Compass Malfunction?

[BigTex]

I noticed Saturday while heading east on a taxi way that the compass indicated north.  Talking it over with my A&P he thought that maybe it's because the center post is magnetized and I should relocate it.

Is this something that's common on Mooney's or do I have a cheap compass and should just get it replaced?

[richardheitzman]

Magnatized tubular structure is a "normal" issue with Mooney aircraft. Take your Wiskey Compass out of the aircraft and see if it points true. If it does then you can get the tubular structure demagnatized at a Mooney service center. Not too difficult they just need to have the De-Gaussing electomagnet tool. Not too many have them any more.

The way to prevent it happening again, dont lay a power cable across your fusalage, dont leave your aircraft parked in a hanger with overhead florecent light on all the time.

[sleepingsquirrel]

http://www.mooney.com/images/pdfs/si-pdf/sim20-95.pdf

http://www.mooney.com/images/pdfs/sb-pdf/sbm20-150A.pdf

 

These both address this issue . Read them both they are different , one describes rerouting some cable to the master switch, I believe.

[BigTex]

Thanks for the posts... I thought that might be the issue.  Don Maxwell worked on the compass a month ago so I need to check with him to see what it did.  If he demagnetized the plane, it might be a wiring issue.