Fixing DJI's Compass Problem

[Pazz]

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/alerts/graphics/k-index.png

So you have read the solar weather forecast...

What are the rules for flying my Drone in bad solar weather?

RED - do not fly!

ORANGE- better not, but you can try...

GREEN- get ready for takeoff!

 

[Aerial Entertainment Studios]

I purchased my P2V+ in Hong Kong and have been flying around the world with it for 2 months. No issues whatsoever in Fiji, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand. However, I brought it with me to my home country of Canada (Quebec area) and the unit compass calibration is so out of whack that it decided to go for a dive in the ocean. It's now gone and I have lost $1500. I would need your help in understanding what happened as I've been flying this thing for months without any issues and pondering the option of buying another unit.

Here are a few more details.

- Initial takeoff was followed by a circling that got bigger and bigger (and faster) unless I intervened to stabilise the unit.
- After about 10 flights, the P2V software detects a compass calibration issue and requires a advanced calibration.
- I complete the advanced calibration (all confirmed in the software) and take the baby out for a test flight. Same issue occurs, but with less magnitude.
- I take it to the ocean front and take off with no issues. Stable for first 2-3 minutes (altitude about 100 feet) and then enters a high speed 45 degree dive straight into the water. I try to recover by sending the unit straight up but with zero response from the Phantom.

On the bright side, no one was injured (this has always been my worst fear), but at the same time, I don't believe I made a piloting error.

I am seeking for your opinion on what could have potentially happened. Was this an engine failure, compass issue, or something else?

 

[Pazz]

I purchased my P2V+ in Hong Kong and have been flying around the world with it for 2 months. No issues whatsoever in Fiji, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand. However, I brought it with me to my home country of Canada (Quebec area) and the unit compass calibration is so out of whack that it decided to go for a dive in the ocean. It's now gone and I have lost $1500. I would need your help in understanding what happened as I've been flying this thing for months without any issues and pondering the option of buying another unit.

Here are a few more details.

- Initial takeoff was followed by a circling that got bigger and bigger (and faster) unless I intervened to stabilise the unit.
- After about 10 flights, the P2V software detects a compass calibration issue and requires a advanced calibration.
- I complete the advanced calibration (all confirmed in the software) and take the baby out for a test flight. Same issue occurs, but with less magnitude.
- I take it to the ocean front and take off with no issues. Stable for first 2-3 minutes (altitude about 100 feet) and then enters a high speed 45 degree dive straight into the water. I try to recover by sending the unit straight up but with zero response from the Phantom.

On the bright side, no one was injured (this has always been my worst fear), but at the same time, I don't believe I made a piloting error.

I am seeking for your opinion on what could have potentially happened. Was this an engine failure, compass issue, or something else?

Given your proximity to north magnetic pole in Canada, most likely you suffered a GPS outage caused by solar activity. These can be minute to minute or hour to hour disturbances or things can be stable for months at a time.The last few months have had major solar storms. Usually the equator is less prone to this. Thats why all is good one minute , then all of a sudden things go haywire. Best advice is to check the Canadian weather site (solar weather) for you region each time you are ready to fly. Airlines do this & regularly divert flights to avoid hotspots which would affect GPS aided navigation systems. These forecasts are hourly & need to be monitored regularly during your flights. Its just a major problem of where you live.
This should not put you off flying. GPS is a mixed blessing, great when it works, hopeless when it does not. Just learn to fly in Attitude mode. Gps major use is for return to home & waypoint operations. Happy flying.

 

[BigBadFun]

These forecasts are hourly & need to be monitored regularly during your flights. Its just a major problem of where you live.

WTF?

 

[varmint]

.

 

[varmint]

These forecasts are hourly & need to be monitored regularly during your flights. Its just a major problem of where you live.

WTF?

Doesn't he still owe us a selfie?

 

[Pazz]

These forecasts are hourly & need to be monitored regularly during your flights. Its just a major problem of where you live.

WTF?

Doesn't he still owe us a selfie?

Ha Ha, you first.

 

[Aerial Entertainment Studios]

Thanks for the explanation. This is a bit unsettling as it means flying in GPS mode is a question of luck.

To clarify your suggestion, are you saying I should fly in attitude mode all the time (S1 switch down) which doesn't rely on GPS data, and trigger the GPS mode only when I lose sight of the unit and need to bring it back home? Is this correct?

 

[Pazz]

Yes thats the best solution if you are not confident to fly manually. Thats only if the wind conditions are favourable as it will drift

 

[ianwood]

varmint, friggin' awesome! I love it.

Pazz, K index has nothing to do with this.

Others, thanks for the continued reports. We're almost up to 200 reports.

 

[doug86]

Thanks for the explanation. This is a bit unsettling as it means flying in GPS mode is a question of luck.

To clarify your suggestion, are you saying I should fly in attitude mode all the time (S1 switch down) which doesn't rely on GPS data, and trigger the GPS mode only when I lose sight of the unit and need to bring it back home? Is this correct?

