A very scary and worrying experience for you both. Thank you for making this video. After 45 years in electronics engineering I’ve seen many many electronic devices fail in this way. Devices made by high end companies and low end, expensive and cheap. Unfortunately it matters not how much you pay or which reputable companies you buy from, electronic components fail. These days they ( capacitors, resistors, transistors etc ) are mostly all made in the Far East. And too are on the whole good quality. Some do fail and can cause the kind of damage and risk to life you have illustrated so well. Paying £100 for Photonic Universe or £200 for Victron will make no difference to this kind of incident. Always switch off your 12v or 240v and solar chargers when leaving the van ( except fridge ). Always add smoke alarms to your electrical areas. Safe travels :)
I'm in the electrical engineering trade as well and have come across this , definitely looks like thermal runaway due to high ambient temperature and pretty sure it wasn't on fire all the residue you see is from fumes given of due to components melting given of gasses would recommend not fixing to materials that have insulation properties like wood especially covered in fabric of any kind metal mounting plates are normally used and ensure that there's ventilation so cold air can be drawn in at the bottom of the installation and and hot air can vent out at the top These manufacturers could easily add device's to the circuit boards to protect against these events happening, thermal resettable switch's have been around a long time , and thermal fuses and other devices but thay wrongly assume it's not going to be a problem I've personally built industrial equipment with multiple thermal protection circuits which would ultimately shut down the electrical equipment completely it really doesn't add much to the cost so no real excuses for bad design PS just to add smaller confined spaces are more of a problem due less air so over heating quickly gets out of hand
That should go to trading standards as it should be a product recall. That is lives your messing with. Good on you both for bringing awareness. Thank goodness you and puppies are ok xx
Thanks for putting out the video l know how you feel traveling around Norway and my 2000w carrybatt inverter blew up smoke everywhere it inside the Motorhome.
Wow it’s scary what can happen with electrics, again this hi lights the importance of being safe with electrical products in your vehicle, you must of had a real shock, glad you are ok though (as you have written this post we are assuming you are ok) 😊😊
I deal with electronic faults daily so I see equipment in this state regularly. Firstly is the case metal? If it is then the risk is pretty low as long as you used correct fusing and cable size. Firstly I know Jack about solar controllers but looking at the charred mess it looks like the unit was dumping power into it’s dump load. That combined with the hot vehicle might have melted the insulation on the dump load wiring. The manufacturer might want to fit a fan on the dump circuit as the power is being dumped anyway. As for yourself make Sure you have headroom, if your panels are rated for 20A then pop in a far higher controller eg 40A
The casing in plastic not metal unfortunately but all other wiring and electrics have been thoroughly tested and all in correct working order, its an actual unit fault, these things happen but we have now got the viltron which in our option is a much safer bet!
Guy’s I’m absolutely pleased that your van and you are ok, I had one of the epeaver mppt in my lorry, strangely it began to smell, that’s when I went over to Victron, love you guys millions and so glad your safe ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
My wife and I had the same problem when we went to Portugal ! Our water heater failed to heat the water, I down loaded the fault codes for the heater and it stated that the voltage was over 12 volts! I took the control panel for the solar panel of and removed the back plate, finding that the electrical circuit board was burnt ! This controller is not the same as yours that has failed I must add People be aware and check these panels periodically.
this makes me feel sick it really does i think emma’s face says it all too ..and not a apology from the company 😱disgusting Just bloody glad my mates are still here to tell the story and well done to 12 Volt planet for coming to there rescue 🥰🥰
Greetings from Oz. These events can be scary and I'm glad you caught it and everything is OK. As an electronics engineer, if you gave me that unit and showed me that install location I'd say this was inevitable - sorry. Maybe not the mppt but something was going to overheat. If an insurer asked me to assess this unit, this is what I'd report: "The device has overheated. Two electros have popped their protection vents likely from the overheating. That's the stinky gooey stuff everywhere - the electrolyte gasoff. If the electros were not rated to 105c then that could be considered a defect. Looking at the exterior top of the unit it's been very hot for a long time, long enough to discolour the plastic. A shortterm overheat won't do that and a fire will warp and char it. There is no sign of fire attacking the inside of the lid at the top, so naked flames is unlikely. The install enclosure is cramped and unventilated and likely contributed to the overheating." You might want to shuffle the electronics around so they have better clearance for fan exhausts etc. That space needs air exchange whenever it's operating. Cut some vents in the bottom of the timber doors and put 12v extractor fan(s) inside the door at the top, exhausting out. There's plenty of devices that can control the fan(s), a simple ebay temp module operating at a suitable temperature inside the enclosure. That's what I see - from what I can see. If you have decent ventilation of that enclosure then I'd put a temp probe in there for a few days to see what's going on in there.
