Compass Cal Fail - Atti Mode

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Couple of questions for folks....

Twice this weekend I was out trying to fly in a new location. And of course I tried to perform a compass cal each time.
1) First time was in a parking lot with LOTS of cars (I had no choice). I tried to get away from metal as much as possible but was only able to get maybe 25 ft from any car. Calibration failed repeatedly saying 'too much electromagnetic interference'. I could have flown in ATTi (Yes I have practiced) but I elected not to...
2) Second time was today. Open field that has been prepped for construction (none yet). However the road (4 lane with a grass divider) has been put in with metal fences on each side (going to be a gated community). I could never get it to successfully cal while anywhere on the road (in between the fences). Eventually I climbed a fence and went 30-40 into the field and was able to compass cal and fly. However when I landed, I changed battery and tried starting it up on the road again (between the fences) and I did not give any compass warnings. Being only 30-40 away from my good flight I did not try another compass cal. Took off (full GPS mode), hovered at about 20 ft, and 15 secs later got the 'compass error' message and was downmoded to ATTI. So I landed and came home!

Soo...questions..
A) Is it so sensitive to metal that I have to cal and fly it 30+ feet away from any??
B) Do you more experienced folks just shug it off and fly in ATTI mode? (not my preference...)
C) If I would have raised altitude in case #2 would I have gotten out of the 'interference' and auto reverted back to GPS?

All replies appreciated

Stilgar
 
Last edited:
My dji retailer recommend to me to calibrate compass before each flight. This fix it all.
 
Couple of questions for folks....

Twice this weekend I was out trying to fly in a new location. And of course I tried to perform a compass cal each time.
1) First time was in a parking lot with LOTS of cars (I had no choice). I tried to get away from metal as much as possible but was only able to get maybe 25 ft from any car. Calibration failed repeatedly saying 'too much electromagnetic interference'. I could have flown in ATTi (Yes I have practiced) but I elected not to...
2) Second time was today. Open field that has been prepped for construction (none yet). However the road (4 lane with a grass divider) has been put in with metal fences on each side (going to be a gated community). I could never get it to successfully cal while anywhere on the road (in between the fences). Eventually I climbed a fence and went 30-40 into the field and was able to compass cal and fly. However when I landed, I changed battery and tried starting it up on the road again (between the fences) and I did not give any compass warnings. Being only 30-40 away from my good flight I did not try another compass cal. Took off (full GPS mode), hovered at about 20 ft, and 15 secs later got the 'compass error' message and was downmoded to ATTI. So I landed and came home!

Soo...questions..
A) Is it so sensitive to metal that I have to cal and fly it 30+ feet away from any??
B) Do you more experienced folks just shug it off and fly in ATTI mode? (not my preference...)
C) If I would have raised altitude in case #2 would I have gotten out of the 'interference' and auto reverted back to GPS?

All replies appreciated

Stilgar
A - It is very sensitive that's for sure, much more so than the P2. There is an app for testing local interference, called SensorKinetics that will measure localized magnetic field.
B&C - I have tested this with mixed results, most often if I had one good calibration in the same area I just gain altitude and the bird will switch back to GPS mode after a bit. If I can't get at least one god calibration I move location, with the range of the P3 a 100 mtr move is not a problem.
 

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