Compass cal revelation - duh!

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Never afraid to share a mistake and this is a good one . I have a P3A and am relatively new to the drone world. Was chasing compass errors and ended up returning my original and got a replacement thru Amazon. New one flew great. No compass issues at all. Then out of the blue I started having issues. Would calibrate and fly in areas that in the past were good and now was having issues. Was stumped as to why. Took a trip last weekend to Wisconsin (about 180 miles from home). Went to a wide, wide open field and did a fresh calibration and if failed. Never had that happen before. Try again several times and fail each time, then it hits me...

I was wearing gloves that yep..you guessed it, had magnets in them! Seriously, how could I have even missed this! Took off the gloves, do the dance and it calibrates just fine. Fly without any issues. Come back home in a few days and fly again. No issues.

So here's my thinking and a question. I never wore the gloves when calibrating before but I'm certain I've worn them when flying. Probably carried the AC from the car to take off location with them on. Or the gloves were close by the AC from time to time. Pretty much convinced this was my issue. Too cold and snowy here in the Midwest to be out flying so time will tell if I'm right.

But I also was wondering. My phone and iPad have magnets in them as well. What if my iPad is siting close enough to the AC to cause issues? I took a pocket compass and when I move my phone or iPad around the compass I definitely have some movement on the compass. I store my iPad in my carrying case for the phantom.

Can a iPad in close proximity to the AC cause the compass to have issues?

Just wanted to share.
 
Absolutely. A magnet will goose a calibration if it's anywhere near to the compass.

During calibration, move the Phantom about 10 feet away from your "stuff" - leave wallet, keys, watch, phone, radio etc in your flight bag. Initiate the calibration then leave the radio and device with your flight back, walk over the phantom, do the dance, walk back and fly
 
Would the compass be impacted by a close magnet even if the AC was not powered?
 
Quite likely, it's a electro-magnetic device. Once calibrated well, you need to keep it well away from magnets, including speakers in the car door
 
Quite likely, it's a electro-magnetic device. Once calibrated well, you need to keep it well away from magnets, including speakers in the car door

I tend to think you are correct.

FWIW
I have carried all (6) my Phantoms now in all my cars/suv for 2 years or so.
I have had it/them almost everywhere in each vehicle. front, back, seats, cargo, etc.
Never has the compass been affected
and my last Calibration was sometime around March.

Once set I don't do anymore!

once it is set the stuff you mentioned wont bother it
it is only when you calibrate with that stuff nearby the compass that the issue arises.

good luck and have fun flying!
 
Magnets and metal _will_ affect the compass. If you have not read the online manual, I'd recommend looking it over a few times.

I've even set the Phantom on a side walk and a compass error was returned. I moved it a few feet and it worked. I suspect that there was a lot of metal under that area. It was right next to a building and there were also large vehicle barriers built into the sidewalk. I also took off with the compass error and as soon as I was a few feet in the air it cleared up. I knew I had a good setting to start with.
 
All in all a learning experience. No harm really although I did get a good laugh with the gloves though. For the record I really do like the gloves . But they will need to stay far away from the AC. I think my main reason to post this was to maybe raise/reinforce the point of how the calibration can get screwed up. I certainly should have, but didn't fully grasp the impact of outside interference.

I did find it somewhat interesting that I calibarated and then flew again back home 180 miles apart and did not recalibrate. Purposely to see what did or didn't happen.
 

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