Yep my epever controller is not contained in anything, our is in the main part of the campertrailer where there is plenty of air. They need ventilation and get quite warm in cooler ambient temps. With 200w of solar on a 20 degree day I've felt the controller and they get quite warm.
The black gunk and the strong smell is from the catalytic capacitors that have burst. That is the back cylindrical part that is metal on the end, the two to the right of the cable have cleay burst open in the overpressure vents. Just capacitor failing is common in electronics but in this case it look like it was a secondary effect when the board overheated.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but the part of the video of you in the boot is so short / quick not sure but I think your faulty MPPT controller was mounted flat? In my opinion that unit is designed to be mounted vertically to allow the heat sink to dissipate the heat via air flow.
Hi, Will sent us so have subscribed now👍. So unfortunate what happened and pleased you were safe. Thanks for heads up certainly worth noting that's the make to swerve! Safe travels to all 💜
It wasn’t installed lying down I don’t think I have ever actually seen that in any van build but maybe some people do but we wouldn’t and yes there was ventilation
For added safety, could you not put in a 40AMP fuse on the power lead going into the unit? That way you'd have an initial fuse, and if that were to 'fail' then the unit takes over? Just a thought ...
Are you fused/breaker at the solar input? Believe the fuses in the unit are for the batteries. Thinking the solar was pumping large amounts of current into that unit and not having anywhere to go
I don't think your placement of the unit was allowing for the heat sink to do its job, not much airflow in that area, we have been having some really hot weather and might have been a build up over time to the stage of almost catching fire. I use victron in my van build I would recommend you not place it in the same confined area, allow air to flow around the fins. Glad your all safe and did not lose the van and belongings.
@@UrbanVanlife I don't really care for that controller I was going to buy it some time back, but I decided to pay a lot more and get better kit. I also don't think it was a case of two years build but more recent like the last few weeks where we hit 40c and so on, and space to vent, whatever that is past now, just allow the victron to vent. I also recommended the victron SmartShunt and a decent BusBar Box this will allow you to better mange your battery bank., and if you want to go all in the Battery Sense will allow the charge controller to better charge the battery, by knowing the bat temp.
Looks like the capacitors have popped and vented the electrolyte out onto the board. They might of popped due to the heat of another failure but capacitors are a common failure point on modern electrics.
Agreed. It looks like the two smaller caps on the right had holes in the top. I think they went off like volcanos. Also agree with Richy_Rich below. The caps may be underspec'd for the job.
The only reason why capacitors on “modern electrics” fail is because really cheap capacitors are used in the cheap Chinese junk equipment that everyone buys these days.
thats a fake Epever, dont use fakes, real epevers are fine, i personally prefer esmart3 mppt controllers cant go wrong with victron solong as you have the cash
It’s not an Epever it’s a Photonic universe MPPT, we had advice off many other people who have much more knowledge than us about this product before purchasing it, and it wasn’t cheap either at the time of purchase so we thought it would be high quality, at the end of the day things can fail, it was one of those things and we just feel very lucky that it wasn’t much worse than it was!
@@UrbanVanlife thats my point its not an epever its a rebranded fake clone of an epever tracer, i've never heard of Photonic universe, it looks identicle to an epever tracer other than the brand but inside the main board is different. the 2 smaller capacitors that have blown are you able to read the brand?
Most companies would say hey we will send you another send us that one so we can figure out what went wrong. kinda crappy that they did not have a bit more compassion for the whole situation. Glad you were able to get another one quickly to get back on the road. Glad it happened when you were not in the van. the new one looked like an easy set up for sure. Glad you and the van are ok. DO you have a smoke detector under the bed in the area with the electrical?
So first off, that looks like an EPEver unit, but it's not the EPEver brand. So it's either under license, a new brand name for EPEver or it's a fake. Also, I hope you are aware that, if that is an EPEver unit, it's COMMON POSITIVE and thus NOT SUITABLE FOR AUTOMOTIVE USE.
@@UrbanVanlife It is common positive though, so it has to be isolated from the common negative van circuit in careful ways. When you have two isolated circuits like this, it is very easy to bridge them accidentally. It's why in some multi-phase building electricals you can get a lot more than 120V (US) between two different plugs. (Up to 480V in the UK). Connecting devices to different phases and then connecting those devices is possibly deadly. In this case it's 2 different "commoned" DC circuits. One + common, one - common. If you were, say, charging a laptop off the solar and connected it to a USB port on the van electrical circuit, then it would become a matter of the isolation in the laptop and the USB ports as to how it handles that DC bias. It would get worse if either or both of the panels and van circuits became common referenced by touching a tree, for example. Then you have a potential 24V short... or whatever voltage the panels are floating at short.
