Compass is inaccurate

[Sheepdog4119]

Hey, i've seen some posts about the compass locked on north. Mine moves but is not accurate. I carry a garmin watch compass, pocket compass, and a compass on my phone. The only one thats different is the BS compass. Can it be recalibrated?

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[Mark S.]

I believe the compass gets its signal from the GPS (not a magnetic signal, a ground track signal). If your compass isn't indicating properly you may have to take it in for service.

 

[Dude]

I believe the compass gets its signal from the GPS (not a magnetic signal, a ground track signal). If your compass isn't indicating properly you may have to take it in for service.

Hey @Mark S. … what exactly do you mean by GPS (a ground track signal)… are you actually referring to the Bronco Sport receiving a signal from the Global Positioning System (a constellation of Satellites owned by the US Government)?

i am 99.99% sure you are referring to that since I read once that “all Fords when equipped with SYNC have GPS due to 911 assist and that is how the compass works is off GPS. GPS doesn't mean navigation.”

I also read that the compass (in a Ford) being off or locked on a direction such as North could be due to the “GPS antennas not hooked up correctly”.

 

[Bucko]

See post #4 of this thread:

https://www.broncosportforum.com/forum/threads/on-board-compass-stuck-on-n.3106/

 

[Mark S.]

Hey @Mark S. … what exactly do you mean by GPS (a ground track signal)… are you actually referring to the Bronco Sport receiving a signal from the Global Positioning System (a constellation of Satellites owned by the US Government)?

Yes, I believe the "compass" display is actually the direction the vehicle is moving based on GPS. I do not believe there is a magnetic sensor in the car to indicate magnetic heading.

 

[Dude]

Yes, I believe the "compass" display is actually the direction the vehicle is moving based on GPS. I do not believe there is a magnetic sensor in the car to indicate magnetic heading.

Thanks and I do agree with you on no magnetic sensor/compass as I read this not long ago: “all Fords when equipped with SYNC have GPS due to 911 assist and that is how the compass works is off GPS. GPS doesn't mean navigation.”

 

[Sheepdog4119]

Thanks everyone. I think its time for a visit to the dealer.

 

[Barry S.]

A philosopher once said, "If you don't have a destination, you're never lost." Don't know how it applies to this problem, but I couldn't resist posting the quotation.?

 

[Sig Oris]

A philosopher once said, "If you don't have a destination, you're never lost." Don't know how it applies to this problem, but I couldn't resist posting the quotation.?

Or another version, a man with two watches doesn’t know what time is ?

 

[birddog2]

You did not say how much the BS compass is off.
Since the others you are using are magnetic and the BS is GPS, it may be the magnetic deviation.

 

[coopny]

As others have said, Sync 3 makes a GPS antenna mandatory, regardless of whether or not the vehicle is navigation equipped. Even a vehicle without a factory nav equipped APIM (Sync 3 module) has a GPS antenna connected in the car, which is used for things like the compass and for setting the clock even.

Also birddog2 is on the money if the reference of it being "off" is comparing to a vehicle with a magnetic one... the GPS may actually be more accurate and the difference observed is just the magnetic declination. I have seen original gen1 Sync vehicles have the GPS antenna go wonky/fail however, so if it's wildly off (you're on an interstate heading east and it reads south), possible something requires service in the BS.

EDIT: At least one other person here has reported the GPS module in their 21 BS frying. If it never updates and the time is off, it's possibly an actual hardware failure. A failure where it's off but functioning would be unusual, but again magnetic declination may be the difference.

To compare what the declination is on a magnetic compass, put your location in this site.

 

[Bucko]

A philosopher once said, "If you don't have a destination, you're never lost." Don't know how it applies to this problem, but I couldn't resist posting the quotation.?

It's like diving...whoever is carrying the dive flag is not lost.

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