Hello, I am very, very new to drones, and a friend gave me this Phantom 2 Vision that I absolutely cannot get calibrated vertically. I went out into the middle of my proeprty where there no large ferrous objects around and attempted the calibration until I got frustrated. I usually get a green flash then three red flashes after an unsuccessful calibration. I took the device apart to check the compass cable and got it back together to no avail. I upgraded the firmware to the most current version and am not sure what to do next.
It never flashes green after the second calibration, but rather one green flash and then three red flashes, and it is extremely unstable in flight and erratic. I’ve gone through the software, setting everything back to default.
I've been watching these compass calibration videos for years, and to date, I have yet to find a decent video showing a correct compass calibration procedure. That includes videos by DJI, Tom's Tech Time, and anybody else. They're all horrible - I'm almost tempted to make one myself. They all either blather on way too much and then don't show the lamps as they change because they don't have the camera positioned correctly, or whatever.
This guy here seems to do a somewhat adequate job of showing the lamps if you skip ahead to the 1:45 mark so as to skip most of his useless blathering.
If you pay very close attention to the very end of his second 360 degree spin, that is, if you pay very close attention to the very end of his vertical spin, you can see that the rear lamps flash yellow for less than a second.
After that, the system returns to normal, which means the rear lamps are going to behave normally. In other words, the rear lamps will flash in the manner they would have flashed anyway at that point in time as if you hadn't done the calibration.
This indicates the compass calibration was successful.
If the compass calibration was unsuccessful, the rear lamps would alternate red and yellow, red and yellow, red and yellow, at the very end of the second spin, which is communicating to you that the compass calibration failed.
From your description, it sounds to me like the calibration may have been successful. The green flash, followed by the three red flashes indicates that you are back to normal mode and the lamps are communicating to you via the green flash and the three red flashes that you have four or less GPS satellites - this is provided you are in Naza mode. Phantom mode is different.
However, you did not describe the quick yellow flash at the end of the calibration which would indicate success (but it's possible your system wouldn't show a quick yellow). Nor did you describe the red/yellow lamps which would indicate failure. So I'm not positive which it was.
If you're leaving something out of your description of what actually happened, then it's possible your calibration failed. Or passed.
There's also the added complication that it's possible the compass calibration lamps act differently in Phantom mode vs Naza mode, and none of these videos on youtube or even in the DJI manual discuss this. It's also possible the Phantom/Naza mode doesn't matter regarding compass calibration and the lamps. I'm not sure.
Showing us a video of you doing the calibration - with the camera pointed in a manner which would allow us to see the lamps as they change - would allow us to confirm.
I believe that I got a successfully compass calibration to no avail. The left rear rotor is not spinning at the same rate as the others. The machine will take off, lose altitude despite my efforts and crash. I am very frustrated. This has been a painful experience from the get go, aren't these things are supposed to be easy?
I would do an IMU calibration next. An IMU calibration will usually solve a problem where the Phantom won't stay at its altitude and wants to go down and up on its own.
Then I'd do a compass calibration in a perfect spot away from all metals. Leave your car keys/phone in the car/house.
Then test flight. Keep it low. Tell us what happens.
Not sure what you mean. There's nothing to set up. Turn Phantom on. The GPS module powers on, finds at least 6 satellites, locates itself and marks the home point. If it's having trouble finding 6 satellites, you can move to a more open area. The more sky you can see the better. There are also a couple other tricks.
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