All electronics occassionally can fail. I all situations I would recommend adding a smoke detector in the electronics box. That might have detected it earlier (or anything else smoking). Smoke tends to stay there due to a closed space... and by the time it's out you're wayy to late. Changing the epever upfront... I have one myself as well, and haven't seen many issues with it. A victron can burn as well, but they both are decent brands as far as I know. I think you're just unlucky. But glad you're safe anyway!
I added a smoke alarm in my electronics cupboard. If it sounds my ipcameras (wyze camv3) pickup the sound and send me an alerts. Worth considering along with an PC fan air to the housing. Glad your ok
I have a fire extinguisher ball in my power compartment so if any flames start the extinguisher ball will put out the fire,, not expensive and would save your van if you wasn’t near to put out the flames… well worth looking into just for peace of mind Keep up the great vlogs glad the van didn’t go up
I'd say user error, mppt is laying flat so heatsink can't work how it's designed too. plus the higher than average temperature we have had, in a locked vehicle with no airflow and its cooked in its own juices, melted solder joints and has been arcing out on high solar input, a dead short would have blown the fuses, seen this type of thing a few times, not just with epever, mount them vertical on a nice large thick sheet of ally and they never get warm, helps prolong the life
Came here from Wills whereabouts. Nothing quite like the nose for detecting problems. You dodged a bullet there! Poor show from the PU company as well. I'd imagine some kind of isolation switch might help - though how that would work with solar I don't know?
Things fail & I accept that however there response was appalling. The more worrying thing is why did the fuses did not blow, might be worth contacting the body who test & provides the approval/standard that these are safe for consumer use? Might be worth putting a smoke alarm in the garage as well pal.
O.K., first of all: I love you guys, you're one-of-a-kind folks with cameras aimed at you. Originals, so to speak. ❤😉 Leaving the scary title and all the comedy aside - you're smoke detector would have warned you of a potential problem. Yes, you COULD have died, but likely you would have just opened one of the emergency exits and gotten out. Never, ever trust any Mickey-Mouse fuses hidden inside a high voltage / amperage contraption. ALWAYS install a properly sized fuse ahead of things. I don't know, how much business this "Photonic Universe" outfit does, but customer reviews in the past year have been rather "unfavourable". Perhaps that is the reason, they're looking for a "Business Development Manager". If they had any clue about social media, they would have pounced on your complaint, sent you a new unit, umbrellas, matching tea cups and offered you the grand tour of their facility with dinner arrangement. That's how you turn a complaint into a "great customer experience" and win through publicity. Apparently someone skipped the scheduled classes and f****d up. Trust me - when they see the fallout here, they will come back with the big ticket. Never fails. Victron is the right choice. And invest in an extra fuse. And a smoke alarm (if you haven't got one yet) 😉. Cheers from across the pond and safe travels! 🚐⛅🍀
Thank you for this wonderful comment, all advice and things mentioned are on point hope you have wonderful day filled with joy and sunshine, interesting they are looking for a business development manger 😂😂 Even if they had one offered us another unit we wouldn’t have accepted it as it’s give us a bit of a shake so to speak, so victron for the win!
Woohoo, I also have the Victron 100/30 MPPT. Been running it since 2014. Rock Solid 😀 You won't be sorry Hahahahaaaa at Will in trouble message (AGAIN). What was it this time?
That's bad but I'm not surprised I cover these types of failure in my RUclips channel. Graham's DIY mobile solar. You should have a look, and why I use temperature gauges over my MPPT controller. I would seriously consider fitting one on your setup
As the controller was passively cooled and it was inside the van on previously hot days I wonder how hot the controller got. This could have contributed to its eventual failure. Maybe a temperature controlled fan might help the lifespan of the new controller. If you look behind where the old controller was the board looks a bit scorched. Might be a nice idea to put something non combustible behind the controller with an air gap behind from the board.
Nothing was loose . If it was there would have been arching it the terminal incert point like we showed on the video . There was non . And also like we said on the video the company told us it was a total fail on the board it’s self . So no guess work is needed
It does make you think if it was one of us minions No platform - would they have still reached out / replaced ? Email from a minion says No. Instagram - big platform - bad publicity...says yes 🤦♂️
Well firstly how would they reach out to you and know about the problem ?? Secondly if you want large company’s to support you are you putting the effort in to make videos make content and help people with the videos and content you make . If the answer is no then this is a you problem and nothing less . Plus if you where a Buisness owner who would you support as a Buisness . The branded channel who could possably bring Buisness your way . Or would it be Dave that lives round the corner .at the end of the day both the company and the influencer are businesses looking to grow .
put basically, chinese crappy components used with very low quality control that ALL brands use to cut costs... smoke alarm and cm alarm! also please dont buy knock off wago connectors, lots of horror stories...
