Hello

Bought a Mavic few weeks ago, flew it very cautiosly 6-7 times (without any issues).
One time it gave me the message on the RC: magnetic interference, please move or calibrate. I push the calibrate option on the phone and start doing calibraiton dance but every time after the face down calibration it says calibraiton failed. I've done it everywhere, in an open field even without my watch etc. It says everywhere that magnetic inteference and everywhere the calibraiton fails. I've tryed recalibration IMU, gimbal, reinstalling the app, everything that i found on google that might help, no result.
When I contacted the support they told me that I have to calibrate my compass (???????).
What really sucks is that I'm on a trip and because of that trip I bought Mavic..

What do you think is the issue, is it the faulty compass? It's weird becuse at first everything was ok and out of nowhere it started giving me this error.

Thank you in advance

I'm having the same issues with my p4      I haven't contacted DJI yet    But I'm thinking it's a faulty compass.    Sometimes I can't even get a good calibration done so I take off in attic mode.  Once I'm in the air 30m it picks up 18-20 satilites  

DJ-Ken says you want to remove any metal on you, the remote controller, keys, watch, phones, metal frame glasses, coins, etc., then move away from any metal objects like cars, and then do the calibration. Seems excessive to me but I guess it really can be that sensitive.

I have the same issue.

Traveling through Philippines and used my Mavic without problem (on Palawan), moved to another island and, at the beach, started to tell me I had to do compass calibration, but I always had magnetic interference and couldn't do it. Also now I'm in Boracay and tried in 3 different beach, with no metal structures and no metal such watches on myself, I always have this issue.

I have the 01.03.0200 version, also the DJI GO 4 last version. Moreover just in the last 2-3 weeks, after some minutes I get the drone on "on mode" and can start to fly, the Mavic gets hot under the body, close to where the 3 sensors are.

Your first mistake was to calibrate on that warning, you should have moved away from the area and tried again.
If you calibrated in the same area then your compass will take into account all the magnetic interference and you are guaranteed to get bad calibration.
You should go to an area that is clear of magnetic interference and other metal platforms no phone no metal keep RC well clear and then preform calibration.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-2-3 03:46
Your first mistake was to calibrate on that warning, you should have moved away from the area and tried again.
If you calibrated in the same area then your compass will take into account all the magnetic interference and you are guaranteed to get bad calibration.
You should go to an area that is clear of magnetic interference and other metal platforms no phone no metal keep RC well clear and then preform calibration.

Q: To do a compass cal. many people here say 'no phone, no RC'....how are you supposed to do the calibration without the RC close and a phone close as well (the phone must connect to the RC and you have to look at the phone to see the calibration steps!!!!!!!!).

Am I missing something?  I have the same problem, no matter what I do, can't get a successfull compass calibration!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

randy.sauder Posted at 2017-2-3 18:37
Q: To do a compass cal. many people here say 'no phone, no RC'....how are you supposed to do the calibration without the RC close and a phone close as well (the phone must connect to the RC and you have to look at the phone to see the calibration steps!!!!!!!!).

Am I missing something?  I have the same problem, no matter what I do, can't get a successfull compass calibration!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By not close at least 5 meters away, your problem could have been caused by calibrating in the area you got a interference warning, if you calibrate in this area with magnetic interference your compass will take on the characteristics of that area , and when you fly out of that area to a no interference area your compass will be all over the place, when this happens all you need to do is move your AC to an area where it is free from interference and calibrate your compass .

So all you need to do with remote phone and any other metal objects is move them away while preforming your calibration.
Good luck.

hallmark007 Posted at 2017-2-4 02:57
By not close at least 5 meters away, your problem could have been caused by calibrating in the area you got a interference warning, if you calibrate in this area with magnetic interference your compass will take on the characteristics of that area , and when you fly out of that area to a no interference area your compass will be all over the place, when this happens all you need to do is move your AC to an area where it is free from interference and calibrate your compass .

So all you need to do with remote phone and any other metal objects is move them away while preforming your calibration.

Not sure of this solution.

As I said before, last 3 weeks I traveled for holidays in Philippines for 3 weeks, I could use my drone well for the first two weeks but after that I started having compass calibration issues. I had that on different islands.

Essentially, every time I use the drone it says I have compass errore, have to remove or calibrate the drone but every time I did it, I always had magnetic interferences.

Now I am back and today tried in a open field with no buildings, metals, kays, watch or similar on me.

One of the DJI Support operators told me to format the SD Card, I did it but anything changed. I also I refreshed the firmware of the aircraft as another DJI operator suggested and  today I tried in a open field: first IMU Calibration, then Compass calibration but always had magnetic interferences.

Talking right now with ms Kristell and she suggests to send it to repair, but is reallly necessary? I'm worried of the repair service after reading some post on this topics..

What do you think?

Thank you in advance

Pesens Posted at 2017-2-7 11:05
Not sure of this solution.

As I said before, last 3 weeks I traveled for holidays in Philippines for 3 weeks, I could use my drone well for the first two weeks but after that I started having compass calibration issues. I had that on different islands.

