I put together an article which will help those who value their Phantoms! Unfortunately, many will not read it and then post here about losing or crashing their Phantoms!

http://www.droneflyers.com/2014/ ... m-fly-away-crashes/

Hi, I consider myself an experienced flyer on a continuous learning curve and your article is engaging and in one area very enlightening for me.  This is the issue of recalibrating the compass:  I fly at various parks as well as commercial sites within a 30KM radius of home (business and pleasure) and have always recalibrated the compass before flying.

However I note you comments on it throwing up an error if done too frequently.What causes an error and have you seen this happen?  I have read elsewhere too, that regular calibration in the field is unnecessary, but there the information stops.  Can you expand on this please?  - and yes, if all the new flyers read the manual and your production , I suspect this would be a smaller forum.   Anyway, nice work, well done.
Cheers
Rod

It's really a matter of introducing an error to something that works. When a proper calibration is done, it should work fine for a long time. I regularly travel 100 miles southeast and still don't recalibrate my compass.

I think many of us create problems when we fiddle with things too much - I know I do that on the computer and elsewhere. Some people constantly recalibrate because they think it keeps their Phantom safer. Although I have no proof, my claim is that it makes it more likely to introduce an error when there was none before.

It's the old saying "don't fix it if it ain't broke".

In a more practical sense, a newbie (or anyone) may calibrate it perfectly the first time and then - when they go to a local field - do it again, not aware that very high tension electric lines (or other magnetic field) may be right behind the trees.

droneflyers.com Posted at 2015-1-1 11:39
It's really a matter of introducing an error to something that works. When a proper calibration is d ...

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I understood if you don't recalibrate your compass after moving to a new take-off point, you are in danger of losing your bird ---(if it should RTH, or something.) I thought recalibrating the compass set the Home point...?  

You are confusing GPS with the Compass. The Compass is just a way for the bird to know which way is north/south/east/west in a general sense. GPS gets coordinates from space which triangulate your position to within a few meters. It's a "home point' in GPS which you want to set before you take off.

To be clear, no need to do that NAZA DANCE regularly, but you do want to make sure the green lights flash correctly (GPS lock)

droneflyers.com Posted at 2015-1-1 13:05
You are confusing GPS with the Compass. The Compass is just a way for the bird to know which way is  ...

Thank you.  

Very good writing. Maybe your article should be the "quick start guide"

There's a small typo there: " the quadcopter is 100$ reliant on a good GPS signal". I assume you mean 100%.

As far as home lock goes, I personally like course lock over home lock because it's not GPS dependent. But, if there's good GPS reception then home lock is easier to understand, especially if the users don't pay attention at quad orientation at take off.

Thank you so much for a great informative article!  I just received my new Phantom 2 V3 in the mail yesterday and while I'm not new to quadcopter flying, this is my first "real", (over $40) quadcopter.  I'm anxious to get up and flying but I'm not going to increase my chances of losing it because of my eagerness and failure to educate myself.  Again, thank you!

In the Droneflyers "manual" there are erros, ex. "As delivered to you, the Phantom is in “Phantom mode” – which only allows for GPS flight. The two switches on your transmitter (S1 and S2, called X1 and X2 in some places) do not serve any function" that not correct !!

BWJ Posted at 2015-1-21 00:25
In the Droneflyers "manual" there are erros, ex. "As delivered to you, the Phantom is in “Phantom m ...

You are correct - I will change that!

Hi,

I think this is a really good write up and much appreciated. I have one question. I may be mistaken, but I believe ATTI mode means you hold your attitude, not altitude. I don't believe it is possible to hold altitude (hands off) without GPS, whereas, attitude can, since it is just measuring the relative orientation of the phantom at any given time. Is this right, or do I have this mixed up?

Thanks.

droneflyers.com Posted at 2015-1-21 00:41
You are correct - I will change that!

And also IMU Check and IMU Calibration should be displayed as important and how too .
And the S2 switch in Phantom mode will after 5 ups/downs set new homepoint.
But you do a good job...

droneflyers.com Posted at 2015-1-1 11:39
It's really a matter of introducing an error to something that works. When a proper calibration is d ...

I dont agree with you here, i always calibrate before i fly, the IMU as well. A calibration error would bei indicated during compass calibration. The Phantom will fly in atti mode when gps signal is lost

powi Posted at 2015-1-21 02:37
Hi,

I think this is a really good write up and much appreciated. I have one question. I may be mis ...

It will hold the altitude but not the position.

yes, it holds attitude and altitude just not position (it is getting the altitude from the barometer not from the gps).