This is a silly suggestion and somewhat fails to understand how the Phantom works. You don't need to fly in ATTI mode "all the time" to prevent any issues with a loss of GPS signal. The Phantom automatically switches to ATTI mode (flying without imput from GPS) as soon as it loses a GPS fix. (See "GPS Lost" section of NAZA manual, copied below.) You can quite safely leave the bird in GPS mode all the time, and not worry about switching S1 to enter ATTI mode. You might choose to use ATTI mode for a variety of reasons, but you the Return to Home feature isn't one of those. IF the bird has no GPS signal, it won't fly home but will just enter the "Auto Land" mode if RTH is commanded regardless of whether you are in GPS or ATTI mode With no GPS signal, it has no idea where it is, so it can't fly "home" or anywhere else.

And loss of GPS signal doesn't automatically trigger a RTH; only a command from the TX or a complete loss of signal from your TX will tell the Phantom to RTH. Hope that helps.

 

[Aerial Entertainment Studios]

Hi there,

I understand that losing GPS signal triggers the attitude mode automatically. However, if the GPS signal is strong, but for some reason the compass calibration or GPS is facing some magnetic interference (as suggested by some), would flying in attitude mode prevent the Phantom from crashing like it did?

If flying in attitude mode allows to bypass all GPS guidance (which may be compromised due to magnetic issues), will this prevent the toilet bowl effect and allow to fly without any issues (assuming good control of the unit in attitude mode)? Wors case scenario would then be to trigger the GPS mode and RTH if things get out if control. Again, this would assume GPS coordinates were locked-in at take-off.

What do you think?

 

[John Shaw]

I purchased my P2V+ in Hong Kong and have been flying around the world with it for 2 months. No issues whatsoever in Fiji, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand. However, I brought it with me to my home country of Canada (Quebec area) and the unit compass calibration is so out of whack that it decided to go for a dive in the ocean. It's now gone and I have lost $1500. I would need your help in understanding what happened as I've been flying this thing for months without any issues and pondering the option of buying another unit.

Here are a few more details.

- Initial takeoff was followed by a circling that got bigger and bigger (and faster) unless I intervened to stabilise the unit.
- After about 10 flights, the P2V software detects a compass calibration issue and requires a advanced calibration.
- I complete the advanced calibration (all confirmed in the software) and take the baby out for a test flight. Same issue occurs, but with less magnitude.
- I take it to the ocean front and take off with no issues. Stable for first 2-3 minutes (altitude about 100 feet) and then enters a high speed 45 degree dive straight into the water. I try to recover by sending the unit straight up but with zero response from the Phantom.

On the bright side, no one was injured (this has always been my worst fear), but at the same time, I don't believe I made a piloting error.

I am seeking for your opinion on what could have potentially happened. Was this an engine failure, compass issue, or something else?

The circling motion you describe sounds exactly like what we see with the magnetic declination problem. The dive into the ocean does not sound like anything we've seen connected to the declination issue.
I don't think the solar activity is effecting the Phantom and I wouldn't stop using GPS mode. We are relatively close to sea level and have atmospheric shielding. I have read no reports here where there is any actual correlation reported. Most solar activity concerns are at higher altitudes than even airliners fly.
o

 

[AnselA]

I don't think the solar activity is effecting the Phantom and I wouldn't stop using GPS mode. We are relatively close to sea level and have atmospheric shielding. I have read no reports here where there is any actual correlation reported. Most solar activity concerns are at higher altitudes than even airliners fly.
o

GPS satellites are not close to the sea level, but about 19000 km height.

 

[sar104]

The circling motion you describe sounds exactly like what we see with the magnetic declination problem. The dive into the ocean does not sound like anything we've seen connected to the declination issue.
I don't think the solar activity is effecting the Phantom and I wouldn't stop using GPS mode. We are relatively close to sea level and have atmospheric shielding. I have read no reports here where there is any actual correlation reported. Most solar activity concerns are at higher altitudes than even airliners fly.
o

That's not quite correct. Solar activity can, and does, disrupt GPS, although some posters are exaggerating the magnitude of the problem.

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/nav/gps.html

 

[ianwood]

Guys, atmospheric effects on GPS are not relevant to the discussion of magnetic declination and its improper calculation on the Phantom 2.

 

[John Shaw]

I don't think the solar activity is effecting the Phantom and I wouldn't stop using GPS mode. We are relatively close to sea level and have atmospheric shielding. I have read no reports here where there is any actual correlation reported. Most solar activity concerns are at higher altitudes than even airliners fly.
o

GPS satellites are not close to the sea level, but about 19000 km height.

My comments were based on Single Event Upset which can effect any electronics.
My concern was what I think is a totally out of scope scare be propagated in this thread and I didn't want to see someone scared to use their Phantom. It's not impossible but it's not likely, and we have no events known to be caused by a solar problem. And, Ian, I agree we are off topic, I will say no more.

 

[poostik]

I keep checking in on here. Hoping for a fix.
Up to now I've just been manually correcting the hook and drift as I fly and it's been fine since the footage is just for me anyway.

However, recently one of my videos got like 25,000 hits in 3 days. Since then my inbox has a whole lot of requests to shoot for money for various purposes. A lot of these will require me not having to worry about my bird not flying straight.

I just read one of the recent posts in here about flying in the caribbean. I was down there a few months ago. I'll have to review my raw footage to see if I had drifting problems down there. That may further solidify that this compass thing is in fact the problem I have.

 

[ianwood]

John, no problem. I similarly don't want people to confuse GPS precision issues with this one.

 

[Damon]

Add one more to the list of J hook. Yakima Wa. USA