Literally today I just received my new DJI phantom 3 Standard in the mail direct purchase from the DJI website. Also purchased DJI Care , after suffering a mishap with my previous one.

First time flying it tonight, battery & controller charged 100%. I calibrated the compass, got safe to fly GPS, everything ready to go I take off and I get about 100 feet and it says Compass error and switch to Atti-mode.

so I landed it recalibrated the compass took off same thing, so I landed it right away it was about a three minute flight in total.  I was just testing it out in suburbia and residential area.  I recalibrated IMU,  recalibrate the compass, and did a firmware upgrade.   

I was ready to take it for another test flight when it said again Compass Error, switch to Atti mode.      So I didn't take off.   

I don't know what the issue is,   on my previous phantom three standard I have calibrated and Flonase in the exact same spot over 40 times with this era never popping up.   After a while with playing with it on the ground figuring out what was wrong, I realize that even when I pick it up with my hand over the top it will go from GPS mode to Addie mo after a while with playing with it on the ground figuring out what was wrong, I realize that even when I pick it up with my hand over the top it will go from GPS mode to Atti Mode and loses all the satellites.     so I played with it a few more times and I found that when I put my hand on top or near the top where the DJI sticker logo is, the GPS signal decreases and then switches to atti mode.

This doesn't make me very comfortable flying it because it switches at its own will.  Has anyone ever ran into this issue? I'm kind of frustrated because this is a brand-new phantom three straight out of the box.  

Has anyone counter this error?  if so how do you fix it or are there any recommendations without having to send it back to Dji.

When you put your hand over the GPS antenna (under the DJI sticker) of course the GPS signal decreases.
You are blocking the antenna.
But unless you have some way of blocking the antenna in flight, this shouldn't be a problem.

As for your compass issue ... try somewhere else well away from cars, structural steel and reinforced concrete.

labroides@yahoo Posted at 2016-9-16 02:22
When you put your hand over the GPS antenna (under the DJI sticker) of course the GPS signal decreas ...

Yeah I figured that as much, but let's say I pick it up to do the calibration. I grab it from the top with my palm on the sticker and it drops all satellites and says the atti mode warning.  I used to do the exact same thing with my old phantom 3 and it never happened.

I'm flying & calibrating in the exact same area that I've always done. It never did that before, but now it seems to be an issue with this new phantom 3

matthewfreire Posted at 2016-9-16 16:41
Yeah I figured that as much, but let's say I pick it up to do the calibration. I grab it from the  ...

Calibrating your compass has nothing to do with GPS so don't worry about it.
And try calibrating somewhere else even if you've done it there with a different Phantom.
If you can't work out what the issue is, you try to eliminate some possibilities.

Does the compass sensor on the leg look right ?

roymoon Posted at 2016-9-16 19:36
Does the compass sensor on the leg look right ?

Yeah everything looks fine. It's in the landing as it should be.   I will be flying it on GPS mode for 15 seconds then it'll switch to atti mode for a few seconds or longer, /and then back to GPS.  I've calibrated the compass many times in an open field. And I'm flying in the exact same places I flew my last phantom with no issues.   

matthewfreire Posted at 2016-9-17 00:39
Yeah everything looks fine. It's in the landing as it should be.   I will be flying it on GPS mode ...

When you calibrate the compass you are sure there's no metal in the ground under you and you have no metal on you (keys, phone) and your calibrating with the RC/device on the ground about 10ft away from you?

In the Advanced settings you can see the compass Mod values and they should be between 1,000-2,000.

If nothing else works then you may need a new compass, call support and have it sent in for warranty repair.

If the area and you are metal free and it still gives out random compass error messages in the air & calibration doesn't help it sounds pretty much like the issue I had with my new P3A. (And a bunch of other people too. Maybe they had bad batch of compasses or something) You just have to send it in to be repaired. They replaced the compass and it seems to work just fine now.  Sync your flight data from the app and contact the support. The process went rather smoothly and it took about 2 weeks to get it back at least here in Europe.

I was having the exact same problem with my P3A and was getting a compass error on every flight.
DJI support wanted it back, So rather than do that I changed the compass, this resolved the problem. Rather than pull it apart I just changed the sensor board,

If you can solder then for the cost of a compass it may be the best option, told DJI what I had done and they seemed happy with that!

Same happen to me! First flight with My new P3 advance. The seller took it back,i bougt a new one. No problem with the new one! This one flying much better,more steady in the air,and longer range with rc!

Same with my P3 Standard. Compass errors every flight since new, sent away for repair. got it back after 11 days and now it's perfect. I should have got a replacement from the retailer but thought I was doing something wrong so had to send it in as was over 30 days by the time I realised it was faulty. As yours is brand new insist its exchanged rather than wait for a repair.

Ste_Photo Posted at 2016-9-18 16:31
Same with my P3 Standard. Compass errors every flight since new, sent away for repair. got it back a ...

Do you have any clue what they replaced?
Compass module in the leg only?

Tanel Posted at 2016-9-18 15:37
Do you have any clue what they replaced?
Compass module in the leg only?

They replaced the leg which contains the compass. Flown it for 2 hours since the repair and not one compass error.

There seems to be a lot of issues reported involving faulty compass on Phantom 3's suspect a duff batch of modules, or the hotmelt used to secure them contains contamination.

I had a load of problems with the compass, changed it and all the problems went away.

Hi I had exactly the same and DjI sorted it out -it just took a few weeks to sort out but tested it yesterday and all good -also they did a test to make sure it was all fine .  A few things were replaced GPS Sheilding cotton, standard gps and they replaced my transmitter as I complained about intermittent transmitter signal loss too

But they replace the plastic phone holder with a metal one which was cool

Welcome to the irritating world of compass errors wth DJI's stock response of 'calibrate away from metal, in a field, wearing nothing etc etc' - have a look on this forum and PhantomPilots and you will find many of these threads. I sent my first one back under the consumer act as it was not fit for purpose, the replacement seems better but I still get it at least once a flight but tends to be for a second or two only before switching back to GPS.
Here is an encouraging thread where folk are sending back to DJI and the landing gear (compass?) is being replaced which sorts the issue: Thread

Cornscot21 Posted at 2016-9-20 10:26
Welcome to the irritating world of compass errors wth DJI's stock response of 'calibrate away from m ...

I just finished replacing mine.

Ordered the landing gear since it was cheaper than the compass seperately...

Just desoldered the old compass module from the aircraft and soldered the new one in.Was faster than opening up the entire phantom to reach to the connector on the board...
Everything works as expected now.
The replacement board had different chips on it than the old one. Go figure....

Tanel Posted at 2016-9-20 05:52
I just finished replacing mine.

Ordered the landing gear since it was cheaper than the compass sep ...

reminds me of recent Phantom 2 vision plus days..

after you owned one a bit you would end up soldering in a new GPS antenna for $6.00
that was the days of real ---flyaway's.. gps would drop below 6 and away it went...with the wind

we used a newer higher gain one to fix the issue.

anyhow , good job getting back up safely.



also the p2+ had a newer shielded compass come out after a while as well..