Whatever happened to your Renogy controller? I am and new subscriber and I just watched an install video you had done on that one. Different van? I have a Renogy MPPT 30
@Urban Vanlife I have a 30a epever mppt I’ve had it for 3 ish years now not a problem I’d say you where just unlucky I’ve never seen any solar controllers do that I’d say there was a component fault on the board
Could you explained how you could of died? Charge controller produce heat while charging, unless you sleep during the day like a vampire you would of fought it.
@@UrbanVanlife never heard of that brand had mine 3years not a problem hopefully yours was just a random one like my expensive inverter that went up in smoke
Lesson learned, don't buy the cheapest third rate no-name Chinese electronics. Spend the money for something decent, it's a lot cheaper in the long run.
😂😂😂 it’s not a cheep copy mate it’s the mpever unit that’s branded for phonetic universe lol . Do you honestly think we would have a truma boiler , Luthium battery’s . Victron Orion and then buy a cheep copy mppt . Lol come on now get ya Google going budd
It’s not actually that much difference in price than the previous one, but never had any issues with the rest of our Victron products so trusting in a product we know to be sound!
😱 we have the epever version which looks the same? It all looks OK but very worrying after seeing what happened to yours. So relieved you caught this in time as it could have been a totally different outcome. We will be changing ours me thinks. See you both soon ✌💙
Yer there the same unit . But the case is just branded for phonetic universe . But TOTALY the same . I’m sure it’s just a one off but keep your nose open . See you on the road guys . Love ya xx
It always comes out, if you buy cheap, you'll buy it twice or even triple.😉 That's the downside of copies made in China, they copy stuff but don't understand the engineering behind it.
😂😂😂😂 it’s not a cheep copy mate it’s the mpever unit that’s branded for phonetic universe lol . Do you honestly think we would have a truma boiler , Luthium battery’s . Victron Orion and then buy a cheep copy mppt . Lol come on now get ya Google going buddy
@@UrbanVanlife It seems you have not googled them. Just for clearance, I used Chinese stuff in the past too, but it gets replaced step by step by European continental parts. But yeah you have to be happy, not me. If you think it was a quality product then it is your fault. It seems the board heated up and the isolation lying on it melted. It's a ventilation problem, overload or construction fault. 50/50 cheap work. O and this type of mppt you'll find on aliexpress under a different brand a lot.🤪
Yer they won’t apologise. I’ve worked somewhere before where they said don’t apologise or even sympathise, even if it’s sad or we’re at fault, because it’s a legal form of acceptance of liability 💰 sad world 😕
Correct me if I'm wrong but if I may offer a good meaning observation you have mounted these units horizontally whereas the correct and recommended way is vertical to give proper air circulation to the rear heat sinks, heat rises and they do get quite warm in their bulk charge state especially with lithium battery's them being more charge efficient hungry. Victron is a great choice by the way.
Blimey matey. Very worrying. Just out of interest was it mounting vertical in a free air space. So hot air could rise along fins (heatsink) at back. Its possible it was caused by Thermal Runaway. However it should have had a thermal fuse fitted in circuit as a safety measure. I would put a flame on the plastic to see if its flame retardant. Just for info. Post mortem is required and I would expect supplier, manufacturer to want it back to do this. Glad you are ok. Cheers from old George. Hang onto it for a while as if we meet up I would like to see it.
It seems you played the "me-too-five-bucks-less" game and lost. You bought a clone that is not at all an EPEver controller. If you had purchased a genuine version, they are more resilient. That being said, it also didn't look like it had proper ventilation either. Implying that the one you have is 'basically the same' as EPEver is not reasonable though. The look the same but they are not made by the same company.
Seen you need to do a little research mate . Epever let other company’s Brant there units for sale under there own umbrella .it’s a photonic universe brand the board is exactly the same
@@UrbanVanlife That's actually not at all true. I've imported solar products from China for 19 years and it is about the way copyright works. Companies regularly clone each other, substituting cheaper parts. I can purchase that charge controller from Beijing Episolar, the original manufacturer, or at least 6 other, unaffiliated companies. Take a look at the PowerStar W7 inverter. That's a perfect example. That inverter is made, in varying qualities by Must, ZL Power, and 15 others. All look the same, none are affiliated.
