P3 calibration

[bobmyers]

If you are within 100 miles of home you shouldn't need to worry about recalibrating.

The usual cause of a compass error is trying to launch from a car roof, manhole cover or concrete with steel reinforcing.
In those situations, moving the Phantom to a clear launch point is all you need.
Trying to calibrate for the magnetic effect of a bad launch point won't help you fly up in the sky away from that point.

With all due respect my friend, I would have to disagree-- a compass error will and does cause erratic behavior in the Phantom and a recalibration of the compass almost assuredly resolves the issue. It has happened to me 3 separate times and in each case, the issue was resolved with a compass recalibration. So to assume that it is a "ritual" is not correct IMHO.
Pilots of full scale aircraft also go through many "rituals" or checklists before, taking off to avert problems. Pilots of Phantoms should use checklists and a part of that check list is compass integrity. When followed, this may also prevent a crash or fly away.

 

[Meta4]

If you had a compass error and performed corrective action, that's very different from ritual recalibration every flight for peace of mind.

 

[bobmyers]

If you had a compass error and performed corrective action, that's very different from ritual recalibration every flight for peace of mind.

With all due respect, I have never referred to recalibration on every flight. I don't do that and probably most of the folks on this forum doesn't recalibrate every flight.. Re- calibration when changing location is optional to everyone. By the way, I do that now) based on the advice of many on this forum and when someone asks, I recommend it because it really is a safe sensible practice--

Recalibration on compass error is not optional.

Having peace of mind about the flight condition of the aircraft would be paramount for most, especially in the eyes of a new pilot, since they may know the all the details regarding taking off and flying a quad.

Cheers! and a happy 4th of July if you are celebrating

 

[Morphious]

Really really appreciate the info guys, for someone new, with all the threads about fly always and crashes, I want to do it right from the start

With regards to calibration on the bird, I've seen the 360 turn video that dji did but I also saw one guy do a 360 then he rotated the hold bird around on its side so nose down then rotated it 360 but he did this without rotating himself is that ok to do? Just wondered why he did it like that??

Morphious I know that a lot of people aren't upgrading, my hope is, as this was straight from the factory as I had to wait stock, that this will be one of the OK ones, and for the first few flights, it's not going more than about 20 or 30 feet and out from me less than that whilst I get the hang of the orientation and the controls. If I'm hovering and it starts moving about with no input from me, then it's being grounded until the next firmware as I'm not taking any chances, the ratio of no problems far outweighs the problem ones, and although I accept that there are ones with problems, if I do all the calibrations right, make sure I'm nowhere near metal objects and buildings, and I'm flying it close to me, hopefully (he says fingers crossed) there won't be any problems

On a side note, is there anyway you can check for things like magnetic fields and things like that?

Altitude is your friend and I alway check K index, right now it is bad

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/planetary-k-index

 

[bobmyers]

Altitude is your friend and I alway check K index, right now it is bad

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/planetary-k-index

thanks for the info-- bookmarked that page

 

[Pepperami]

Thanks Morphious!!

Hopefully that covers the UK or I'm buggered lol

 

[Meta4]

The sky isn't falling.
Search K index and you'll see that many flyers feel that it's very much hyped.
No-one has yet seen any evidence of any significant effect on Phantom flying.

 

[Morphious]

The sky isn't falling.
Search K index and you'll see that many flyers feel that it's very much hyped.
No-one has yet seen any evidence of any significant effect on Phantom flying.

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/impacts/space-weather-and-gps-systems

 

[Meta4]

Yes .. google will pull up lots of sources saying that solar storms MIGHT affect GPS and journalists love to tell this scary story but it's hard to find any hard info on what effect it will really have.
I still haven't heard any reports of any effect so far.
Here's a post from a member that knows something about it to give a few more details ...
http://www.phantompilots.com/threads/solar-flares.35796/#post-331319

 

[Morphious]

The source is NOAA..... Not Google
It is true.
The choice is up to individual.

 

[SouthernPhantom]

Is there a good P3 stick-calibration tutorial or video? Haven't needed it yet, but would like to know before I do. I'm quite comfortable with the cold IMU and compass calibrations.

 

[Morphious]

Is there a good P3 stick-calibration tutorial or video? Haven't needed it yet, but would like to know before I do. I'm quite comfortable with the cold IMU and compass calibrations.

It is easy, in the APP, RC calibration, it will tell you to turn off P3, follow instructions.

 

[Meta4]

The source is NOAA..... Not Google
It is true.
The choice is up to individual.

Yes .. NOAA say During a severe space weather storm, these errors can increase to tens of meters or more and google brings up lots of sites saying the same ... solar storms might affect GPS.
But they don't say how much, just that they could possibly have some effect.
And so far no-one has noticed any effect.
Journalsts love this. The papers are full of sky is falling tales every time solar flares are active but GPS dependent systems keep working just fine.

I suspect by the time solar flare activity is strong enough to cause real GPS issues (rather than hyped hypothetical issues), we'll have a lot more to worry about than quadcopter flying

 

[SouthernPhantom]

It is easy, in the APP, RC calibration, it will tell you to turn off P3, follow instructions.

Thank you. Greatly appreciated!