Smartsolar froze and burst capacitor? Any warrenty experience?

Weird story, just back from Norway, and my Smartsolar 100/30 broke. Maybe frozen and burst capacitor?

What I know is: there is electrolyte leaking from it. I was wondering what the smell was for a day or two before I discovered (was running on the Orion XS instead, no sun in winter)

When I dismounted, it was still dripping if I angled the MPPT. Everything else above, to the side, and below the MPPT was very dry, only the wood directly below was wet/black. And as mentioned, it was still dripping this smelly stuff even on my workbench. 100% it is electrolyte and not water.
I did not open it (as warranty) but I am sure if I would, I would see a burst capacitor.

Can they freeze and burst? Is this warranty?
I submitted a claim to Obelink, where I bought it.

The datasheet shows an operating temperature of -30°C to +60°C

Indeed thanks. I just thought to look that up as well a moment ago as well.
It was cold, but not -30C cold. I believe the coldest we had overnight was -19C
(I was not sleeping in the camper)

Still, I am still sure it is a burst capacitor, and with Norway winter sun, I am also quite sure it did not cook or fry due to too much overheating or overcurrent.
Must have been the cold.

Edit: photo for ambiance.

Not saying this is true in your case, but since I i have seen alot of mobile installers install mppts upside down i thought to mention this.

If the mppt is installed up side down (terminals up) condensation can run into the mppt and that will be the destroying event.
So likely the capacitors did blow (as the water could have shorted things - or that combined with re freezing). What is not likely is that there was enough fluid in the capacitors to run out of the MPPT? If liquid drips out, it would still smell like electrolyte as it did mix with the water that ran into there.
Or at least in all of my capacitor explosion experiences there has been enough electrolyte to drip. {I could be corrected}

Condensation? I can see why that is something to take into consideration, but I do not really think so. I have a few arguments:

It was not mounted upside down.
Everything else was extremely dry. No sign of former wet spots, no black spots. Other then the exact spot where it dripped. I did go back and check for it.

I agree there was a bit more liquid then usual, but then again (and I am an electronics repair hobbyist so did see a bunch) usually I only see elco’s fail because they are hot and dried out. And even then, there was some liquid, but still only a few drops (see images). Possibly you misunderstood me above and think I meant it poured out, but I did not say that. A few drops fell out.

Also, I do not think external water and related shorting make capacitors erupt internally. It blows fuses. It corrodes the leads. Destroys silicon by putting voltage on the wrong leads. But not erupt capacitors.

Refrezing could sheer off the leads. I guess refreezing could also tear out the leads and in that case you may be correct (because that would next leak). But I’d have to open it to see that.

It would really be interesting. I guess if warranty is rejected (I hope not) I should do a autopsy and post about it. I am hoping though Victron would rather do that themselves.

Image of the drops:


Edit: Link to similar device pried/shown open:

That is quite a bit of fluid. I did read dripped but the caps in there are not huge.

I am keen to hear the conclusion as well. I have never installed conditins like yours.
As M_Lange mentioned though it should be able to handle the conditions there.
Thanks for taking the time to reply and engage.

I found the Victron RMA-self checklist, and did that:
https://www.victronenergy.com/media/pg/Pre-RMA_Bench_Test_Instructions/en/pre-rma-test-form---mppt-solar-charger.html#UUID-a02c41de-0c89-5d84-c701-4f28b6ae665b_bridgehead-idm133307965784142

Section 3 asks “Is the unit a 250/100 TR VE.Can model?” and allows me to send a warranty in purely on the rejection of that. Seems very generous, does not even get to the short testing. I wonder if that is a form flow mistake

Ignoring that, and continuing:

Section 4-1 diode between both positives: 0.5V either way.
in fact, all connections in all directions show about 0.5V, except between both negatives, which show about 1V. All resistances in all directions show OL.

Section 4-2 0.5A current limited 12V on bat: It shorts (to 0.5V), go to warranty
Section 4-3 0.5A current limited 12V on pv: It shorts (to 0.5V), go to warranty

There are some sub-clause conditions for those last two, but it should be noted that the install was ready and working and untouched for over a year. So that means I could not have reverse connected anything. Also these are a 4x 18V-6A panels in 2x2 setup, on a 100V30A device, so even in summer a panel short would not get near any 30Amp spec.

Section 4-3 does mean I have ridden around about a 10 days on shorted solar panels. However, with the mid-winter sun, I do not think that did much. Even right now, middle of the day, they measure 44V open, 0.8A short. At least they still work.

As can be expected from section 4.2, the external 30A fuse to the battery was blown. And this is why fuses are important. Though I suspect the internal 50A one would have blown otherwise.

PS: I realize no-one can really help. Just writing this down for myself really.
Still not sure what happened, but people on EEVblog seem to insist elco freezing was not likely the primary cause.

I’m not sure if a capacitor has that much liquid electrolyte inside that it can drip out like on your pictures.

I think there’s not much you can do, you have to contact your seller/installer/distributor.