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Discussion on Compass Calibration

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I like to think that I am doing Compass Calibration correctly. Here is what I do:
1. Remove Gimbal
2. Turn on ST-16. Wait for it to boot up.
3. Turn on H. Wait for it to boot up.
I use a Compass App to find North. I am in a residential neighborhood with Blacktop. No power lines nearby. Nothing seemingly nearby that might interfere with the compass
4. Wait for the opposite arms to light up and hold them by those arms and rotate away from me towards North until the next set of arms light up.
5. Turn the H CCW so that I am holding the new arms that are lighting up. Rotate H away from me towards North.
6. Repeat until confirmation and H cycles the GPS back on.
7. Turn off the H. Turn off the ST-16 (Which I am sure is not necessary, but can it hurt?)
8. Turn on the ST-16. Wait for bootup. Turn on H. Wait for bootup and at least 14 satellites.

And I am STILL getting Compass Calibration errors! Not every flight but more than I think I should. I sent Yuneec my telemetry of my Fly Away and they said that I need to calibrate the compass!
I know most of you frown on repeated calibrations if you are not traveling far from the calibration, etc., and I do not calibrate ALL the time, but I do calibrate probably more than I need to (every week or so?) A point that I would like to make, is if compass calibration can be incorrect with repeated calibrations, then why cant it be incorrect with your one and only calibration? How do you know if the calibration is correct? I used my GUI and when the H as pointed in the direction of my Compass App North, the Yaw is set at 0*, so I assume that is one way to tell.

Is there any other way to confirm Compass Calibration is correct? Does anyone else have these issues?
 
Do you mean the Compass errors that show up on the telemetry logs, or the full out warning
that brings up a dialog window on the ST-16 telling you to land immediately, and calibrate?

From what you've described, you seem to be performing the calibration correctly. And to give
credit where due, the vast majority of what I know about technical procedures like compass
calibration has come from PatR. :)
 
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Do you mean the Compass errors that show up on the telemetry logs, or the full out warning
that brings up a dialog window on the ST-16 telling you to land immediately, and calibrate?

From what you've described, you seem to be performing the calibration correctly.

Ive never gotten a Compass Warning on the ST-16 while flying. Only Telemetry logs.
 
Let's see. between step 3 and 4 you are obviously telling the ST16 to start the compass calibration.
No cellphone on you. You do the cal facing North the entire time.

Step 6 you say repeat until confirmation...what are you calling confirmation? First you get a solid green tail light, THAT temporary solid green light indicates success. Then the TH reboots by itself.

At that point you should be good to go. Occasional yellow flashes on the rear light and a few in the data stream are no cause for concern, but an actual ST16 warning or repeated yellow flashes indicate trouble.
Good luck.
 
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Let's see. between step 3 and 4 you are obviously telling the ST16 to start the compass calibration.
No cellphone on you. You do the cal facing North the entire time.

Step 6 you say repeat until confirmation...what are you calling confirmation? First you get a solid green tail light, THAT temporary solid green light indicates success. Then the TH reboots by itself.

At that point you should be good to go. Occasional yellow flashes on the rear light and a few in the data stream are no cause for concern, but an actual ST16 warning or repeated yellow flashes indicate trouble.
Good luck.

Oops. Yes...I start the calibration then. I cannot remember the specifics of the calibration right now but I do believe what you say is what happens. However, I am not positive that I remember the H totally rebooting itself, but I could be wrong.
 
If you hear that "happy" uptone the H gives on power up, it is rebooting and the calibration
was completed successfully.
 
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Skeets, seeing a compass error in the telemetry is pretty common. Unless it lasts for several seconds it's not a problem. When you do a calibration it over wrights any previous ones.

I've done the cal nearly exactly as you although I look for a grassy area away from everything to do the cal. If I feel like the cal went as it should then I leave it and never do it again unless there is good reason to do so. I try to stick to my take-off routine......go straight up to 15', do a slow 360 degree yaw and watch for drift or instability. If I see anything of concern I land and reboot.
 
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I get 1 compass error on almost every flight. It is early in the flight,I believe when the landing gear is raised for some reason.
Used to calibrate every trip to my vacation home 300 miles away but I don't bother anymore and haven't calibrated in over a month and several 300 mile trips.
Flies as true as can be and hovers motionless....I aint messin with a good thing.
And I never bothered calibrating while facing north.

That being said, I will admit to a little uneasy feeling everytime I take to the air after reading the flyaway stories that happen out of the blue whether it's been calibrated or not.
 
A brief compass error light flash at T/O seems to be normal. I have also seen it with gear retraction, but like the T/O flash it is brief. It might be caused by a temporary voltage drop from an increase in electrical load.
 
Thanks for the responses. They are pretty much what I thought and was not concerned about the occasional error at take off or landing. However, Yuneec's review of my Telemetry apparently saw no GPS loss and stated "Reviewed telemetry file and confirmed no GPS loss, unit requires a compass calibration.” Honestly, I think it was a half-*** analysis of the telemetry on their part, because obviously there was something wrong with the GPS/HDOP at the time of my fly away. I haven't decided to ask them to reopen the case yet and I might just leave well enough alone, but I wanted to make sure there wasn't anything I was missing on my part before I did decide to ask
 
There are times I'm not entirely sure they understand how their system works.

Prolly not relevant, but in days of yore flying something else we often got lost GPS alarms just before seeing the blue screen of death and losing the airplane. For the longest time we thought something with the GPS was costing us aircraft. Turned out the software was written to flag errors in a certain order. GPS-1, Comm-2, etc. We were actually experiencing Comm failures but the system timed itself out before we got to see the Comm failure message. Had the time out been set for a longer period we would have seen Comm failure just after the GPS failure message.

I don't how Yuneec established their protocols but I'm pretty sure loss of GPS by itself has not been the cause of fly away problems. My best guess has it a compass fault that interferes with GPS and the communication link. When they take off, they're going and you're not going to tell it to do anything.
 
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What could cause the compass calibration to just not calibrate in a certain area?

Last weekend, despite having calibrated the compass, I kept getting the error. No cell phone, middle of nowhere, no power lines, facing north, bot near the truck, yada yada. I was by a reservoir, on top of a bluff in an old cemetery at the end of a long dirt road. I've never received a compass warning and never had any trouble calibrating. Any thoughts?

On a side note, a friend of mine that believes in paranormal things (ghosts, etc.) said that means a ghost is near LOL! Just thought I'd share that...make sure there are no ghosts in the area while flying your drone. (that is said in total sarcasm, just in case anyone thinks I'm serious)
 
Ghost or a Phantom? :D
 
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