Drones and Power Lines
 

Do electric transmission power lines disrupt the navigation ability of drones? I know that my iPhone compass does not work properly within a few hundred feet of the towers. I'm curious if anyone had any issues when they flew close to a tower.

Re: Drones and Power Lines
 

yes...did notice the compass calibration went wonky around 30-40 yards from a simple power pole on one flight a few weeks ago. Didn't affect the flying at all though. Inspire 1 was the drone.

Re: Drones and Power Lines
 

DJI warns against flying near power lines in all their manuals. Not sure about other OEM's. 375KV transmissions lines put off large amounts of corona discharge which can be a problem for RF and GPS.

Re: Drones and Power Lines
 

Electricity and magnetism go hand in hand. You can't have one without the other. Any wire that has current flowing through it will have a magnetic field surrounding it. Run a magnet back and forth over a conductor, and it will induce an electric current. It's the basic operating principle of motors, solenoids, loud speakers, etc.

A compass responds to magnetic fields. You can imagine what that much electricity will do to a compass when it is fairly close to those power lines.

-gb-

Re: Drones and Power Lines
 

Especially if your name is Fleming.
:-)

Re: Drones and Power Lines
 

I have flow within 10 feet of 4160 volts with no problems. Thats the voltage power poles in front of my house.
I wouldnt attempt to fly over or around anything higher in voltage without the power companies ok. The risk of fire is too great where I live ( southern California)

But I do fly over and under the ones at my place. No Issues at all
Thats with a Naza, wookong, and A2

Re: Drones and Power Lines
 

I fly my multirotors under and around power lines all the time but I am flying in Manual mode and not using a NAZA.

Re: Drones and Power Lines
 

4160 is nothing. Transmission voltages are 345kv to 765kv and will disrupt GPS and compass. Do it wrong and you could be facing a $35k bill like this Inspire owner. The bulk electric grid is considered critical infrastructure and key to national security. This incident will be investigated by both NERC/FERC agencies.

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