Hi eveyone,

So far I am very happy with my Phantom 3 standard. 1.8.6 update hasnt cause troubles for me. However.. since I had it.. sometimes when I take off my Phantom hovers stedy as a rock... even when there is wind.. the altittude compensates fast to the changes in wind.. I can not even notice the props going faster or slower when there is a smal gust of wind..  it stays rock solid.  But,,, it happened four times to me already,, that sometimes the drone does not stay rock solid.. and I can hear the drone reving the props  to adjust for the altitud... as if it was having a hard time maintaining altitud .. It does maintain altitud.. but it feels unsecure... as if it was saying.. ok  now i will trottle up... ok now i will trottle down.. upsss!  nop  lets throttle down again... you get the picture?  so the props are reving up and down and you can hear it.. like it is having a hard time taking decisions as to how to compensate for the changes in the wind.. Even if there is no wind at all.. sometimes it will do the same thing.

Ok,, so... I calibrated the IMU on a flat surface some time ago and the drone flew fine and I havent claibrated the IMU since then.    The last time I calibrated the compass was yesterday and the drone flew rock solid ,so today i didnt calibrate the compass..  compass sensors read in the range of 1500 and 1570. So today I took off and thats when i noticed the drone had the problem of remainding steady.. so I landed...  turn it off.. and turin it on back on.  took off, and it was rock solid after that.

What can be causing this?  do I need to recalibrate the IMU>??       This has happened 4 times since I had it and I cant pinpoint what is causing it. Can you guys share some insight on this tell me if this has hapened to you and when it has happened to you ?   

Flight logs in helathy drones dont show anything abnormal..

anyone on this?

It sounds to me like you are calibrating your compass far too often, and you might have got a bad calibration.

Geebax Posted at 2016-7-14 00:15
It sounds to me like you are calibrating your compass far too often, and you might have got a bad ca ...

probably brother.. im just confused since all the sensor readings for the calibration read fine

gerardorejeg Posted at 2016-7-14 00:23
probably brother.. im just confused since all the sensor readings for the calibration read fine

Does all the abnormal hoving happens in one place?  

Have you tried flying in a different area?

DJI-H.C Posted at 2016-7-14 03:23
Does all the abnormal hoving happens in one place?  

Have you tried flying in a different area?  ...

I have tried in different places as well.  It really feels like it falls out of calibration when it happens.. but then I turn it off and then back on and becomes steady again..  Hard for me to pinpoint when it happens cause like i said it has happened only 4 times since i have it and I have flown it around 50 times according to my logs in the dji app.  I thought it was empty pockets of air.. up untill yesterday when i litteraly saw the drone reving its props in the air (you know that sound) as if I was doing it with the controll stick  right in front of me where there was no gusts of wind ...I have flown it in windy conditions not too hight but hight enough to prevent the drone from fighting its own turbulance ...and the drone stays rock solid in the air to the point i cant even hear the props compensating for the gusts of wind.

Geebax Posted at 2016-7-14 06:15
It sounds to me like you are calibrating your compass far too often, and you might have got a bad ca ...

One cant calibrate too often? rule of thumb is to calibrate before each flight to be safe!Or am i wrong about that?

Mariuss Posted at 2016-7-14 11:03
One cant calibrate too often? rule of thumb is to calibrate before each flight to be safe!Or am i w ...

well as far as i understand.. calibrating every single flight runs the risk of introducing a bad calibration.  However you should calibrate when you are in a new location. But again,,, there are some people only calibrate the compass when they travel long distances from one place to another, and even then,  if they dont see values abobe 1500-1600.. they still dont calibrate. I do calibrate when i MOVE TO A DIFFERENT location, a park.. couple miles away.        My sensors read 1500s spot on  with variations between 1500 to 1570 the higher i have seen it while i am flying the drone.   I dont know why the barometer was acting up

Mariuss Posted at 2016-7-14 09:03
One cant calibrate too often? rule of thumb is to calibrate before each flight to be safe!Or am i w ...

I rarely calibrate the compass. I check the mod values and if they are OK I fly. I took the quad over 200 miles away and flew with no issues or recalibration. I ran into another guy there with a P3P that came from my area. He did not recalibrate anything and was flying fine as well. Of course, your mileage may vary.

gerardorejeg Posted at 2016-7-14 21:59
I have tried in different places as well.  It really feels like it falls out of calibration when it ...

Go ahead and do an IMU calibration and another compass calibration. And please get a quick video clip of it.
And when it's windy the motors will rev to compensate to keep the aircraft level. When you say you cannot hear the motors compensating in the wind you must in very very light wind.

Rigworker Posted at 2016-7-14 18:47
I rarely calibrate the compass. I check the mod values and if they are OK I fly. I took the quad o ...

One can always be lucky, but as you say if the parameters is mint it may not be needed. Tho i always do

I calibrate before every flight, I also have been in numerous states..but just going by manual...Yesterday I was doing one last flight before RMA...and wind was pretty heavy. I noticed a lot of random compensation maneuvers that seemed over the top and was getting a lot of drift in att mode.  When landing ( usually I catch it..) I switched to att mode few feet off ground it immediately did a hard drift and crashed (softly into weeds).
I was surprised as it was strange reaction..I had just updated to 1.6.8 after using downgrade from 1.5.7+ for last month, my goal was to confirm issues before sending in for RMA..Issues in my craft are for real and I lost 50% range in the update. Plus get these strange random maneuvers..so maybe try the downgrade and see if that helps!! cheers Darrin

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-7-14 12:54
Go ahead and do an IMU calibration and another compass calibration. And please get a quick video c ...

yeah thats is correct... in light light wind i can not hear the motors reving as they were reving yesterday in light wind.. that surprised me.. I already did an IMU CALIBRATION LAST NIGHT but i didnt fly it.. today i will do a compass calibration and take it for a flight.. watch it this time it will be rock solid...  it happens rarely.

darrin@proimage Posted at 2016-7-14 13:22
I calibrate before every flight, I also have been in numerous states..but just going by manual...Yes ...

Thanks darrin for the info.. I bet this is not the first time you fly in moderate winds.. but yesterday its reaction took you by surprise..    that was what called my attention yesterday... I flew the drone in strongg winds couple times and the drone does  a good job hovering steady..  fights it well... but yesterday...  light wind.. and it was doing some weird things i couldnt associate to any gust of winds.. so i landed and restarted and took off again and no problem after that... scary though..

gerardorejeg Posted at 2016-7-15 01:58
yeah thats is correct... in light light wind i can not hear the motors reving as they were reving y ...

Can you please post a video clip.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2016-7-14 16:23
Can you please post a video clip.

Just flew my drone but the test was useless...  there is wind and i couldnt get a good gps lock satellites were below 6 t..then it  gave me 7..then gave me the safe to fly..  home locked. took off.. but the drone was all over the place.. ill have to wait till tomorrow and try again

gerardorejeg Posted at 2016-7-15 05:41
Just flew my drone but the test was useless...  there is wind and i couldnt get a good gps lock sa ...

Ok, no problem.
Thanks