Need help: Sudden death of OrangeRX TX module and RX

[perdification]

Hey guys,

Just wondering if anyone experienced this before. This situation happened to my OrangeRX R610 RX and again to an OrangeRX TX module.

First, I was using my OrangeRX R610 RX as per normal, it had been working fine all along. One fine day, when I connected the batteries and wanted to go flying, there was no red light on my RX. From that day onwards, it ceased to function. It was akin to sudden death. I can do soldering, and I figured that if it's just a bloated capacitor I could simply swap it out. Upon inspection of the board, there was nothing, no burnt marks, no bloated caps, everything just looked normal. Could it be one of the electronics that wore out? Is there anyway to save it? Beats me why something would just die like that. It probably is just a single faulty component that can be replaced.

Secondly, same thing happened to my friend's OrangeRX TX module. He had been using it fine all along in his Turnigy 9X, he didn't drop it, nothing. One day when he powered the TX on, the Orange just didn't give that initialising beep. Pressing the bind button elicited no response at all. I dismantled the casing and again, found no abnormalities. Nothing burnt. What's going on? Are Orange products known to fail like that?

I've heard that some manufacturers set an expiry date on their products. Meaning that after a certain time, that critical component would be programmed to die/stop working. This is especially easy to do with the ATMega chips (or any other MCUs for that matter) that are found in Orange devices, let's say, with every power cycle, add one to a counter and write it to EEPROM, then once that counter reaches a certain value, just stop the MCU from working by running a separate set of code that is non functional, and tadaa! It's such a simple piece of code, even I could write it. You would be sure to continually have to buy Orange products, and your hard earned $$$ goes into their pockets.

I might try FrSky if Orange products are trash.

[perdification]

Anyone had similar experiences/suggestions? Or anyone has anything good to say about Orange after long term usage?

Thanks!

[perdification]

Anyone has any ideas?? Should I go with FrSky?

[Kaen]

Anyone has any ideas?? Should I go with FrSky?

I did a ton of research before settling on FrSky... quite established as the leader in RX/TX technology.
If you pay a bit more you can future proof it by getting the telemetry enabled D8R-II plus series.

FrSky's 9XR competitor is scheduled to be released around June/July 2013.... that is rumored to come with telemetry support built it. The open source community has already begun porting Open9X and ER9X to the new FrSky radio...

Newbie Education Segment:
Telemetry lets you view data such as Voltage, Current (amps) used, altitude, wind speeds, temperature, gps data, RSSI (radio rx/tx strength), etc etc on your Radio's LCD panel. Which greatly assists in whatever you are flying! It requires a telemetry enabled RX/TX and separate sensors can be installed for whatever data you need to view.

[feudallordcult]

Frsky is pretty darn good. Orange rx only for cheap gliders that u dun mind crashing. I use it for the sky surfer but it will NEVER go near my heli-babies!

[perdification]

I did a ton of research before settling on FrSky... quite established as the leader in RX/TX technology.
If you pay a bit more you can future proof it by getting the telemetry enabled D8R-II plus series.

FrSky's 9XR competitor is scheduled to be released around June/July 2013.... that is rumored to come with telemetry support built it. The open source community has already begun porting Open9X and ER9X to the new FrSky radio...

Newbie Education Segment:
Telemetry lets you view data such as Voltage, Current (amps) used, altitude, wind speeds, temperature, gps data, arrow showing direction to home, RSSI (radio rx/tx strength), etc etc on your Radio's LCD panel. Which greatly assists in whatever you are flying! It requires a telemetry enabled RX/TX and separate sensors can be installed for whatever data you need to view.

Yup, I got the telemetry enabled RX, because it's only a few $ dearer. And I got the telemetry sensors as well. The Lipo sensor is really useful. I might consider the Amp sensor as well, because I think you need to judge the flight time by using a combination of both. I just hope I won't be looking at the screen so much and monitoring the values that I end up crashing my model.

[perdification]

Frsky is pretty darn good. Orange rx only for cheap gliders that u dun mind crashing. I use it for the sky surfer but it will NEVER go near my heli-babies!

Thanks for reply bro. How'd you find the Orange Tx module so far? Or are you using a Spektrum radio with Orange RX?

