question

dirk-v avatar image
dirk-v asked

Smart solar 75/15 blown

Good day

Can someone please provide some advice about how to handle a warranty claim for a MPPT charger?

Background:

I have a small system for backup power, 220A 12v battery, 500w inverter, 15A AC charger, 15A solar charger, 200w of solar panels. The system was switched off for about 3 months, realizing the battery required charging, I switched on the solar charger. The charger worked at first, going into bulk charging mode. After about 15 minutes I noticed all the lights where off on the charger and it was extremely hot. The solar charger was reconnected after replacing the fuse and allowing the unit to cool down, however the charger again hot extremely hot and blew the fuse almost instantly. In the meantime, I have been using the AC charger.

Eventually after 9 months (the dealer is not close by, I waited until I was in the area for work purposes) went to visit the dealer for to see if the MPPT is repairable and if the unit would be covered by Victron warranty policy.

After 2 days the dealer sent me an email with 2 pictures of their findings. One of the damage on the PCB and the other of the sand found inside the unit. Puzzle by the lack of information, we had the following email exchange:

Dealer:

Unfortunately the unit that you sent in cannot be repaired.

This will also not be a warranty replacement.

Client:

Can you please clarify the reason why the unit is not covered by Victron's 5 year warranty period?

Dealer:

This is not a factory fault.

The unit is blown

There is sand in the unit.

Client

Yes, the unit blew within the warranty period.

The "sand" pictured comes from the unit, the unit is designed with the "sand" for passive cooling.

Can you please provide a more technical reason?

Dealer:

This unit is blown, this is not covered by warranty at all.

This isn’t a factory fault.


From the client point of view, this seems ridiculous listing the sand as a reason, as the small MPPT’s are filled with sand from the factory for cooling?

Any opinions if it is normal to get assistance for a blown MPPT charger?

smartsol-2.jpgsmartsol-2.jpg


MPPT SmartSolar
smartsol-2.jpg (112.9 KiB)
smartsol-1.jpg (55.1 KiB)
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Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) avatar image Daniël Boekel (Victron Energy Staff) ♦♦ commented ·
Hi @Dirk-V

I've sent you an email to find out what happened here.

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4 Answers
michelg avatar image
michelg answered ·

Hi Dirk, sounds strange... Did you open the mppt ? I mean, we can clearly see its back cover has been "cutted".

The other curirous thing is the blown away area into the mppt. This looks like a massive short-circuit.

Michel.

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dirk-v avatar image dirk-v commented ·

The MPPT was intact, the dealer removed the cover to inspect the damage. And the surprise discovery of sand..

It does look like an internal short? The MPPT was still functioning with solar input, as soon as the battery is connected the unit will pop the fuse. The AC charger have since been used without a problem.

Perhaps the battery voltage was too low for the MPPT causing some type of overload. I’m not the expert, but I would at least expect some logical reason to be supplied for not having any warranty assistance.

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frankcilo avatar image
frankcilo answered ·

however the victron assistance I also found I was not at all a strong point of this company, quite the contrary! Having to necessarily contact those who sold the goods is crazy, honestly I'm starting to stop advertising this company, I'm sorry, and I notice that many others are starting to think like me

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dirk-v avatar image dirk-v commented ·

Yes, after reading its seams quite a common finding clients who are stuck with dears who provide poor support.

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wkirby avatar image
wkirby answered ·

I can't really see what the problem is.
As far as I can tell, the unit has suffered an internal failure, then the dealer should simply replace it for the customer and raise an RMA, super simple.
The dealer opening up the product to look inside it a bit strange. Maybe checking for water ingress, but they did not mention anything about water, so it seems like just an unfortunate failure. It is blown up inside where the customer cannot reach, so dealer should supply some evidence that the customer did something wrong. The customer did not open it up, so what is the point of checking inside?

Most dealers can tell when the customer has done something wrong like improper terminal torque or other wiring problem. These kind of failures are visible from the outside.

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dirk-v avatar image dirk-v commented ·

Thanks for the nice logical response.

Any idea how robust Victron’s RMA process is, e.g. can the the dealer claim for an RMA while telling the client there is no warranty?

(Just speculating as the response from the dealer is very strange)

Any idea how to take this further if the dealer is adamant that there is no warranty?

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Rick avatar image
Rick answered ·

Mine had silver coloured "sand" in it as well, after the angle grinder, holesaw, chisel, drill treatment to open the case.

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