With my APM I’ve got the internal/external compass turned off in parameters.
But the MP Flight Data HUD still displays the compass orientation from the internal compass.
My suggestion is, if parameters have the compass turning to 0 (off), then MP Flight Data HUD should ignore the internal compass.
I think suggestions for improvements to the mission planner belong in the mission planner’s issue list.
github.com/diydrones/MissionPlanner
But in this particular case if you’ve using an APM2.5 (or earlier) and you’ve connected an external compass then you must have disabled the internal compass by cutting the trace. If that’s the case then the heading that you’re seeing on the HUD is not from the compass but an estimate based upon the last compass heading and the gyro readings following. We want to keep this estimate and keep it visible in the mission planner becauase you can imagine that if the compass failed during flight you wouldn’t want the copter to simply give up on it’s heading. Also it’s helpful for the human to know what the copter thinks it’s heading is.
Apologies if I’m misunderstanding what’s going on.
Its an APM 2.5. I think if you have disabled the compass in the MP parameters, there’s no reason for it to display the stats from the compass, regardless of the boards status.
I agree MP should display the computed heading from the GPS position, and perhaps indicate that on the HUD, but that’s not what’s happening.
currently, I’ve got a faulty compass, and a setting that reflects that. But a HUD compass that’s still using the faulty compass. Its doesn’t make sense.
As Randy wrote, even with the compass turned off, the MP HUD will still move because of the gyros. MP doesn’t know how the APM determines it’s heading. It just displays what the APM transmits.