Difficult compass calibration and more

Joined
Apr 9, 2015
Messages
134
Reaction score
33
Age
40
I'm having a hard time with compass calibration. Never had issues with Naza or the inspire, but with the p3p I have to try like 5 times before its successful... indoors its almost impossible and it won't let me fly indoors 90% of the time... I also had 1 compass error mid flight, luckily it was just after takeoff so I just came back and redid compass calibration.
2nd problem is getting the gimbal straight and level. Its almost level after a calibration, but it does change level throughout the flight. Also after some movement its not pointing straight, it went as bad to the point where I saw the landing gear in a GPS hover.
3rd problem is that out of 5 flights I lost video and rc twice. The first time it was directly overhead at nearly 500m and coming in for a landing after I initiated rth, I got control and video back at like 120m. The second time I did not get control or video back and had to hand catch to prevent it from landing in sand, video and rc came back after I turned the p3 off then back on, and after reviewing video, it made a C'ish rth approach instead of coming straight to me and it flew over a 30m tall building, luckily my rth altitude is 50m...
Firmware 1.1.6, still didn't get a chance to go to 1.1.8, iPad air 2
 
Re: Compass calibration.
You doing this in an open field with minimal magnetic interference?
When I do mine, I raise the P3 above my head and spin 360, then point the nose down and another 360. Raising it above your head makes it quick and accurate and minimises geomagnetic influences in the ground.

Re: Tilt
Check the IMU. Click > Mode GPS/ATTI > Click the Quad icon > Sensors.
Maybe do an advanced IMU. But make sure you find a levelled surface, levelled with the horizon. Use a spirit/bubble level and make sure its levelled in all axis. If one of the axis is not levelled, you find that the phantom will NOT yaw on a dime.

Re: Losing video
If you are flying above your head, then flatten out the antenna. Point the tip of the antenna to the horizon (opposite of what's recommended). Makes sense?
 
I will try compass calibration over my head next time.

I did recalibrate imu, will try again.

Antennas were about 45 degrees to the p3 when i lost signal the first time, flattening them out did nothing, it was like the p3 intentionally stopped transmitting/ receiving, as if its WiFi was shut off... The second time after I caught it, I had the p3 in one hand and the radio in my other and nothing...
 
I had the same issues with the compass. I could get the compass to calibrate just after warm up, but after take off, I would get out about 150' away at 60' altitude, and my status bar would go from green GPS to red compass error P-ATTI.I would return and attempt to recalibrate the compass, and never get it to calibrate, till I shut down the quad, and restarted it. I communicated for two days with DJI sending screen shots, etc. And they told me to send it in for repair. The turn around time would be 5 to 6 weeks. I called my distributor, and being the great people that they are, he had me send it back to him for a replacement, and he would deal with DJI.
I guess that if DJI has a 5 to 6 week turn around, they must really have quality issues.
 
Does your new one do compass calibration successfully easily now? Anyone else notice their camera not pointing straight even in a hover, or ever see the left landing gear?
 
Updated to 1.1.8, did imu calibration and then gimbal calibration after keeping it in the fridge for about 10 min, indoors I could not get it to do compass calibration, but I think there is 1 spot in my apt it might work. Took it to the park for 1 flight, I got compass calibrated after 2 tries...
Had my iPad mini 2 in airplane mode, cell phone inside my car, I kept losing link at around 500m directly above me with antennas parallel to the ground. But I did manage to get it to 980m high while struggling to maintain signal. I accidentally discovered how to get it to go above 500m the other day, thankfully they didn't fix it in 1.1.8
 
Updated to 1.1.8, did imu calibration and then gimbal calibration after keeping it in the fridge for about 10 min, indoors I could not get it to do compass calibration, but I think there is 1 spot in my apt it might work. Took it to the park for 1 flight, I got compass calibrated after 2 tries...
Had my iPad mini 2 in airplane mode, cell phone inside my car, I kept losing link at around 500m directly above me with antennas parallel to the ground. But I did manage to get it to 980m high while struggling to maintain signal. I accidentally discovered how to get it to go above 500m the other day, thankfully they didn't fix it in 1.1.8

Dude.... did I read it right??
Do not do compass calibrations indoors. There is a high chance that it will confuse the compass. This is why you cannot get a successful calibration. Find an open grassy field free of any magnetic influences.
 
I was only doing it so I could fly indoors, kept switching mode from opti to atti and going crazy.
 
I was only doing it so I could fly indoors, kept switching mode from opti to atti and going crazy.

Go outside in an open field and redo the compass. Then go back in the apartment.
P-OPTI is vision positioning and no GPS. The modes switching back and forth is normal as it acquires/drops sats.
 
Last edited:
I get Gps lock indoors in p Mode and my p3 still wanders a bit, Im guessing its the vision positioning having troubles with my carpet and throw rug. Not worth the risk banging into a wall until i get better with the sticks :p
 
Mine just started this issue today. It's first 5 flights were fine. Now it says to calibrate compass after each takeoff at a 5 foot hover and starts hovering in circles. It's like the optical sensors aren't doing anything to track the ground. I have flown it from the same spot every time. It also won't calibrate because it says "a high level of interference was detected during the calibration." Anyone had any luck fixing this issue?
 
I had this issue as well ( compass calibration ) tried about 10 times. Failing each time. So I switched from my galaxy note 4 to my iPad air. Calibrated right away. Not sure if it was a coinsidence but the switch worked.
 
Mine just started this issue today. It's first 5 flights were fine. Now it says to calibrate compass after each takeoff at a 5 foot hover and starts hovering in circles. It's like the optical sensors aren't doing anything to track the ground. I have flown it from the same spot every time. It also won't calibrate because it says "a high level of interference was detected during the calibration." Anyone had any luck fixing this issue?
For the record I use the note 4. I'm always able to calibrate my compass.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
143,054
Messages
1,467,297
Members
104,919
Latest member
BobDan