Magnetic interference issues

[DattaGroover]

3DR determined from my logs that it is a defective Magnetometer, and needs to be sent in for repair. THe Solo, that is. Now I see why some people have an extra Solo.

 

[Ian [P13]]

It's worth keeping in mind on most other copters a defective magnetometer would have resulted in a flyaway, Solo has multiple magnetometers and a prearm check to keep people on the ground when it detects a problem. If the magnetometers fail in flight that causes an EKF error and Solo will switch to manual flight.

 

[DattaGroover]

It's worth keeping in mind on most other copters a defective magnetometer would have resulted in a flyaway, Solo has multiple magnetometers and a prearm check to keep people on the ground when it detects a problem. If the magnetometers fail in flight that causes an EKF error and Solo will switch to manual flight.

I'm totally with you on that, Ian. I remind myself of that every time I go through it. Small hassle vs fly-away or crash. Hmm, let me think about that . . .

 

[bigDavid]

It dosint take me long at all really...it goes pretty smooth when doing both calibration ...takes me no longer then 5 min or so to do both!

What is your doing when doing the calibrations ..why does yours take so long?? Are you getting Errors popping up when doing it...and then have to repeat the whole process over again ?


Cheers?

QUESTION when calibrating your compass do you spin it 360 one way until the led's are green or do you tumble it until you hear a beep and then the greens come on? i've done mine 6x no green led's until I hear the beep and I'm not sure if it worked? but still magnetic interference on radio HELP!!

 

[DattaGroover]

QUESTION when calibrating your compass do you spin it 360 one way until the led's are green or do you tumble it until you hear a beep and then the greens come on? i've done mine 6x no green led's until I hear the beep and I'm not sure if it worked? but still magnetic interference on radio HELP!!

I tumble mine. I finally sent my Solo back to 3DR. It was a hardware issue. The replacement works just fine.

 

[bigDavid]

if you don't mind how much did they charge? I wont hold it against you if its more I want a ball park. right now its a thousand dollar paper weight. thank you.

 

[DattaGroover]

It is still within its one-year warranty, so they didn't charge anything.

 

[RichWest]

Big Dave, the app will give you an example how to perform the calibration, follow that guidance in the app. The IMU senses that you completed the first and then second rotation, so it works best as a slow controlled action pausing between both.

From others, it advised to remove metal objects like watches and cell phones prior to performing the calibration. Just realize the compass is a magnetic sensor and is susceptible to influences from steel and iron objects.

Good luck!

 

[DattaGroover]

It's worth keeping in mind on most other copters a defective magnetometer would have resulted in a flyaway, Solo has multiple magnetometers and a prearm check to keep people on the ground when it detects a problem. If the magnetometers fail in flight that causes an EKF error and Solo will switch to manual flight.

I agree. It can be a pain in the ass when they don't work, but they keep things much safer. When I was flying my Phantom 2, I had 2 fly-aways and one devastating crash- all due to faulty GPS or magnetometer issues (not counting crashes from failed ESCs).

With the Solo, I have not had one of those, and have flown it much more.