Have you xxperienced the degredation of you magnetic compass over time? Can you explain why?

References would be great.

Thanks in advance,

Blake
www.outdoorquest.biz

ever exprianced a degradation, but did get a reversal, who knew mettal woudl be a bad thing to keep the compas in..

True story,,

I don't know about degradation, but I have seen several compasses malfunction over time.

A compass is a mechanical system, after all. The needle can stick on the pivot point or on the case, and the liquid filled capsule can admit air bubbles that are large enough to interfere with operation.

Annual checks of compasses in kits, and function checks before trips, are SOP. If/when you get turned around, you have to *know* your compass is accurate to talk yourself through it.

I have been putting button compasses in all my packs and bags as backup to a Suunto MC-2DL.

I have an old Brunton that seems to be screwed up. Don't know why.

http://www.bepreparedtosurvive.com/Compasses.htm

Excellent point about the annual check being SOP before travel.

No.



Any ferromagnets can be de-magnetized.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet#Demagnetizing_ferromagnets

Good news is, you can magnetize it again. Just scroll up 10 lines on the above reference...

I've had a compass stop pointing to true north. Not sure why it happened. It happened over a fairly short duration (maybe a few weeks) and it was stored in a plastic shoe box sized bin with other compasses - away from electronic gear. The company replaced it without question.

I've also had several compasses with larger bubbles in the fluid. Those too were replaced without question.

I bought a vintage Taylor compass that had reversed polarity. They can be disassembled, so I removed the needle and remagnitized it, and now it works perfectly.

That's a gorgeous old piece. I'm envious. What date would you peg it at?

How did you reverse (un-reverse?) the poles? And, do you think that will last?

Signed,
Deeply Curious

dougwalkabout...I received one similar when working on my Scout Second Class navigation requirement around 1960

We discuseed this before:

http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=193006#Post193006

There is an excellent post by blast explaining what can degrade the compass needle/magnet

Thanks, some of the old stuff has a lot of charm. This particular one is from the late '40s and made of bakelite, aluminum, and glass. The older ones have a twisted bar needle with a tiny copper coil on one end. The later versions have a blued flat steel needle. The glass can be pried up, and the needle removed. By stroking the needle with one pole of a strong magnet from end to end for a minute or so, you can strengthen the field or change the polarity. Should last a long time, but if not, the procedure can be repeated.