Honestly I think you should raise a ticket and send it in. There have been many here complaining about dji service, but in the bigger scheme of things they are very few. Living in Switzerland I presume your nearest repair service is probably Netherlands or if there is one in Germany I'm not to sure.
I have had cause to use dji repair for another AC I own and I can promise you everything worked out fine, it took two weeks from the time it was picked up until it arrived back with me.
One thing you must be aware of, how repair cycle works. Dji will issue you with a case number, then they will arrange for courier collection, it will arrive at repair centre in about two days, it may take another for them to let you know they have received your AC, they will assess it let you know the problem issue you with an invoice, in your case I'm sure it's a warranty so your invoice will give a nil charge, once you agree to this , they will repair and in a couple of days it will ship back to you.

You just need to be patient, and allow there process to work, and give a maximum of two weeks from pick up to return.

Make sure you include a note with your drone of what is happening to the compass in your drone. I wouldn't mess around with problems like your having with the compass, I have seen others here with all sorts of problems, and then when it goes wrong dji claim pilot error.

I wish you good luck and hope it works out for you..

Pesens Posted at 2017-2-7 11:05
Not sure of this solution.

As I said before, last 3 weeks I traveled for holidays in Philippines for 3 weeks, I could use my drone well for the first two weeks but after that I started having compass calibration issues. I had that on different islands.

Have you tried a full factory reset using DJI Assistant 2 ? Might be worth a shot before you send it in

Pesens Posted at 2017-2-7 11:05
Not sure of this solution.

As I said before, last 3 weeks I traveled for holidays in Philippines for 3 weeks, I could use my drone well for the first two weeks but after that I started having compass calibration issues. I had that on different islands.

Can you put you Mavic on the ground away from interference and post a screenshot of the compass sensor page.
Main Controller Settings, Advanced Settings, Sensors, Compass.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2017-2-7 12:11
Can you put you Mavic on the ground away from interference and post a screenshot of the compass sensor page.
Main Controller Settings, Advanced Settings, Sensors, Compass.

Sure,
here there's what the aircraft showed when I tried today afternoon, in a open field.

Pesens Posted at 2017-2-7 12:57
Sure,
here there's what the aircraft showed when I tried today afternoon, in a open field.

Thanks, I've only seen this when the legs are folded.
Since the factory restore did not work, try refreshing the firmware. Then if it still does it, try downgrading then upgrading the firmware.
If it will not clear then contact support.
Also, nothing has changed (hard landing, added GPS tracker) has there.

DJI-Ken Posted at 2017-2-7 13:21
Thanks, I've only seen this when the legs are folded.
Since the factory restore did not work, try refreshing the firmware. Then if it still does it, try downgrading then upgrading the firmware.
If it will not clear then contact support.

I'll try today and let you know.. thank you!

Pesens Posted at 2017-2-7 21:29
I'll try today and let you know.. thank you!

Sounds good, hope it works out.

I had the same problem the first few times that I flew, turned out to be that my concrete roof was also full of steel, obviously so, but I hadn't expected that to cause such obvious problems.  P3 had the same issue, but literally picking up the drones five feet was enough.  Tried in other locations, no such issues.  Super sensitive!

DJI-Ken Posted at 2017-2-8 07:17
Sounds good, hope it works out.

Today I tried in a soccer field, with no steal close to me but I still had the magnetic issue.

After downgrade the firmware and updating the last one, in the afternoon I went in this open area, almost in the middle of toe soccer field. Did the IMU Calibration and the Compass dance, I left metal things in my car and also the RC was like 10 or more meters away from the Aircraft.

After the first time, I also tried without propellers on the AC but got the same issue. Attached you can find pictures about after my failed compass calibration tentatives.

I also noticed 2 things:

1. the DJI App 4 was working slower than before (see screenshots)
2. Something strange in the compass dance during the second time I tried:  I did the 2 mouvments as indicated from the App, but after the App said to start again mouvements.  So I did it but after the first one it didn't request to continue and I rotated on my self like 3 times with no respons.

What do you think?

So frustated it worked well first weeks, and now is creating suddenly so many problems..

After IMU Calibration

After Compass calibration

The Compass 2 always chand values

After the second time I tried

the DJI App 4 working really slowly

the DJI App 4 working really slowly

Pesens Posted at 2017-2-8 09:58
Today I tried in a soccer field, with no steal close to me but I still had the magnetic issue.

After downgrade the firmware and updating the last one, in the afternoon I went in this open area, almost in the middle of toe soccer field. Did the IMU Calibration and the Compass dance, I left metal things in my car and also the RC was like 10 or more meters away from the Aircraft.

I am sorry about that, it looks like you will need to send it to the Netherlands repair center.
I'm sorry we couldn't get it resolved.
Here is the link to start the process.
https://www.dji.com/service/repair

The solution to this problem for me was resetting the wifi connection back to Phone connection only, removing the sd card from the drone that needs reformatting, then doing the compass calibration from the phone and not the RC. Afterwards you can reconnect the RC, reinsert formatted SD card and voila compass error is gone for good

Paolodlv Posted at 2018-7-12 11:42
The solution to this problem for me was resetting the wifi connection back to Phone connection only, removing the sd card from the drone that needs reformatting, then doing the compass calibration from the phone and not the RC. Afterwards you can reconnect the RC, reinsert formatted SD card and voila compass error is gone for good

Glad to know that, thanks for sharing the tips and in any case that you need our assistance, please don't hesitate to reach us for further assistance.

Some people report the compass calibration problem fixed by changed the SD card. Not sure how that related but you can try remove the SD to see is that caused problem.

I think a faulty SD card may generate additional EM wave by trying to read the data and interference with compass. No sure what other reasons can cause SD card affected the compass.