Orlandoo D4L meltdown

[LAV25]

Trying to put together an Orlandoo Jeep. Slow going because it's so small but that's not today's issue. I got the Orlandoo-Hunter D4L radio and sound unit pack along with the kit, finally found some batteries for it but they immediately killed it.

First, I plugged the steering servo into the steering servo port, then a freshly charged battery (NIMH) into the battery port. There's a little tab to make sure that the battery can only be plugged in one way. No light, the receiver didn't look like it was waking up. Check the directions and realized I needed to plug in the power switch as well, so I did that and flipped it both ways. The receiver still didn't wake up.

It was at this point that I realized the NIMH battery was getting hot, so I quickly unplugged it. I'd had a similar issue when charging it, so I thought that it might be a problem with the battery.

Switched to a LiPo I got yesterday and had just peak-charged. The receiver still didn't wake up no matter which way I flipped the power switch, but when I was looking at the manual (which sucks) I smelled smoke. Factory-installed grey smoke coming out of the receiver, I yanked the battery out, unplugged the servo, but when I tried to pull the power switch out it came out without the plug, the heat had melted the solder on the leads.

Does it sound like I did anything wrong? I've been in this hobby on and off for thirty years and never burned anything out by plugging it in. Bought it from Banggood, no idea what their customer service/returns policy is like but between the frustration of the build and the electronics frying I'm about to toss this thing in the local river and call it a loss.

[Kingmeow]

I don't know about your other issues other than perhaps you reversed the polarity of the plug (but you said it was keyed to go in one way) but I can tell you the customer service from Banggood is non-existent. Stuff you buy there is considered "disposable". You can certainly try and see what they can do for you but I would not hold my breath.

[LAV25]

Originally Posted by Kingmeow

I don't know about your other issues other than perhaps you reversed the polarity of the plug (but you said it was keyed to go in one way) but I can tell you the customer service from Banggood is non-existent. Stuff you buy there is considered "disposable". You can certainly try and see what they can do for you but I would not hold my breath.

Thanks for the heads up. First order from Banggood and I suspected as much. I'll double check my plugs, but they're supposed to be designed not to fit backwards.

Between the tiny, tiny size, the minimal instructions on the radio, and this I'm considering ditching this project entirely TBH.

[Kingmeow]

I don't know how much you paid but ditching it is probably a good idea. Trying to fix it is going down the rabbit hole. You'll just end up throwing money and more money after it and in the end you'll end up with something mediocre at best.

I fly RC planes as my primary RC hobby and we are all familiar with Banggood. Good for connectors, wires, etc. Something that's hard to screw up and not worth a lot if you need to junk it. We certainly don't buy an entire airplane from them. First thing is no parts, second thing is no customer service!

Good luck with your decision!