Compass Calibration - Some Real Basic Questions

Posted by Mark Stanoch on April 6, 2015 at 1:37pm

All,

I have an upgraded Iris to Iris+ and have been successfully flying for a few weeks now.  I updated MP to 1.3.24 and have AC V3.2.1 installed.  I have seen reference in this forum that when calibrating the compass a solid sphere should be created with points.  When calibrating the compass in MP, I select "Compass".  If I select "Pixhawk/PX4"  I can create relatively solid spheres but always receive  an "Unexpected error" message.  If I select "Manual" I never have enough time to create anything close to a solid sphere.  What am I doing wrong?

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Replies

  • Santiago Escobar November 11, 2015 at 4:28pm

    Hi guys, I`ve been having issues after a crash with my IRIS+, not a bad crash, broke an arm when I cought in on the air (propellers weren´t spining!). I seem to be unable to calibrate correctly the compass, I hope it´s not a hardware issue. I had to go back to MP 1.3.10

    I check "Manual", and select "ROTATION_NONE". Also "Enable" and "Auto Dec Detect". My best offset is -84 -7 -29 and on compass 2 I get -231 289 119. Is that good enough? On the "LogAnalyzer" everything looks fine expect "Test: Compass = WARN - Moderate change in mag_field (27.79%)". 

    Thanks for the help!

  • Erik Graham April 6, 2015 at 6:30pm

    I have an unfounded belief that you should start calibration with the Iris+ pointed toward magnetic north.  My basis for that is a video I vaguely recall watching when first researching compass calibration on the Iris.  It works well for me, but its probably unnecessary.

  • Michael Burmeister April 6, 2015 at 1:55pm

    You need to select Manual because there are two compasses and you need to get both of them calibrated in 3.2.

    The problem is that the auto complete does not work correctly so you will need to uncheck the auto complete and do your thing.  When you have both spheres filled in then click done.

     

    • Carl Davis > Michael Burmeister April 13, 2015 at 9:11am

      If the offset for compass2 were unset (0) how would that impact flight? 

      I am trying to understand how 3.2 uses both compasses. At the same time? Chooses one over the other with some algorithm? Uses the external unless it becomes disconnected?

      Thanks

    • Mark Stanoch > Michael Burmeister April 6, 2015 at 2:31pm

      Michael, thanks for the reply.  But how do I "uncheck auto complete"?  The only options that are already checked are "Enable" and "Auto Dec".  I unchecked "Auto Dec" and still do not have enough time to complete the spheres.  How do I turn off auto complete? 

    • Mark Stanoch > Mark Stanoch April 6, 2015 at 2:57pm

      Duh....I found it.  It is on the "Progress" screen right after you hit "Live Calibration".  Problem solved.

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