Hi, I'm needing help with a mavic air. The team is on moto atti (ready to take off). At the time of taking 1 satellite I get an error asking for calibration of compass. If the application is correct, the compass parameters are good for me. the only alternative to be able to fly it is to wait to take as many satellites and then take it out and put the battery, which makes it turn on with satellites and allows me to fly correctly  Is this normal? Can you help me?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtV_dlAskl0&feature=youtu.be

Normally you need to wait until there are enough satellites for the aircraft to be able to set its 'Home Point', this is usually at least eight.
If GPS (satellite) reception is not good then this may be the cause of the compass error message.


If getting compass error, then the first thing to do normally would be to move the aircraft from its current position, making sure its not close to any larger metallic objects, nor taking off from steel reinforced concrete.

Try also setting aircraft at its  take off point and then power up without turning aircraft upside down.

Edit:- If all else fails, then calibrate the compass ensuring your away from larger metalic objects.

Hi,

When you cannot takeoff because the drone shows message "calibrate compass", you have to calibrate the compass.

You need 11 satellites or more to get a good postion fix, so wait for that.

Perhaps my checklist is usefull, but many other checklists and good advices on this forum.

Happy many landings,
cheers
JJB

Is it normal that I have to calibrate the compass every time I fly?

Ryanwalexander Posted at 11-13 05:47
Is it normal that I have to calibrate the compass every time I fly?

I never normally have to calibrate compass on my Mavic Pro or Phantom 4, the Air seems to generate compass calibration requests quite frequently. Whether this is by design, or the firmware being over sensitive I do not know.

Compass calibration is not something that usually needs doing, DJI seem to change their policy at times, in one manual saying it should be done every change of location, while other manuals say never do it until prompted by system (which is what your machine may be doing).

Ryanwalexander Posted at 11-13 05:47
Is it normal that I have to calibrate the compass every time I fly?

Nope, but the MA is sensitive for its compass, see Aardvark previous post.

I switch my MA ON at the takeoff spot only, not holding up side down etc ( "stupid" place to have a batt switch) but with the legs pointed downwards. When ON put it on the ground.
This seems to help, do not have to calibrate too often now.

cheers
JJB

Ryanwalexander Posted at 11-13 05:47
Is it normal that I have to calibrate the compass every time I fly?

On Mavic Air, compass sensitivity seems to be set lower than any other dji Aircraft, so for some only moving short distance will trigger calibration, you should always take heed and as Ardvark said switch off and move location first, if it still requests calibration then you will need to calibrate in order to fly, some are having problems at this stage, but I have found it pretty simple.

From what I read and from experience dji have changed their approach to calibrating compass particularly on Mavic drones, but I have noticed very few compass problems occurring with this new approach and almost none with M2, so maybe this new approach is working somewhat.

They also have changed compass system in both M2 and MavAir,now with only one main compass,  and although they say redundancy will help I’m not sure if this was the case for these compact drones, so maybe this is also a factor, but there has been a noticeable reduction in compass problems causing aircraft to go to Atti mode and in some cases resulting in crash.

Hi, sorry for the troubles that it caused. I would like to ask if this error message will persist if you have a strong amount of GPS? I would recommend flying your aircraft in an open area wherein there are no interferences and the GPS is strong to see if the error message would persist. If the environment is recommended, please re-calibrate the compass to see if this will help. Please keep us posted on the latest progress. Thank you for the support.

DJI Tony Posted at 11-13 16:06
Hi, sorry for the troubles that it caused. I would like to ask if this error message will persist if you have a strong amount of GPS? I would recommend flying your aircraft in an open area wherein there are no interferences and the GPS is strong to see if the error message would persist. If the environment is recommended, please re-calibrate the compass to see if this will help. Please keep us posted on the latest progress. Thank you for the support.

Hello tony!


When you turn on the drone in the app it appears ready to run in Atti mode. At the moment of taking 1 gps satellite or more, the message of "compass error" appears, in the application the compas sensor appears in the green scale.

If I calibrate it with 2 laps the compass error is erased and it is ready to fly (gps). or failing that I turn it off and set it fast, which makes the drone turn on with satellites and that way it does not ask me to calibrate

I know and fly all dji drone models. Flight more than 2 years ago and with none of this happened to me.

My query is: The drone is like that? or do you have a factory fault?

Thank you