Do large metal objects mess with the compass during flight? After calibration.

[goblues38us]

Say I am in a big field. I either have a known good compass calibration, or a make a new one.

Then I decide to go fly along side a large freight train several hundreds of yard away. Does that freight train, or any large metal object give me a risk of messing up my compass calibration mid flight?

 

[msinger]

You will only run into problems if your Phantom is within 10 feet or so of those metallic objects.

 

[WilliamM]

Say I am in a big field. I either have a known good compass calibration, or a make a new one.

Then I decide to go fly along side a large freight train several hundreds of yard away. Does that freight train, or any large metal object give me a risk of messing up my compass calibration mid flight?

Any metal object will for sure mess with a compass, being calibrated before will not stop that. The larger the metal object the further away it can be to have a negative effect. Now with a freight train, I would hope you won't be close enough to have that effect.

 

[solentlife]

Of course it will affect the compass and just to be awkward - another says 10ft ... that's not absolute ... distance is dependent on flux and direction as well as power.

The main point though is DO NOT RECALIBRATE next to that metal !! If the model refuses to power up because of the errors .. MOVE away ...

If you recalibrate because of nearby metal - what do you think happens once you gain altitude and distance away ? The AC now tells you it has errors ... because the metals offset is no longer affecting the model.

Nigel

 

[Dorf40]

Also curious to this. I'm wanting to fly under a bridge where I live, but nervous about doing so


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[kirk2579]

Also curious to this. I'm wanting to fly under a bridge where I live, but nervous about doing so


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see post # 4

critical point is about not calibrating any where near metal, large or small,
even a cell phone or watch can mess a calibration up

good luck and have fun flying!

 

[NewMexicoFlyer]

All these train engines did not mess with my compass. But like they said I didn't calibrate near them and stayed at least 150' away.


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[Newman0912]

Ok, I'll take a chance.
Is that a real photo of a train?
I've never seen anything like that. So many engines in a row, seems crazy!
Can you help me understand what that's all about?

 

[Richard R]

Also curious to this. I'm wanting to fly under a bridge where I live, but nervous about doing so


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Been a lo of discussing about potential problems with flying under a bridge, and several going over why the pilot lost his bird when he did. Compass might be affected, but also watch your GPS signal too if/when you do! Winds under a bridge can be tricky and suddenly switching to atti mode because you lost GPS could have you flying into bridge supports befor you could react.

 

[NewMexicoFlyer]

Ok, I'll take a chance.
Is that a real photo of a train?
I've never seen anything like that. So many engines in a row, seems crazy!
Can you help me understand what that's all about?

Yes it's a real pic the desert SW is apparently the perfect place to store things, Union Pacific is story approximately 400 train engines in the middle of the desert 30 miles east of Tucson Arizona. In town they have massive military mothball yards of bombers and fighters, super cool if your ever in town. Obviously can't fly there

Looking the other way

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[sar104]

Say I am in a big field. I either have a known good compass calibration, or a make a new one.

Then I decide to go fly along side a large freight train several hundreds of yard away. Does that freight train, or any large metal object give me a risk of messing up my compass calibration mid flight?

Just to clarify - relative to the previous answers. Metal objects generally will not affect your existing calibration in any way, but they will distort the local magnetic field such that the flight controller, while in that distorted field, is misled in terms of magnetic heading. Once the aircraft leaves that vicinity the compass should work normally again - no recalibration needed.

 

[Monte55]

You will only run into problems if your Phantom is within 10 feet or so of those metallic objects.

Question...are the compasses more sensitive on later Phantoms than my P1? On my first P1 I have prop guards installed. I have flown it near my Ford van and would bump and slide the quad down the side and up and down and never has any issues. Still have it and it flies fine.

 

[sar104]

Question...are the compasses more sensitive on later Phantoms than my P1? On my first P1 I have prop guards installed. I have flown it near my Ford van and would bump and slide the quad down the side and up and down and never has any issues. Still have it and it flies fine.

Even the sheet metal (assuming steel, not aluminum) on a vehicle will cause significant local distortion of the magnetic field (within a couple of feet), but that will not affect the compass calibration. To do that would require a magnetic field strong enough to change the magnetization of on board components.

 

[TomT]

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[TomT]

I fly around grain bins at my house with no trouble


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[RodPad]

Also curious to this. I'm wanting to fly under a bridge where I live, but nervous about doing so


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If you loose remote signal, because of the bridge or other factors, think of what your RTH settings are and what can happen.

Rod

 

[fdewulf]

I was in my cousin's wine making facility which has huge metal vats where they ferment the wine. I was flying my drone and it just started drifting on its own towards one of the vats (it was within 10 feet) . I back it out with the remote with some difficulty and it proceeded to drift towards another large metal vat opposite direction and this time it crashed into it. (my remote just could not get it away)

So I suspect, given there was no GPS available that the Mavic relies heavily on its compass indoors for level flying info and it was destabilized by the amount of metal present.

I'm jut glad it was only about 5 feet of the ground and that one of the 4 propeller took the brunt of the damage.