Hi all first post for me as until now my Phantom 3 Pro has flown perfectly every time. Got it out yesterday and went to calibrate the compass as I do before every flight and it says excessive electromagnetic interference use manual mode. Tried to calibrate again and same thing. This was in the middle of a field with no metal at all anywhere have now tried many places with the same fault. I have recalibrated the IMU no help On the firmware line of the home menu in the app it says compass error if this continues contact DJI support.

After I try to calibrate the compass it says its failed as there was excessive interference which there is not.

I am at my wits end as it wont even start in manual mode and the camera is twitching when I try to calibrate the compass it is stressing me out Im not going to lie. does any of you fine people out there have any ideas? Im planning on replacing the compass but was wondering if this will fix the issue or will the next compass do the same if it IS actually just the compass?

Thanks in advance

First of all ................... Why did you keep calibrating compass ? That is the first error.

Is there anything that you have added to the AC ? Anything in your pockets / on person that could be interfering ?

As to open fields, yes we generally expect them to be clear of magnetic anomalies, but not always true. You can have power cables ... piping ... all sorts of stuff underground. Even old buildings / mineral deposits that can cause problems.

But one thing that may be of help ... You MUST power off the AC completely when you move to ensure the AC is 'clean' to initialise. I have seen many times on my own and others, Compass Error ... move and still Compass Error. But power down and then move ... Compass Error is gone and all well.

One thing that does happen at times ... Compass Stuck ... that ones a strange one being a digital item. But often a tap on the leg and repower up and it works !!  Don't ask me why !!

Nigel

Nigel's right .. there is no need to calibrate the compass ever in normal circumstances.
Definitely no need to calibrate it before flying.

What Nigel doesn't know is that you've probably got a broken compass wire in the landing gear or a loose connection to the mainboard.
To check whether this is the case, go to the sensors page in the app settings and check what it shows for the compass.
If you see numbers in the three boxes, your compass is OK.
But if you see no numbers, it's a broken wire or loose connection and will never calibrate until that's fixed.

Hello there. We apologize if you're having some issues with right now. Is the firmware updated? Can you send a screenshot showing the error?

DJI Wanda Posted at 2018-6-27 05:22
Hello there. We apologize if you're having some issues with right now. Did you try to reinstall the app? Is the firmware updated? Can you send a screenshot showing the error?

Really?
Reinstalling the app and updating firmware will have no effect on the issue he is asking about.
You may as well tell him to polish his shoes.

Labroides Posted at 2018-6-27 05:35
Really?
Reinstalling the app and updating firmware will have no effect on the issue he is asking about.
You may as well tell him to polish his shoes.

Hello. I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Asking in regards with the app is incorrect. I edited my post. Thank you for correcting that. However, about the firmware, we still need to check first if the firmware is updated so that we can isolate the issue or confirm if it's still the software that has an issue or it's already the hardware.

DJI Wanda Posted at 2018-6-27 05:57
Hello. I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Asking in regards with the app is incorrect. I edited my post. Thank you for correcting that. However, about the firmware, we still need to check first if the firmware is updated so that we can isolate the issue or confirm if it's still the software that has an issue or it's already the hardware.

It's not software.
A persistent compass error and continued failure to calibrate is due to a disconnected compass.
If he checks as I told him, he'll find out.

Wanda,

Many thanks i have checked and the firmware is up to date but i have seen countless reports that newer firmware is causing MORE issues than fixing them on the Phantom 3

Labroides Posted at 2018-6-27 04:56
Nigel's right .. there is no need to calibrate the compass ever in normal circumstances.
Definitely no need to calibrate it before flying.

I will get on checking that now, I didnt think to see if the compass was actually receiving and logging data in the app, silly me!

Bob Wood Posted at 2018-6-27 05:59
Wanda,

Many thanks i have checked and the firmware is up to date but i have seen countless reports that newer firmware is causing MORE issues than fixing them on the Phantom 3

I see. If that's the case, we highly recommend to send it to our repair center to have it check by our engineers to check the compass of your aircraft. You can start a case online: repair.dji.com

Nope zero readings from the compass all at 0.0

DJI Wanda Posted at 2018-6-27 06:11
I see. If that's the case, we highly recommend to send it to our repair center to have it check by our engineers to check the compass of your aircraft. You can start a case online: repair.dji.com

Wanda no offence but its an older aircraft and the compass is not a difficult item to replace.  DJI are very expensive when it comes to repairs. I have ordered a new compass and will change it over to see if all my problems are solved

Bob Wood Posted at 2018-6-27 06:23
Wanda no offence but its an older aircraft and the compass is not a difficult item to replace.  DJI are very expensive when it comes to repairs. I have ordered a new compass and will change it over to see if all my problems are solved

No problem. Please let us know if the issue still persists once you replace the compass.

Labroides Posted at 2018-6-27 04:56
Nigel's right .. there is no need to calibrate the compass ever in normal circumstances.
Definitely no need to calibrate it before flying.

Fair do's ....

I didn't think of the broken wire .... good call.

Nigel

Bob Wood Posted at 2018-6-27 06:23
Wanda no offence but its an older aircraft and the compass is not a difficult item to replace.  DJI are very expensive when it comes to repairs. I have ordered a new compass and will change it over to see if all my problems are solved

Fingers crossed that its not main board ...

Here's hoping.

Nigel

So here is an update. Ordered a new compass and carefully removed the top cover. what did I find? the bloody compass connector not plugged in!  this cant be this easy i though cursing myself for not checking first as I thought there was no way for it to become unplugged, yes it all works fine now!

Thank you for all your comments and suggestions I've actually gone out and bought myself a Mavic Pro now as i didn't know how long it would be until I sorted the P3P