Magnetic Compass

[tailwind]

Mine is licensed without a fluid compass. I have a dynon with internal backup and a Garmin efis with electrical backup. Also I carry a iPhone with Garmin pilot. Three effective methods of navigation in the event of electrical failure.

[rodsmith]

Fair enough, except we’re still required to have one (a magnetic direction indicator).

I'm unclear on this, I'm thinking an EFIS that uses a magnetometer fills the requirement. If that is true, then a wet compass is optional as a backup.

[jaredyates]

My magnetic direction indicator uses a sensor in the wingtip.

[Bcone1381]

Seems like a lot of work for a wet compass. Pull out your smartphone, go to google maps, drop a pin where you want to go. Or get a free GPS app which gives you your course and speed.

With one EFIS, one tablet, and 1 smartphone, I have as many navigation backups as an airliner. If I have a passenger with another smartphone, I have more.

The GPS app works perfectly at FL350 and .8M. It is a brave new world of cheap, consumer navigation.

The debate for the need of a wet compass is a really good subject on it own. If we can keep this thread focused on improving the accuracy of a traditional magnetic compass it will help those of us who plan to install and use one.

I'd like to ditch the magnetometer. These guys

https://aerovonics.com/av-30

make a DG that is independent of a magnetometer, but requires the pilot to manually realign it occasionally. In the previous century I did not find doing so to be an inconvenience at all. Today as I plan my build, this system seems like the simplest to install and potentially trouble shoot of any I've run across.

Lastly, As think about my mag compass placement, top of the instrument panel I think will place it furthest from any steel tubing in the fuselage as its away from the diagonals that run down from the wing root to the firewall, the window side posts, and the bottom cross tube that the panel sits on top of.

Brooks

[Chris In Milwaukee]

Fair enough, except we’re still required to have one (a magnetic direction indicator).

[svyolo]

Seems like a lot of work for a wet compass. Pull out your smartphone, go to google maps, drop a pin where you want to go. Or get a free GPS app which gives you your course and speed.

With one EFIS, one tablet, and 1 smartphone, I have as many navigation backups as an airliner. If I have a passenger with another smartphone, I have more.

The GPS app works perfectly at FL350 and .8M. It is a brave new world of cheap, consumer navigation.

[zkelley2]

It's nothing fancy. Just pull the trigger and move it around on the steel parts. The cockpit area may take 30 minutes...

20190629_112213.jpg20190629_112303.jpg20190629_112144.jpg

It'd be cool to try that. You mind if I borrow it for a day or so?

[alaskabearhawk]

It's nothing fancy. Just pull the trigger and move it around on the steel parts. The cockpit area may take 30 minutes...

20190629_112213.jpg20190629_112303.jpg20190629_112144.jpg

[Bcone1381]

I've had some magnetism issues on my fuselage and would like more information on hand held degausser as well. Uncertainty of my issues will remain until I get the fuselage outside where I can swing it around.

But I can help one way. My iPhone has a $3 app called Smart Tools Pro with a bunch of hand gadgets. One of them is a tool called Mag Flux that measures magnetic field strength. I can easily find points of magnetism on the fuselage with it. Right now it reads about 43. But when I get up and move it next to the telephone ear piece it jumps up to over 1000. In fact I can see that the magnetic sensor is near the iPhone camera lens by way move the phone around on the telephones handset ear piece.

I wonder what Mag Flux number would if I placed it on the top of my instrument panel where the compass be installed? I wonder what I need to provide an accurate compass reading.

Alaska, can you help out the OP a little more? Did you use it to degauss your fuselage, how successful was it, how long did it take? Will you share the Brand name, methods of using it, name of degausser, age, cost? Will you rent it out?

[alaskabearhawk]

I have a hand-held degausser used for erasing tape recordings. It looks like a small iron for clothing. Seems easy enough to me.

[zkelley2]

Take a degausser to the fuselage tubes and then see what you get for readings,

Seems a lot easier said than done.

anyone tried this? https://m.aircraftspruce.com/catalog...passshield.php

[alaskabearhawk]

Take a degausser to the fuselage tubes and then see what you get for readings,

[zkelley2]

Has anyone found a good place to mount an old fashioned non remote mount(EFIS) compass?

I have two sitting around and they both have errors of no less than 30 degrees and up to 90 depending on the direction when anywhere near the panel. And there's nothing in my panel at the moment.