Mavic 2 Pro asking for compass calibration very often.
4786 19 2018-11-30
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fansffae6bdb
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Can anyone tell me if this is normal? In the majority of the flights I've had with my MP2, it's asked me to calibrate the compass. I don't know, perhaps there was metal in the concrete or on a bench where there are nails, but I just wanted to know if this is normal...
2018-11-30
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dronybaloney
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With me it only asked me each time to callibrate if i travel more then 50 km from the last spot i was flying.

But if i stay in one place after callibration and have more flights , it will not asked me anymore to callibrate, for example around where i live.
2018-11-30
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Nazar78
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Unfortunately I have this too. Seems the M2 is much much more sensitive than my original MP (1 vs 2 compass?). I have never recalibrated the MP after the first time. It has gone across continent without the need to recalibrate but I have to do it almost every time with the M2P.

I just flew couple hours ago and think I found a somewhat workaround. The first two batteries I had to recalibrate a few times on each flight. Some calibrations failed hence had to repeat two to three times. I was on an ordinary pavement by the road side not sure what's beneath most probably rebars.

Then for the third and fourth batteries the interference error doesn't appear at all because I switched on the AC off the ground and hand launched without letting the AC near the ground. The compass status also looks good. Looks like this is going to be my takeoff method every time I'm on foreign ground since I'm already comfortable with hand launch/catch without letting the active bottom sensors kicking in.
2018-12-1
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DJI Gamora
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Hi, thank you for bringing this query to us. Apologies for the troubles recently with the compass calibration. I understand that you are puzzled that your Mavic 2 Pro ask you to calibrate the compass most of the time. It is normal where there is a chance of strong magnetic interference, such as magnetite, parking structures, or steel reinforcements underground. Do not carry ferromagnetic materials with you during calibration, such as keys or cellular phones. Also, kindly do not calibrate beside large metal objects. Hope this helps and clarified your concern for today. If its convenient to you, kindly calibrate the compass on a different area or open space. Do let us know if you need help or raise other concerns. Thank you for choosing DJI.
2018-12-1
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dronybaloney
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Nazar78 Posted at 12-1 00:28
Unfortunately I have this too. Seems the M2 is much much more sensitive than my original MP (1 vs 2 compass?). I have never recalibrated the MP after the first time. It has gone across continent without the need to recalibrate but I have to do it almost every time with the M2P.

I just flew couple hours ago and think I found a somewhat workaround. The first two batteries I had to recalibrate a few times on each flight. Some calibrations failed hence had to repeat two to three times. I was on an ordinary pavement by the road side not sure what's beneath most probably rebars.

I am not sure if compass callibration has got to do with bottom sensors. I though its merely gps related and magnetic interference related. Anyway the mp2 is much more sensitive then the mpp , which i hardly had to callibrate. Maybe dji will fix this with new fw , although i think they wont as mp2 has only 1 compass , as mp1/mpp has teo , therefore dji wants to be certain that compass  is working properly , so it needs more callibration
2018-12-1
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Nazar78
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dronybaloney Posted at 12-1 02:02
I am not sure if compass callibration has got to do with bottom sensors. I though its merely gps related and magnetic interference related. Anyway the mp2 is much more sensitive then the mpp , which i hardly had to callibrate. Maybe dji will fix this with new fw , although i think they wont as mp2 has only 1 compass , as mp1/mpp has teo , therefore dji wants to be certain that compass  is working properly , so it needs more callibration

"I am not sure if compass callibration has got to do with bottom sensors."

Yes compass calibration has nothing to do with bottom sensors. Sorry I was referring to avoiding the MP2 bottom sensors from kicking in then throttling up when I hand launch or hand catch.

I noticed if I switched on the MP2 while it's on the ground I'll often get the magnetic interference error. Moving it elsewhere further even to an open field it will still ask to calibrate the compass. So now I'll just hold the MP2 at shoulder height, switch it on, wait for GPS home lock then perform the button slide (or CSC if using RC sun hood) to take off from my hand. Had done this few times and didn't see the magnetic interference error anymore even if I landed on the ground where it would previously triggered the interference error before take off, I hope it stays that way.
2018-12-1
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msinger
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What exactly are you seeing in DJI GO?
2018-12-1
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fansffae6bdb
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Hi guys thank you all for the responses, one which particularly resonated with me was the message above where someone said that they don't need to calibrate in an existing area and do in new ones, this seems to be the same experience I'm having, thank you all for contributing to this thread.
2018-12-1
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poetoe
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Do you use nd filters in a box with magnetic cover plate? If yes do not hold it close to the M2 as it can interfere with compass of M2.
2018-12-1
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fansffae6bdb
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poetoe Posted at 12-1 11:34
Do you use nd filters in a box with magnetic cover plate? If yes do not hold it close to the M2 as it can interfere with compass of M2.

Hi, no I don't use any ND filters, interesting note on them affecting the magnet though, thanks!
2018-12-1
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Bitesteel
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DJI Gamora Posted at 12-1 01:30
Hi, thank you for bringing this query to us. Apologies for the troubles recently with the compass calibration. I understand that you are puzzled that your Mavic 2 Pro ask you to calibrate the compass most of the time. It is normal where there is a chance of strong magnetic interference, such as magnetite, parking structures, or steel reinforcements underground. Do not carry ferromagnetic materials with you during calibration, such as keys or cellular phones. Also, kindly do not calibrate beside large metal objects. Hope this helps and clarified your concern for today. If its convenient to you, kindly calibrate the compass on a different area or open space. Do let us know if you need help or raise other concerns. Thank you for choosing DJI.

Do not carry ferromagnetic materials with you during calibration, such as keys or cellular phones.
What about the phone that's in the controller?
2018-12-1
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Boffin
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Bitesteel Posted at 12-1 21:30
Do not carry ferromagnetic materials with you during calibration, such as keys or cellular phones.
What about the phone that's in the controller?

