Calibrate compass before gimbal?

[TX281]

Just received my Phantom 2 NV about an hour ago. This is my second Phantom 2. The first one is no longer with us. May it R.I.P..

The first one I had was stock. No extra anything. Nothing but the Phantom 2. My new one has the gimbal. Do you calibrate before or after installing the gimbal? Or, does it matter?

 

[BigPig]

Just got mine today too, same setup. Would also like to know this. Thanks.

 

[moveease]

I calibrated my phantom2 without the gimbal a while back and it ran perfectly. I recently attached the zenmuse gimbal with the go pro, and now its waaay off. I throttle forward and it goes diagonal, I try to keep it stationary; nope, it plays by its own rules. I have re calibrated everything again and again. not sure whats going on, but i'm pretty sure its the compass/gps. so to answer your question I'm not sure, but keep me posted on your results.

 

[TX281]

Please! Anyone? I'm just about done and ready to go play. lol....

Should the Phantom be calibrated before install of the Zenmuse?

 

[ianwood]

Before and after. And many times. You should calibrate you compass:

- Before the first time you fly
- Any time you change flight location
- Any time you change the physical set up of your phantom
- If you notice your Phantom hovering poorly (going in circles)

Some people do it before every flight.

The compass is very sensitive to any ferrous metals, EMI, etc. Bad compass calibration is the root cause of many many fly aways. It takes 10 seconds to recalibrate and it could save you from a fly away.

 

[LeoS]

An uncalibrated compass won't make your Phantom bolt in the direction of Shenzhen in a hurry.

You should be able to detect its drift by doing the hover check (let it stand for 10-20 seconds and see if it drifts) and to see if it can fly in a straight line in GPS mode. The compass also has an internal mechanism to detect if the deviation is outside its tolerance; which will prompt the LED warning and also show an error message on the app (for PV users) to tell us that a calibration is absolutely needed.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't calibrate your compass frequently, just to give an idea of the kind of 'flyaway' it can cause.

 

[ianwood]

An uncalibrated compass won't make your Phantom bolt in the direction of Shenzhen in a hurry.

You should be able to detect its drift by doing the hover check (let it stand for 10-20 seconds and see if it drifts) and to see if it can fly in a straight line in GPS mode. The compass also has an internal mechanism to detect if the deviation is outside its tolerance; which will prompt the LED warning and also show an error message on the app (for PV users) to tell us that a calibration is absolutely needed.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't calibrate your compass frequently, just to give an idea of the kind of 'flyaway' it can cause.

Agreed, not a fly away in the technical sense but it seems people are often calling unexpected activity from the Phantom that results in it going to the bottom of a lake or up a tree a flyway. If you're not the most experienced flyer, a bad compass calibration could make you feel like your Phantom is acting erratically and could easily escalate into an unhappy ending.

 

[Buk]

Before and after. And many times. You should calibrate you compass:

- Before the first time you fly
- Any time you change flight location
- Any time you change the physical set up of your phantom
- If you notice your Phantom hovering poorly (going in circles)

Some people do it before every flight.

The compass is very sensitive to any ferrous metals, EMI, etc. Bad compass calibration is the root cause of many many fly aways. It takes 10 seconds to recalibrate and it could save you from a fly away.

One more for the list, if Phantom is firmly bumped, crashed or encounters unfriendly objects !! Look it over thoroughly, advanced calibration, and compass dance.

 

[TX281]

Before and after. And many times. You should calibrate you compass:

- Before the first time you fly
- Any time you change flight location
- Any time you change the physical set up of your phantom
- If you notice your Phantom hovering poorly (going in circles)

Some people do it before every flight.

The compass is very sensitive to any ferrous metals, EMI, etc. Bad compass calibration is the root cause of many many fly aways. It takes 10 seconds to recalibrate and it could save you from a fly away.

That was the exact answer I was looking for.

Thank you.

 

[ianwood]

I'm reminded of the folks who are standing at a crosswalk incessantly punching the button for the "walk" signal. Does it do any harm - nope. Does it do any good - nope.

If you were blind, would you wait at the crosswalk until you knew it was green? I'd bet you would. Pretty sure humans can't see magnetic fields, so in the case of the compass, you are blind. What I suggested is what DJI suggests, no more, no less. You want to skip steps, go ahead. Not following recommended operating procedures is the number one cause for crashes in general aviation. I'd bet for RC aviation, it's exactly the same.

 

[ianwood]

While you have parroted DJI's official (aka CYA) stance from the manual, if you would take a moment to think about it (assuming you have a modicum of critical thinking skills), you should realize that those recommendations are extremely conservative and not backed by science.

What science is that? Do you understand why the compass is as far away as possible from every other electronic component on the Phantom? I hope you understand that there are numerous sources of man made electromagnetism that are much stronger than the earth's so it's not just a matter of calibrating for magnetic declination.

I've seen enough magnetometers in action on large sailboats and Cessnas to know they're finicky and need calibration under rules not dissimilar to DJI's. I hope you don't mind if I suggest new pilots take DJI's advice over yours until they can form their own opinion. You may never have a problem with it like many others that don't re-calibrate as often as they should, but as someone put it very well in an unrelated thread, "you get away with it until you don't".

 

[Redline]

my first flight has a little drift I did another compass calibration and it fly's rock steady better than I though! Directions say to do it before each flight ....I think!

 

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[scratch009]

Maybe an old topic, but my question wasn't completely answered. Last night before I wanted to take off but the red/orange light's were on indicating she wanted another compass calibration. The first time after about 25 flights (this was a different location). So I did, however, the first time my gimbal was not attached at that time. After 2 flights I attached the gimbal, and actually didn't recalibrate. Never had an issue with it, until I had to calibrate it again last night.

The gimbal doesn't seem to like it that much holding the phantom nose down during calibration. Was wondering if anyone else knows if this is perfectly harmless for the gimbal, or I should remove it beforehand (very annoying).

cheers
phil

 

[ianwood]

Maybe an old topic, but my question wasn't completely answered. Last night before I wanted to take off but the red/orange light's were on indicating she wanted another compass calibration. The first time after about 25 flights (this was a different location). So I did, however, the first time my gimbal was not attached at that time. After 2 flights I attached the gimbal, and actually didn't recalibrate. Never had an issue with it, until I had to calibrate it again last night.

The gimbal doesn't seem to like it that much holding the phantom nose down during calibration. Was wondering if anyone else knows if this is perfectly harmless for the gimbal, or I should remove it beforehand (very annoying).

cheers
phil

I actually did answer it but it got drowned out in the noise of pointless dispute. When you add or remove something to the Phantom, you are changing the localized magnetic field around it which means the compass might not be able to get an accurate reading. You need to recalibrate every time you make a physical change to your Phantom. You might get away with not doing it but why risk it?

Side note: don't wait until the Phantom realizes the compass is so off that it can't even take off. It's like the oil pressure light in your car. By the time the light comes on, the damage is done.