Observation on compass interference.

[suprPHREAK]

Had a break at work today, did some fun flying, and got a compass message. No big deal, was done that battery anyway. Landed it, and checked the compass interference level, and it was off the charts!

Before I took off, I checked the compass, it was under 30. At the end, it was over 700! The only difference was that I took off 10ft away from my van, and decided to palm land where I was leaning against the van.

Now yes, metal will do this, but I was astonished at the extreme of it. I have flown next to rail bridges with less interference. I guess something with the design or metals in the car has to do with it.

Anyway, reminder to be careful!

 

[Northwood Mediaworks]

Good to know. I am in an area where the Canadian Shield geology hits and breaks the surface of the ground, its some of the oldest rock on the planet, I have been digging around online to see if there are any indications it has any strong magnetic properties... wonder if anyone else has encountered this or reviewed the idea? (guess I am going to find out directly once I get the Spark)

 

[koffe]

Strange if the nearness to the van would do so much as you describe. Have read several posts this winter by people who were controlling the bird from inside a car. So did myself when it was below freezing point.
Maybe something else played a roll?

 

[Jeplane]

I launched next to the VER letters, in the word river. There was a metal structure next to me, although I did not pay attention to it at first (the fact that it was metal that is). However, the first clue was seeing a bigger amount to the compass interference, which I always check before T/O. The second clue was a very slow image on the screen, accompanied with (I forget the exact wording) some message about unable to project the full screen and it was seriously lagging.

I had never seen this before, and it was bad enough that I flew semi-blind with line of sight only, took the shot I wanted, and realized that perhaps, this huge metal structure had something to do with it. I decided to land in the parking lot you see on the right side of the picture.

The next flight, which was half a mile away, I noticed that the aircraft was no longer hovering still. Moving side to side slightly, and even started to climb slowly on its own while going forward.

Mhhh, I thought.

Landed. Recalibrated the IMU, and it seems to have fixed the problem.

Point is, it is amazing what metal buried (or not buried like structures) will influence the GPS, or even WIFI connection.

I should know: if line service park my airplane over a metal drain on the ramp, or too close to the hangars, the GPS's and radar altimeter go berserk in the cockpit, and until you figure out why, you will be scratching your head....

PS: It took a long time for officials at the London City airport to find out why the GPS's would fail for the various business jets operating there. They finally figure out that the airport had been built many decades earlier over some railroads structures from when the area was used as a dock!

 

[Ron_Dog]

I have flown my Mavic Pro many times from inside the cab of my truck, during cold weather, without any problems, but it dosen't use WiFi for the primary signal. I have also noticed compass errors while flying the Spark close to metal structures, but the Spark also dosen't have a "redundant compass, and IMU" system like the Mavic Pro dose! The Spark seems to be more sensitive to it's surroundings, than the other DJI models.

 

[idbl_fanatic]

I had mine sitting on my hood of my car, and I got the compass error, I was just turning it on, but as soon as I moved to the ground, all was good

 

[suprPHREAK]

Strange if the nearness to the van would do so much as you describe. Have read several posts this winter by people who were controlling the bird from inside a car. So did myself when it was below freezing point.
Maybe something else played a roll?

It won't affect control, as it isn't doing anything to the wifi signal. I was leaning on the van in the shade the entire time. Only when the Spark itself got close to the van.

I expected SOME interference, but wow at so much!

 

[suprPHREAK]

Good to know. I am in an area where the Canadian Shield geology hits and breaks the surface of the ground, its some of the oldest rock on the planet, I have been digging around online to see if there are any indications it has any strong magnetic properties... wonder if anyone else has encountered this or reviewed the idea? (guess I am going to find out directly once I get the Spark)

That will be beautiful up there! You should be ok, especially once you are off the ground. Like I said, 10ft made all the difference!