For the last 2 odd years I have owned a standard quad copter, standard hexa and an Okto XL
All have the latest boards, firmware etc, the Okto is the only one with a DB board, the rest don't so there are 3 different construction methods involved

From reading hundreds of posts and countless days of fiddling, rewiring, re-positioning, testing, soldering, un-soldering, swapping etc etc, we have come to the conlcusion that PH here in South Africa just does not work.
As can be seen by this picture, we have a very weak magnetic declination.

http://www.google.co.za/imgres?imgurl=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_xjcwwA-nj8k/TGNHmu9spUI/AAAAAAAAAqg/Q03OWquHCcA/s1600/md.gif&imgrefurl=http://hudsonvalleygeologist.blogspot.com/2010/08/magical-mecca.html&usg=__9GJoswiorKxyDzR5X3am8-7PncE=&h=403&w=596&sz=100&hl=en&start=15&zoom=1&tbnid=DWcoO5TJ2BpojM:&tbnh=91&tbnw=135&ei=q2jET9rEL8mChQf_55ScCg&itbs=1]

If there is anyone that can shed some light on this, or how to successfully combat and correct this, I would highly appreciated it because as it is now, the investment of GPS and the purpose of these drones has become somewhat useless.

Hi!

The declination is the difference between True North and Magnetic North. As far as I know the MK automatically compensates the declination based on it's position. So this should be not a problem at all. Also we have about the same declination in europe (-1° to -3°). From my experience GPS-PH on the AscTec Falcon 8 even with +-10° declination error (or compass error) are still not noticable unless you know what you are looking for. +-15° introduce visibly more circling and above it's getting more and more unstable.

Regards
Jast

All I know is that on Jetti telemetry the mag inclination goes from 105 (about) to 175 and beyond when hovering

Are there specials earths in the ground?

Okto - Michl meinte

Are there specials earths in the ground?

The whole of South Africa, or a large part of it is mining country. Gold etc.

So I believe there are a lot of metals in the ground which does not help me at all as I cannot remove them..

MK-flyer-SA meinte

All I know is that on Jetti telemetry the mag inclination goes from 105 (about) to 175 and beyond when hovering

Inclination is NOT Declination! However this shouldn't happen. Maybe you compass is distorted?

jast meinte

MK-flyer-SA meinte

All I know is that on Jetti telemetry the mag inclination goes from 105 (about) to 175 and beyond when hovering

Inclination is NOT Declination! However this shouldn't happen. Maybe you compass is distorted?

I have calibrated true north, magnetic north, facing north, facing south, I am at my witts end.
I can send someone some log files if that might help..

If there are distorting minerals in the ground, and you cannot make a change of your position, the problem will last.
Do you have a simple compass to verify the direction. Special thing is the geomagnetic field in this area NOT heading south to north!

Due to the magnetic poles are changing the next years... (In german "Polsprung")

Okto - Michl meinte

If there are distorting minerals in the ground, and you cannot make a change of your position, the problem will last.
Do you have a simple compass to verify the direction. Special thing is the geomagnetic field in this area NOT heading south to north!

Due to the magnetic poles are changing the next years... (In german "Polsprung")

Yes, I have a standard compass, Iphone compass and all has not helped, so basically GPS lock does not work here is that what I can assume from the posts?

Okto - Michl meinte

Due to the magnetic poles are changing the next years... (In german "Polsprung")

"the next years" is according to wikipedia year 3000-4000 ;-)

@MK-flyer-SA: GPS-PH defenately works at your location! I'm sure your problem some calibration or compass mount problem and not the metal in the ground ;-) But I'm not the MK expert.

Can you get accurate readings from your iPhone compass? Put the iPhone on a Table (non-metal please!) and turn it by exactly 90°. Does the mesaured value also show 90° changes? Face your iPhone north in 90° steps and then tilt it by 45°. The value should not change (more or less).

Btw: Magnetic compass is used in many different applications, for example air navigation or ship navigation. This wouldn't work either if it's a problem of the area!

jast meinte

Okto - Michl meinte

Due to the magnetic poles are changing the next years... (In german "Polsprung")

"the next years" is according to wikipedia year 3000-4000 ;-)

@MK-flyer-SA: GPS-PH defenately works at your location! I'm sure your problem some calibration or compass mount problem and not the metal in the ground ;-) But I'm not the MK expert.

Can you get accurate readings from your iPhone compass? Put the iPhone on a Table (non-metal please!) and turn it by exactly 90°. Does the mesaured value also show 90° changes? Face your iPhone north in 90° steps and then tilt it by 45°. The value should not change (more or less).

Btw: Magnetic compass is used in many different applications, for example air navigation or ship navigation. This wouldn't work either if it's a problem of the area!

Iphone works good, calibrated different copters at least 15 times in different locations using the latest methods with both facing north to start and facing south to start then turning west or east, no difference. Calibrated to magnetic and true north using various methods.
I have tried 8 different types of battieries and twisted wires, I hung the battery on the LG as far away as possible, I spaced the GPS as high as possible. I have tried everything

Harware mounted as instructed, no errors in MK tools, Radio reporting everything good.
Here is a logfile that you can see the Magnetfield go off the chart to about 176 from about 104
http://www.thebetterpixel.co.za/GPS00001.GPX

How do I delete or close my thread?
Tank you

you cannot do that

---- Thread closed on creators wish