Copter calibration frequency

ArduCopter
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1

Hi all,

A few questions regarding arducopter calibrations:

  1. How often should I perform an accelerometer calibration?
  2. How often should I perform a level calibration?
  3. How often should I perform a compass calibration?
  4. If I have multiple hardware-identical vehicles, how well do the calibration values copy over from one vehicle to another? Can I perform the calibrations once and then copy the values to every subsequent vehicle?

For the first three questions, I’m mainly wondering if these should be done before each flight? once a day? every couple months? Or should the calibrations last the life of the vehicle? Obviously, if the hardware on the vehicle has changed in any way, or if funky behavior is being observed then a calibration should take place. If the vehicle stays unaltered do I need to perform “regular” calibrations?

I’m mainly asking since I read on the compass calibration page that you don’t need to recalibrate the compass when you fly at a different location since the vehicle has a world magnetic model onboard, but this made it sound like you should rarely need to go through the calibration process. I’m curious how true this is and if accel calibrations are similar.

Thanks!

2
  1. Once. Perhaps after a crash or if the FC is remounted.
  2. See 1
  3. After any mechanical or electrical change on the craft that would effect the local (on vehicle) mag field. Note this has nothing to do with geographic location.
  4. No. Each vehicle requires it’s own calibrations.