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8- Self-compensation
8.1- Self-compensation principle
During the first use, after being placed on the boat, it is sometimes
necessary to self-compensate the sensor.
On some boats, Fluxgate Compass can be strongly disturbed by its
environment. Despite careful installation and offset adjustment, there is
still a significant difference between the displayed magnetic heading and
the actual magnetic heading over the entire measurement range of 0 to
359 °. In this case, you can self-compensate the Fluxgate Compass to
achieve acceptable accuracy. The self-compensation procedure is
described later in this manual (section 8.2)
The operation is to achieve, at a rigorously constant speed, a perfect
circle with your boat, in the direction of clockwise. As the boat describes
this circle, the sensor will then record the measurement points of a
deflection curve every 10 ° with an accuracy of 0.25 °. Thus, your Fluxgate
Compass will be accurately corrected from 0 to 359 °.
WARNING: if your compass is taken as reference, it must be compensated
(calibrated) so that the calibration is right.