Symptoms of poorly calibrated IMU and compass.

[RaWine]

Not that I have any, but what specifically starts happening when these things get out of whack enough?

 

[Ophidia Snaketongue]

I once borked up calibrating my compass, and when I next flew it, the Spark lost GPS and dropped into atti mode for a few seconds. This is pretty much normal- without the compass, GPS is useless for stability so it drops both. I recalibrated it and now it's absolutely fine.

 

[msinger]

If the IMU needs to be calibrated, you might see a message in DJI GO prompting you to do so or your Spark might have trouble hovering in place (in good lighting conditions). Most people don't need to recalibrate the IMU unless their Spark takes a hard hit (like in a crash).

It's tough to accidentally save a bad compass calibration. The easiest way to do that would be to calibrate the compass while a magnetic metal object is attached to the Spark (e.g. a GPS tracker) and then later removed without recalibrating the compass. Check out the Spark Compass Calibration Guide for more details on caring for the compass.

 

[Lee61561]

I am new to the Spark world and while trying to calibrate it kept failing. It took awhile but I finnaly figured out that it was my Iwatch that was causing the issue. Just a heads up from a newb!

 

[RENOV8R]

If the IMU needs to be calibrated, you might see a message in DJI GO prompting you to do so or your Spark might have trouble hovering in place (in good lightning conditions). Most people don't need to recalibrate the IMU unless their Spark takes a hard hit (like in a crash).

It's tough to accidentally save a bad compass calibration. The easiest way to do that would be to calibrate the compass while a magnetic metal object is attached to the Spark (e.g. a GPS tracker) and then later removed without recalibrating the compass. Check out the Spark Compass Calibration Guide for more details on caring for the compass.

I wouldn't suggest flying in a lightning storm lol (sorry, had to)

 

[Putz]

I have had my spark for about a month now. I calibrated the compass before first flight but not the IMU. While flying this morning I noticed it was wobbling with no wind and while in sport mode, it would slightly vear to the left. Doing a little research and 5 minutes for a full calibration, the aircraft has never flown better.
I plan on doing this only as needed, if told to by the app, or when I notice these same symptoms.

 

[Ophidia Snaketongue]

I calibrated my IMU when I noticed that the horizon was not 100% level on some photos. It solved it, and I calibrated my compass when I realised the Spark wasn't quite pointing the correct direction on the map. Other than that, I leave them to do their own thing and just check for interference as a flight check.

 

[Sparkbart]

I've noticed in the pass that I won't get a warning message, but I'll notice my drone is drifting a bit, won't hover steady in one spot. In those cases, I'll do an IMU calibration and a CC for good measure which usually does the trick...