How straight does you phantom fly?

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I try to fly down my street, which is perfectly straight and my Phantom always wonders left. Have made about 10 flights so far and calibrate before every flight. Thought it might be the controller but I connected it to my PC and it looks good. Just wondering what everyone else's experience is so far.
 
I recently noticed my Phantom would drift a bit to the right when attempting to fly in a straight line. I did a basic then advanced calibration on a straight level surface, then did a new compass calibration but it still drifted a bit. I tried several different techniques now for calibrating the compass and think I've finally gotten it going straight now but will need to do some more test flights to be sure.

My final calibration involved me holding the Phantom my the landing gear straight in front of me while in a open grass field. With the remote control around my neck held by the lanyard strap I activated the calibration mode. Slowly spun myself counter clock wise 360 degrees till it turned from yellow to green, moved the Phantom facing straight down holding it by the bottom of the landing gear and again, spun in place counter clock wise 360 degree till the lights begun their normal green flash. Again, I'll need to do some more flights to be sure this finally got it going straight but on initial observation it looks better than prior attempts.
 
It really does seem that the Phantom always wants to veer left for people, never right!

One trick I've heard that fixes it is that you can rotate your compass 10 degrees, so that it will adjust for magnetic declination.

- the same reason many rotate their pucks on the larger DJI Naza copters
 
My phantom was doing the same thing. It would drift left every time I would try to fly straight. Calibrated everything and still would go left and not just a little. I called B&H and they said they have never heard of this issue. I sent mine back for an exchange. Hopefully the new one will not drift as much as this one did.
 
Gizmo3000 said:
It really does seem that the Phantom always wants to veer left for people, never right!

One trick I've heard that fixes it is that you can rotate your compass 10 degrees, so that it will adjust for magnetic declination.

- the same reason many rotate their pucks on the larger DJI Naza copters

I just said mine was veering right so you can't say "never".
 
I measured mine to drift left at more than 20 degrees, has behaved that way since the first flight. Multiple calibrations of the IMU and compass have had no effect. The P2V is currently back at Dronefly for repair or replacement.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWlB91E9xC8[/youtube]
 
Gizmo3000 said:
One trick I've heard that fixes it is that you can rotate your compass 10 degrees, so that it will adjust for magnetic declination.
Careful here. In the US, magnetic declination varies from 17 degrees east in the Seattle area to 18 degrees west in northern Maine. I'm not sure if the Phantom's system does it, but aviation GPS units know the declination based on the GPS location and can sort out both True and Magnetic North.

If an adjustment were necessary, the amount would vary depending on your location.
 
BenDronePilot said:
I recently noticed my Phantom would drift a bit to the right when attempting to fly in a straight line. I did a basic then advanced calibration on a straight level surface, then did a new compass calibration but it still drifted a bit. I tried several different techniques now for calibrating the compass and think I've finally gotten it going straight now but will need to do some more test flights to be sure.

My final calibration involved me holding the Phantom my the landing gear straight in front of me while in a open grass field. With the remote control around my neck held by the lanyard strap I activated the calibration mode. Slowly spun myself counter clock wise 360 degrees till it turned from yellow to green, moved the Phantom facing straight down holding it by the bottom of the landing gear and again, spun in place counter clock wise 360 degree till the lights begun their normal green flash. Again, I'll need to do some more flights to be sure this finally got it going straight but on initial observation it looks better than prior attempts.
Have you got IOC enabled ? I ask because I have and when I calibrate I get a solid green when I have finished the initial horizontal rotation but when i I have finished the nose down vertical rotation the lights go to solid orange (I am fairly sure). This does not match up with any error code from the manual (this is non NAZAM mode). I wonder if the calibration light signals vary in NAZA/non NAZAM mode ?
 
After a succesfuly nose-down spin in both modes you then get "normal flight indications". These are obviously different between the two modes. I find that after a calibration in NAZAM mode I often lose full GPS lock in the nose-down spin and so I get the yellow + red flash sequence for a short time until the green kicks in again. From memory the Vision mode LED signal never seemed too sensitive to GPS state so stayed green (as you've got the app for satellites then I guess it doesn't need to be as "descriptive" as the LEDs need to be in other aircraft).
 
