration you dont need to keep doing the funky chicken dance unless if you travel a good distance away from the original calibration i.e i think its 100 miles. I do a lot of flying around marinas etc the last thing i want to do is a compass calibration around alot of metal objects when i already did a good one originally in a wide open field less than 5 miles away!!

 

[Meta4]

I said what I did about the antennas because the problem happens when crossing the ships path

In the video the problem occurs when the ship is long gone.
The problem becomes evident when the Phantom gets away from the distorted magnetic field in which it was calibrated.
It is unable to work out the earths normal magnetic field because it has been corrected for a very different field on the pier.

I read in the full phantom manual to be careful crossing the ends of ships because their antennae have been known to cause problems. No doubt calibrating directly on top of sheet metal and probably rebar would also make for a bad day.

The DJI manual makes no mention of magnetic or radio interference from ships or their antennas.
At the distance it was, the ship probably had something like 1/100th of the magnetic effect of the steel sheet piling visible in the pier.
I know a thing or two about flying around ships and at the distance that ship was, there would be no noticeable effect: Shipping - Above & Beyond Photography

You mentioned an inverse square law can. You reference that so I may read more about it. There is s similar law for the falloff of light I'm wondering if radio waves behave the same...

Light and radio area all electromagnetic radiation and behave similarly.
The intensity of both light and electromagnetic radiation is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source.
This is why the effect of the close steel in the pier is much, much stronger than the effect of the more distant ship.

 

[Meta4]

meta you do a lot of flying out to sea etc and probably around marinas are you under the same understanding as me that once you get a good compass calibration you dont need to keep doing the funky chicken dance unless if you travel a good distance away from the original calibration i.e i think its 100 miles. I do a lot of flying around marinas etc the last thing i want to do is a compass calibration around alot of metal objects when i already did a good one originally in a wide open field less than 5 miles away!!

Definitely. I sometimes go months without recalibrating and have sometimes travelled considerably more than 100 miles without ill effect.
Getting a bad compass calibration is a lot more risky than not calibrating and calibrating the compass on top of steel is a recipe for possibly losing your Phantom.

 

[DiluxEdition]

Most times when you would get a compass error you would be flying straight or hovering or just going slow. If you get a compass error while full stick banking at 30mph your P3 can flip over to inverted and crash.

 

[BudWalker]

In the video the problem occurs when the ship is long gone.
The problem becomes evident when the Phantom gets away from the distorted magnetic field in which it was calibrated.
It is unable to work out the earths normal magnetic field because it has been corrected for a very different field on the pier.

The DJI manual makes no mention of magnetic or radio interference from ships or their antennas.
At the distance it was, the ship probably had something like 1/100th of the magnetic effect of the steel sheet piling visible in the pier.
I know a thing or two about flying around ships and at the distance that ship was, there would be no noticeable effect: Shipping - Above & Beyond Photography

Light and radio area all electromagnetic radiation and behave similarly.
The intensity of both light and electromagnetic radiation is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source.
This is why the effect of the close steel in the pier is much, much stronger than the effect of the more distant ship.

I'll agree that the effects of the ship fall off with distance. But, it's incorrect to say that the inverse square law applies which used to describe the attenuation of radiated fields. The ship distorts the geomagnetic field, it doesn't radiate an magnetic field. Comparing the two doesn't make sense, but, I'll speculate that the effects of the geomagnetic distortion are very small compared to any electromagnetic radiation.

 

[RasterEyes]

So guys, I. Live near Stone Mtn GA. There is a known geomagnetic distortion created by the massive rock and its veins that run nearby. Even the sectionals have a warning about compass readings at some altitudes being off by as much as 10°.

With that in mind should I be recalibrating every time I leave the area of the geomagnetic distortion, and when I come back again?

Thanks


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[DiluxEdition]

yes, of course you should recalibrate.

 

[peter west nz]

No. The ship will have a magnetic field. But only if you calibrate or take off too close to it or fly right next to it, will you have issues. The antennas on the ship will do little.

Agreed.

 

[RasterEyes]

I didn't want to be recalibrating all the time - but I've now taken to calibrating for my home area and anyplace barely away from stone mountain - smooth sailing here and away.

 

[eaglegoaltender]

This!

I realize this is not anything to do with this posted thread - however I will risk posting this anyway.

Ian, all I can say is WOW what an incredible video of LA - unbelievable work, makes me wanna head to LA. The choice of "blues" music fit perfectly and your editing of same to fit the video scene changes is crazy good man! I watched the one you did last year also and it's a "ditto" as to my remarks from your latest one. Perfect planning from sunrise and the beginning to sunset at the end!

I watched your latest LA creation twice and was awed and inspired (be a long, long while however before I ever got that skilled or brave with flying in areas like that - if ever). Kudos to you also for the info at the end of your description outlining the "do's and don'ts" - you are most obviously as responsible & respectful with flying, as you are with skill of flying, filming and editing. Look forward to seeing more of your work.

Bob

 

[Danielmexortega]

The other day I had an issue with all the roads and info on the map not showing up only the arrow. Any idea what that was all about ?? I remember seeing this video and I got kind of nervous thinking that something similar was about to happen to me.


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[Frankc]

I had something similar happen to me only yesterday. I had calibrated my compass only the day before and was flying only a few hundred yards away from that spot.

Did the pre-flights. Pointed the Heli in the direction I wanted to fly in. Then I noticed that the Red Triangle with the green bit on the map showed I was going to fly in the opposite direction. Temporary glitch I thought. Safe To Fly so I took off. Sure enough after maneuvering for a while the green appeared to rectify itself. Long story short the RC had all sorts of messages come up. This is not exactly what they said but merely the gist of it. Battery low. Battery signal error. RC signal low. RC signal lost. RTH not available please fly it back yourself. Plus one or two others that I cannot recall at the moment. Whilst all this was happening the drone was flying away from me. I could not see the heli and apparently could not control it and the RTH not working. Luckily I was wearing brown trousers.

Through luck. Probably the software in the drone I dont exactly know why but the Heli ended up flying home............... No lights flashing just four solid red lights.

I was convinced my little Heli was now K(***&&d. All the batteries in all the components had been fully charged before flying. Calibrated only the day before locally.

With a sad heart I packed the heli away. When it came to removing the large battery from the drone I noticed it had not been pushed in all the way. That tiny clip that latches it, and you have to push down to remove the battery, was not fully in. So I could simply pull it out without pushing in the two clips. Checked my battery power. 3 lights with one flashing. Could this be the problem?

I put the battery back in, this time pushing it well in till it locked. Flew for another 10 mins, though not too far away from me I must admit. Lights flashed ok. No messages. Nice flight.

Lesson learned.

 

[Meta4]

The other day I had an issue with all the roads and info on the map not showing up only the arrow. Any idea what that was all about ?? I remember seeing this video and I got kind of nervous thinking that something similar was about to happen to me.

100% unrelated. You didn't have any local maps cached - that's got nothing to do with the compass.
And you can easily fly 100% safely without maps.