Hello,


I'm trying to decide what to do about my Spark. I bought it used last Fall and it worked fine until recently. Now it's plagued with the problems I've been reading about here and on other forums. It started out with just a few compass errors, switching into Atti mode, and brief loss of control. A couple of days ago my son (he's the better pilot) and I took it for a flight to try some troubleshooting and it went crazy. It flew off by itself and wouldn't respond to my son's attempts to regain control. I thought it was gone but it came back and seemed to be responding to controls. My son started to bring it in for a landing and then it suddenly took off again. . . right into a tree. The branches slowed the fall and it appears to be undamaged.
Yesterday I did an IMU calibration and took it to a different location (in a big park) but continued to get compass errors. The compass sensor showed a yellow bar but never went to green. I took it home and tried demagnatizing it with an old tape head demagziter left over from my VCR repair days. I then went outside and tried a quick flight and got the same errors. As a last resort, I attempted a compass recalibration even though the DJI GO app wasn't suggesting I do so. I kept getting a message indicating that compass recalibration was unsuccessful due to magnetic interference.

I'm at a loss. We're leaving for vacation soon and really wanted to use the drone. It's not under warranty so I'm guessing that sending it to DJI for repair isn't the answer. There's a DJI authorized repair shop about 30 minutes from me. Is it worth having them take a look? Anything I can do myself? I'd appreciate any advice!



Thanks

You can try to check the birds fw, re-flash it with DJi assistant 2
Or go one version back, for a check

And just in case:

LongArm,

Videos posted by S-e-ven should help.

Behaviour you described seems like compass calibration issues. When Spark is stored for a long time (winter) it may be a good idea to re-calibrate.
When you tried to demagnetize compass you may have inadvertently changed the magnetic properties of Spark body which necessitates compass calibration. Please note that, quite often, DJI GO App will show that compass is fine while, in fact, compass calibration is in order. Compass re-calibration is not the last resort - as you noted - it is often the first and the only thing which needs to be done if Sparks starts showing erratic behaviour for no apparent reason (e.g. you are not flying under high voltage wires :-)). But proper calibration is the key to success.

It is very important that you calibrate compass away from any magnetic fields. Do not do it at home. Go to the middle of nowhere where you have no magnetic interference and no metal structures. Do not calibrate on the pavement or sidewalk for the above reasons. The best place is somewhere in the park etc. While calibrating keep it away from your phone - at least meter to meter and a half. If you have a metal watch or any metal jewellery, take it off during calibration. Calibrate slowly - do not rush through the procedure.

Good calibration of compass is crucial. Bad calibration may cause all sorts of trouble.

Good luck.

Mirek  

Thanks for the tips! I will try compass re-calibration in a more remote area. I'd been putting that off because so many posts say not to re-calibrate the compass unless instructed to do so by the app.
If compass re-calibration doesn't help, I will try re-flashing.

I'm curious, could these issues be related to a cell phone tower? We have one practically in our back yard but it's never caused problems in the past. I've flown the spark many times around my house and before that I flew my Phantom without these issues. Perhaps AT&T changed something on the tower.

LongArm Posted at 7-17 10:18
Thanks for the tips! I will try compass re-calibration in a more remote area. I'd been putting that off because so many posts say not to re-calibrate the compass unless instructed to do so by the app.
If compass re-calibration doesn't help, I will try re-flashing.

Yes - cell phone towers have been reported on this forum in the past to cause issues.
Usually these issues were different than yours and related to interference of RC / AC communication.
However Spark is a complex beast and its systems are susceptible to magneto-electric interference. Despite awesome and cutting edge technology, it is a cheap drone so, naturally, it is not as resilient as its higher priced cousins.
I would stay away from towers, high voltage lines etc.

In any case - the advise you are seeing on this forum not to calibrate when not prompted by DJI GO app is a sound one since bad calibration can cause a lot of issues. However... when you experience issues, especially something which you described which is very consistent with bad calibration, do not hesitate to re-calibrate. Both IMU and compass. But do it properly - as described.

Yes - if careful and proper compass and IMU calibration does not help - re-flash. Firmware may have gotten corrupted. And if this does not help either - contact DJI support. Although, if your Spark is second hand, you are probably out of warranty :-(.

Good luck and please let us know of your success.

Mirek  

LongArm Posted at 7-17 10:18
Thanks for the tips! I will try compass re-calibration in a more remote area. I'd been putting that off because so many posts say not to re-calibrate the compass unless instructed to do so by the app.
If compass re-calibration doesn't help, I will try re-flashing.

silly addition but.....

i had once lot of compass errors etc....

i performed a compass calibration, turning the craft 360 real slow   and i mean real slow....

after that problems away!

cheers
JJB

Thank you, everyone!!

I re-flashed, calibrated IMU and compass and everything appears to be in order. . . just in time for vacation!