Just how careful are people being when calibrating their compasses with regards to metallic objects on their person ?
A couple of times I have done mine only to then realise I have left my watch on. I think I might be a bit over careful - I obviously take keys, loose change etc out of pockets but I have now also started to take my belt off thinking that the metal buckle might affect it. Do people think this is overkill ?
 
pault said:
Just how careful are people being when calibrating their compasses with regards to metallic objects on their person ?
A couple of times I have done mine only to then realise I have left my watch on. I think I might be a bit over careful - I obviously take keys, loose change etc out of pockets but I have now also started to take my belt off thinking that the metal buckle might affect it. Do people think this is overkill ?

I stand naked in the middle of an open field, holding the P2V above my head and tip toeing in circles. :lol:

Sorry could not help myself. In reality I take no precautions and probably should. I usually have the controller and repeater and cell phone all on, hanging from my neck while I spin the P2V (with my Galaxy Gear bluetooth watch literally inches from the compass). Now that I think of it, I really do need to change my procedure.
 
I suppose one way you could check how magnetic you are is to use of the apps that purport to be metal detectors but actually use your phones internal compass. My Moto G is remarkably sensitive and certainly is affected by my watch which would be only inches away from the PV2 compass when calibrating.
 
pault said:
BenDronePilot said:
I recently noticed my Phantom would drift a bit to the right when attempting to fly in a straight line. I did a basic then advanced calibration on a straight level surface, then did a new compass calibration but it still drifted a bit. I tried several different techniques now for calibrating the compass and think I've finally gotten it going straight now but will need to do some more test flights to be sure.

My final calibration involved me holding the Phantom my the landing gear straight in front of me while in a open grass field. With the remote control around my neck held by the lanyard strap I activated the calibration mode. Slowly spun myself counter clock wise 360 degrees till it turned from yellow to green, moved the Phantom facing straight down holding it by the bottom of the landing gear and again, spun in place counter clock wise 360 degree till the lights begun their normal green flash. Again, I'll need to do some more flights to be sure this finally got it going straight but on initial observation it looks better than prior attempts.
Have you got IOC enabled ? I ask because I have and when I calibrate I get a solid green when I have finished the initial horizontal rotation but when i I have finished the nose down vertical rotation the lights go to solid orange (I am fairly sure). This does not match up with any error code from the manual (this is non NAZAM mode). I wonder if the calibration light signals vary in NAZA/non NAZAM mode ?

Yes my P2V is in Naza mode with IOC enabled. When I complete the nose down calibration it immediately returns to the slow flashing green light showing that it's in Ready to fly GPS state.
 
That is strange, I am fairly sure I do not get a green after the second calibration. It does get the slow flashing green but it takes quite a few seconds - I will check again tomorrow. The PV2 flies perfectly even after my own doubtful calibration.
 
In GPS mode I also noticed some drift to the left. Having read all cases here and there, I'm wondering if it is something else.

What I mean is try flying in attitude or manual mode, and see if it is really a gps problem. Don't hv time to try myself yet. Anyone had tried?
 
When I take my Vision inside I stow it on a shelf. Sometimes I'll power it up and use the Vision app to pull a couple images off its microSD card. I also keep its USB cable coiled & banded by its legs. If that USB connector is within two inches of the leg with the compass sensor I'll get a "Compass Needs Calibration" warning message. The instant I move the cable away the warning disappears. If I take it outside it HOME locks green & it flys just fine.

But that'll give you some idea how sensitive the compass sensor is.

iDrone
 
Seems I also have this issue on my new P2V (left wander and TBE) seems fine at times and sits dead still in hover, but also sometimes when coming in from far away and take hands off tx, the P2V "slides" like a car hard braking sliding sidways in a movie ??? .... have combed the forums all night (as on nightshift :) ) so as soon as wind lowers (unsure when, given live in one of the windiest places on earth) will retry all the moves, jiggles, dances and waving of magnets to see if I can overcome .... :twisted:
 

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