Leave the controller on the ground away from the Mavic when you do the dji dance.
You need both hands to hold the drone
2018-12-1
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hallmark007
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I don’t know why that is, also having to calibrate if you travel 50k is ridiculous, I’ve just flown 1800 miles and never bothered calibrating simply because my compass was perfect and calibration would not have made it any better.
2018-12-2
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Aardvark
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Bitesteel Posted at 12-1 21:30
Do not carry ferromagnetic materials with you during calibration, such as keys or cellular phones.
What about the phone that's in the controller?

You can leave the controller to one side when you've initiated the calibration. And move away from it if you feel the need. The rear aircraft status LEDs will indicate when calibration position needs to be changed from horizontal to vertical, and when calibration is completed.

Compass calibration should rarely, if ever, need to be done. Whether this is a glitch in firmware, or a change of DJI policy generating these frequent calibration requests I do not know.
Compass - Copy.PNG
2018-12-2
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dronybaloney
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hallmark007 Posted at 12-2 08:01
I don’t know why that is, also having to calibrate if you travel 50k is ridiculous, I’ve just flown 1800 miles and never bothered calibrating simply because my compass was perfect and calibration would not have made it any better.

Apparently according to dji you also have to callibrate the vision sensors as i had to do ,after around 100 flights! I also never ever had to do a sensor callibration with the mavic platinum. Now with the  mp2 after 125 flights it asked me to callibrate the sensors. Its all happening with the mp2, lol
2018-12-2
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hallmark007
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dronybaloney Posted at 12-2 11:31
Apparently according to dji you also have to callibrate the vision sensors as i had to do ,after around 100 flights! I also never ever had to do a sensor callibration with the mavic platinum. Now with the  mp2 after 125 flights it asked me to callibrate the sensors. Its all happening with the mp2, lol

It has never asked me to calibrate and I have travelled quite a bit, what is 100 flights ? Many will fly for 25 minutes and others will only fly the amount of time it takes to get the footage they need, so would 100 flights at avg 10 minutes require vision calibration before 50 flights at 25 minutes, it’s all a bit confusing,

One thing I will say and although many complained about not having a second compass, by a long way the dji craft with lowest number of compass problems is the M2, so perhaps dji know a little more than some give them credit for.

I don’t mind when requested to calibrate, it’s almost impossible to get calibration wrong so long as your in a good envoirment .

These are great craft and if looked after and flown in right envoirment you will have very few problems you can’t handle.
2018-12-2
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Aardvark
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dronybaloney Posted at 12-2 11:31
Apparently according to dji you also have to callibrate the vision sensors as i had to do ,after around 100 flights! I also never ever had to do a sensor callibration with the mavic platinum. Now with the  mp2 after 125 flights it asked me to callibrate the sensors. Its all happening with the mp2, lol

"Now with the  mp2 after 125 flights it asked me to callibrate the sensors"

I wonder if this is new DJI policy, some kind of damage limitation to reduce the amount of warranty requests they may be getting. By encouraging users to calibrate regularly, reducing the chances of flight failure through non calibration. And more likely increasing the number of bad calibrations (the compass springs to mind).
2018-12-2
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msinger
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@fansffae6bdb, what exactly are you seeing in DJI GO when you think it's requesting that you calibrate the compass?
2018-12-2
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hallmark007
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Aardvark Posted at 12-2 12:01
"Now with the  mp2 after 125 flights it asked me to callibrate the sensors"

I wonder if this is new DJI policy, some kind of damage limitation to reduce the amount of warranty requests they may be getting. By encouraging users to calibrate regularly, reducing the chances of flight failure through non calibration. And more likely increasing the number of bad calibrations (the compass springs to mind).

It’s almost impossible to preform a bad/wrong calibration on these new craft, unless you calibrate in a bad envoirment, if you preform a bad/wrong calibration your app will not let you take off and will continue to ask for calibration until you get it right for flight.

I do think it’s some kind of change of policy particularly what we now read in manuals of new craft in the past two years, with the exception of P4 and maybe spark if I remember correctly.

Since I’ve purchased M2 I have not been asked to calibrate and have travelled much further distances than manual would like me to calibrate, so I just check compass values and if ok and app doesn’t request then I leave well alone.

But there has been a considerable reduction in problems with compass in both MavAir and M2, when compared to release of orignal Mavic Pro , which was plagued with compass problem which was I believe as a result of many new users applying the urban myth of needing to calibrate whether they had a bad compass or not.

I also think that new craft have better sealed compass and are improving all the time, just my thinking.

2018-12-2
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dronybaloney
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hallmark007 Posted at 12-2 11:54
It has never asked me to calibrate and I have travelled quite a bit, what is 100 flights ? Many will fly for 25 minutes and others will only fly the amount of time it takes to get the footage they need, so would 100 flights at avg 10 minutes require vision calibration before 50 flights at 25 minutes, it’s all a bit confusing,

One thing I will say and although many complained about not having a second compass, by a long way the dji craft with lowest number of compass problems is the M2, so perhaps dji know a little more than some give them credit for.

hi hallmark,
this is what dji Natalia was saying:

quote
Hi there, Dronybaloney. Actually, this a normal. When the aircraft has taken off and landed 100 times, this warning will pop up in DJI GO 4. Just calibrate the vision sensors using DJI Assistant to avoid any issue. Thank you.
unquote

she is saying calibrating vision sensors after 100 takeoffs and landings, doesn't say how long each flight takes. with me the mp2 asked me around 125 flights to calibrate visions sensors.  I am not a fan of this if its true what she is saying , as I will not have a pc/macbook available all the time when I am out on a (drone) trip.
2018-12-2
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