[feudallordcult]

I usedthe same orange 6ch with satellite on all 3 cloudsfly then finally in surfer. Crashed all the cloudsfly cos pilot dumb-dumb. Wasn't pretty, lipos also upz lorry. Orange still ok.when the surfer was up, I switched off the tx deliberately n on again. Link re-established in less than 3s. It's prob luck of draw. I would never use it on heli or hv applications. It's an imitation after all.

[feudallordcult]

Tx is dx7 but moving on to dsx9.

[perdification]

I usedthe same orange 6ch with satellite on all 3 cloudsfly then finally in surfer. Crashed all the cloudsfly cos pilot dumb-dumb. Wasn't pretty, lipos also upz lorry. Orange still ok.when the surfer was up, I switched off the tx deliberately n on again. Link re-established in less than 3s. It's prob luck of draw. I would never use it on heli or hv applications. It's an imitation after all.

Woah, that must have been a pretty bad crash to kill your lipo. I'll keep your points in mind. Thanks.

Tx is dx7 but moving on to dsx9.

I see, so you're using a genuine Spektrum radio. I'm wondering about the reliability of the Orange DSM 2 TX modules...

[rayonnair]

I see, so you're using a genuine Spektrum radio. I'm wondering about the reliability of the Orange DSM 2 TX modules...

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1770202

Not worth the trouble if you ask me. Get a Dx6i second hand from the forums and use that for your eflite/pz BnF if you want. FrSky's own 2.4GHz system is pretty good, and they make reliable FASST compatible receivers for Futaba FASST also.

[cyberiarvo]

It happen to me already... Ive been using it around 5x while waiting for my rx r617 then I put it aside for 1 month coz my r617 came then when i want to use it for the other plane, its not working anymore.

[perdification]

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1770202

Not worth the trouble if you ask me. Get a Dx6i second hand from the forums and use that for your eflite/pz BnF if you want. FrSky's own 2.4GHz system is pretty good, and they make reliable FASST compatible receivers for Futaba FASST also.

Thanks for your reply, I've seen that thread before, but I believe it was only a transient manufacturing defect during the initial release of the product from HK. (as with many other products from HK...) They've since rectified it and no one else has had major complaints after the fix... The only reason why I'm considering Spektrum at all for the 9XR is because the Orange TX Module is dirt cheap, and so is the Orange RX. Another reason is because my entire fleet is currently DSM2 and Orange, so switching all of them over to FrSky would be...

The OrangeRX R615 at USD5.89 a piece is really an unbeatable deal. The FrSky however, for the same 6CH RX would set you back about USD17. Of course, you could get the 8CH V series without telemetry for a few cents more. Still, they cost about 3 times more than the R615. So, cost wise, it doesn't make sense to switch to FrSky. But performance wise, I'd say FrSky any time.

[perdification]

It happen to me already... Ive been using it around 5x while waiting for my rx r617 then I put it aside for 1 month coz my r617 came then when i want to use it for the other plane, its not working anymore.

The Orange TX module you mean? I see... Thanks for sharing your experience. I hope the conclusion of this thread is to steer clear of Orange products? Maybe a more reasonable conclusion would be what feudallordcult suggested, which is to use FrSky (or any other protocols for that matter) for models that you're serious about, and to use Orange if you're on a budget and don't mind your models crashing/being grounded due to a faulty RX and/or TX.

Thanks for all the inputs so far... It's good to see people sharing their experience, to help us as consumers to better discern the true value of our products that we're getting...

[feudallordcult]

The Orange TX module you mean? I see... Thanks for sharing your experience. I hope the conclusion of this thread is to steer clear of Orange products? Maybe a more reasonable conclusion would be what feudallordcult suggested, which is to use FrSky (or any other protocols for that matter) for models that you're serious about, and to use Orange if you're on a budget and don't mind your models crashing/being grounded due to a faulty RX and/or TX.

Thanks for all the inputs so far... It's good to see people sharing their experience, to help us as consumers to better discern the true value of our products that we're getting...

We should try NOT to crash regardless the monetary value of our models. I think helis (esp big ones) are far more dangerous than gliders in a lockout. Hence, I'd rather fit the original spektrum/JR which gives me a peace of mind as opposed to guessing when the orange will fail and boomz the heli. Thus far, I have not personally witnessed the demise of any orange rx but I definitely won't use the orange module for dsm2 or any of the turnigy tx. by and large, M-I-C stuff are pretty much hit and miss, so proceed with caution.