EVO 11 Calibration

Fire377 · Feb 27, 2021

How important is it to do the three calibrations on the Eve 11 straight out of box and after firmware updates
1 Gimbal
2 Compass
3 IMU
please let me know your views
cheers
Phil

Eagle928 · Feb 27, 2021

Very important if you want to prevent it from going haywire.

It might be okay or it might not. Why not do everything you can to prevent a bad surprise?

You should also re-calibrate the compass if you travel more than 10 miles from the last time it was calibrated. Again, it might be fine, or it might not.

chowland · Feb 28, 2021

Eagle928 said:
Very important if you want to prevent it from going haywire.

It might be okay or it might not. Why not do everything you can to prevent a bad surprise?

You should also re-calibrate the compass if you travel more than 10 miles from the last time it was calibrated. Again, it might be fine, or it might not.

Really, 10 miles? I calibrated it once a year ago. I travelled many miles over the 10 mile you mentioned and the drone was fine.
I guess I've been lucky. I'll have to remember to do the calibration the next time I go out of state.

Eagle928 · Feb 28, 2021

chowland said:
Really, 10 miles? I calibrated it once a year ago. I travelled many miles over the 10 mile you mentioned and the drone was fine.
I guess I've been lucky. I'll have to remember to do the calibration the next time I go out of state.

Yes; that is what I've been reading. I think it's one of those things that may or may not make a difference. I would rather err on the side of caution in this case.

herein2021 · Feb 28, 2021

I only calibrate the compass if I get on a plane and fly to a new location or I get an alert on the screen but yes, a good rule of thumb is to calibrate the compass if you travel more than a certain number of miles from the last place you calibrated it last; I've seen varying distances from 10 miles up to 50 miles with the latest DJI drones they stated you only needed to calibrate it when prompted to do so.

As far as the other two, I never bother with the gimbal unless the horizon is slanted prior to takeoff which I don't think I've ever seen in my years of flying. The IMU I also never calibrate unless prompted to do so. The IMU already does a calibration on every startup but it does not calibrate all of the parameters unless you do a full calibration.

Is my approach the safest / best? Maybe not, but at least with DJI drones it's never caused a problem since 2014 and DJI documentation never stated you needed to calibrate anything after a firmware upgrade. I'm not sure yet what I will do with the EVO II. My biggest concern with the calibration process is it failing and leaving the drone in worse shape than when it started. This is most likely a possibility with the compass if it is calibrated anywhere near a magnetic interference source and a mis-calibrated compass can absolutely lead to a fly away.

Also, the official Autel EVO 2 firmware upgrade documentation and video do not mention any calibration processes are needed after a firmware upgrade. So no, I will probably stick to what I have been doing and only calibrate the IMU or compass if I get a warning notification to do so or the EVO does something unexpected while in the air. I do think you should perform all 3 if it is straight out of the box, the IMU and compass calibration process if they fail could alert you to an issue before your first flight; but I personally am not going to calibrate any of them again after future firmware updates.

Tom skerke · Mar 4, 2021

It]f you don’t calibrate your in trouble

MNT DRONE SOLUTIONS · Mar 6, 2021

Autel DOES recommend doing a compass calibration if you change flight locations. Every time I change a flight location I do a compass calibration. The calibration is a very simple process and makes a difference when using the return to home feature. You are flying a $2,000 aircraft, why would you not do a simple calibration? It only takes one compass error to have an accident during flight.