Is my compass broke?

I have a small compass i use for a cheap telescope i just bought it seems to be 180 degrees off is this possible? sorry if this is in the wrong place.

Where do you live (country)? And which direction is it pointing?

i'd hazard a guess its pointing south if its 180 degrees out

uhhhh.


Unless he's in the southern hemisphere - at which point it would be pointing north if it were 180 off, right?

That'd be the reason I asked the questions.

Im in the panhandle of florida on the gulf and looking south it says north did the poles shift

Check it in several locations. Cheap compasses do have their problems.

One of the things that can affect it is putting it near electric wires. These do generate magnetic fields and (depending on compass and wires) you can get the thing to point just about anywhere if you're near one of those fields.

Check it out in another location.

Check it all over works just fine if north was south.

Does anyone have a compass they can check.

no, i can say with absolute certainty that your compass is entirely to blame if it indeed " mistakes " north for south .

there are hundreds of light aircraft ,commercial and military aircraft , boats and other users relient on magnetic compass bearings in and around florida 24/7 .

the fact that no one selse is reporting such 180 degree error in magnetic compass bearings , indicates to me that your compass and yours alone is incorect .

there has been no pole # on a global level , norr any florida centred magnetic anomolie which would disrupt your compass over a large geographical area as you discribe .

if you want confirmation , go to a sporting goods store and browse

you will find thier and other compasses preform correctly


either you have left it sitting ontop of a transformer or other device which has remagnetised the needle

you bought in error , or have had a joke compass subsituted for a real one .

The poles have shifted.

But not the Earth poles, your compass poles.

Maybe it was left near a magnet strong enough to invert its poles.

If you have a magnet and you can take out the magnetic needle from you compass, you can rub the needle on the magnet to try to change the poles back.

It could be that there is a very strong magnetic source in your home (or where your using it). Allot of things can create a Field strong enough to alter the accuracy of a compass (TV, Wiring, Speakers, and ferrous metals)

But believe me the poles have not shifted lol.

Yep. You've got a defective compass (they put the dial in reversed.)

I do geocaching and have compasses and GPS receivers. Magnetic north is still where it's always been on my compasses and GPSes (just checked.)

don't compasses actually point South anyway?

Look for a "Made in China" sticker...

Ive had cheapo compasses spontaneously reverse before. Just bad design, or bad silkscreen.

I found this site because my compass was pointing South instead of North. I figured it out because I always take two compasses with me. I realize after reading these posts that the change in one of the compasses was due to a magnet that I kept it my fanny pack previously for a specific trip. Luckily the other compass was not effected and I knew where North was before I went into the woods. This is why you should always carry two compasses when you go hiking and always read them, and take a bearing, BEFORE you go into the woods. Good Luck out there! Don't end up on the news!

reply to post by skitzo


lol, nothing wrong with the Earth . More likely it is your compass . They manufactured it wrongly paining the wrong colors haha. It will work fine if you take North as south haha

Another possibility is that is was manufactured for use in the southern hemisphere and you're using it in the north.

[edit on 14/6/08 by Insomniac]

reply to post by Insomniac


The magnetic field lines go from the north pole to the south pole (or the other way around, it really just depends on how you look at it.) Any compass made anywhere should work fine anywhere on earth (excluding the magnetic poles)

It's probably just a manufacturer's error. Just keep it in mind when you use the compass, and you can use it like any other compass.

reply to post by Insomniac


Umm... North is always North, no matter what end of the earth you are on. The only time a (properly working) compass doesn't point north is if you are sitting right on top of the magnetic north or south poles... then it will just spin.

I was joking actually. Maybe I should have used a instead of a Mind you, it would make sense if people in the southern hemisphere used south as their reference instead of north.