Your also forgetting we said it was a phonetic universe controller. Plus we spoke to them and they seem to have given a different story to what your telling us . Regardless we also stated that this could be a one off . We also states that people should check these things so what more can we do . It is what it is so don’t import things we just make stuff . And our research tells us use victron from now on
Photonic Universe 40A MPPT solar charge controller/regulator with built in LCD display for solar panels up to 520W (12V battery system) / 1040W (24V battery system) up to 100V
Research research research! Also if it’s not something that they feel comfortable with get a professional in to do the work, safety is key with electrics!
Just a thought, and it's just a constructive opinion.... I felt like you were speaking to us like children here. Respect the audience and give us some cred here. We've to sit and listen to you speaking this way to us. You guys do some good stuff, and I do watch. But I can't stand delivery like this.
was going to be buying one of them not now have to re asses my options on a other topic when not in use i switch the main solar panel braker off ATM I have a PWM Solar Panel Regulator Charge Controller, one of them £10 ones lol over 5 yr old now + I have one in my shed 40 amp that's 6+ yr old never missed a beat love Victron have a Victron inverter but when on a budget afraid Victron to expensive ATM
Watch his videos his Photonic disaster packed up just before he went on his first Euro trip . He replaced it a t Photonics Orpington I know I served him !
Pleased you got it replaced, still fascinated as to what actually went wrong with it to cause the catastrophic failure - the smell of burning electrical plastic etc seems to take an age to get rid of doesn’t it. Thank goodness it was contained and very sound advice to check things - I recently upgraded my inverter wiring following a check. Very nice of the guys from 12v Planet to step in and help out. Interesting that the victron mppt you have has the settings switch - mine is a smaller one and seems all to be software configurable. Ps: worth changing the PIN for Bluetooth access too to help stop people on site messing around with them and changing settings. Have a great weekend - all the best, David 👍
That is mad!!! 🙈Very scary, although I’ve installed around 10 EPever solar controllers, and never had an issue, but they have always been the blue ones not that greyish one like yours. My dad has 800w of solar on his boat going through EPever controllers for 7 years and not had a thing go wrong. Maybe a poorly soldered wire/component on the circuit board? Who knows. 🤔Hopefully the victron holds up 😅🤞
@@UrbanVanlife yeah man, my best guess is that it was something to do with when you swapped to lithium 🤔 I would swap but I can’t justify spending twice the cost on something that does the same thing, and I hate phones and apps and victron doesn’t make a simple cheap £30 screen… 🤣 enjoy the blue!
My two Tracers have been working since 2017 with no trouble, so it could just be a bad one, generally speaking plastics used in electrics these days are self extinguishing so tend not to actually start fires they just smoulder and go black. Mine are installed in a metal cabinet with a cooling fan in the cabinet, this is then installed in a metal compartment, but my setting is outside my house not in a camper van, so your situation is different.
Watch our tilting solar video here ruclips.net/video/RodqotXX4J4/видео.html
A very scary and worrying experience for you both. Thank you for making this video. After 45 years in electronics engineering I’ve seen many many electronic devices fail in this way. Devices made by high end companies and low end, expensive and cheap. Unfortunately it matters not how much you pay or which reputable companies you buy from, electronic components fail. These days they ( capacitors, resistors, transistors etc ) are mostly all made in the Far East. And too are on the whole good quality. Some do fail and can cause the kind of damage and risk to life you have illustrated so well. Paying £100 for Photonic Universe or £200 for Victron will make no difference to this kind of incident. Always switch off your 12v or 240v and solar chargers when leaving the van ( except fridge ). Always add smoke alarms to your electrical areas. Safe travels :)
Very good advice here thank you, hopefully a lot of people will see this and it will raise some awareness around these issues! Thanks again Antonia x
I'm in the electrical engineering trade as well and have come across this , definitely looks like thermal runaway due to high ambient temperature and pretty sure it wasn't on fire all the residue you see is from fumes given of due to components melting given of gasses would recommend not fixing to materials that have insulation properties like wood especially covered in fabric of any kind metal mounting plates are normally used and ensure that there's ventilation so cold air can be drawn in at the bottom of the installation and and hot air can vent out at the top
These manufacturers could easily add device's to the circuit boards to protect against these events happening, thermal resettable switch's have been around a long time , and thermal fuses and other devices but thay wrongly assume it's not going to be a problem
I've personally built industrial equipment with multiple thermal protection circuits which would ultimately shut down the electrical equipment completely it really doesn't add much to the cost so no real excuses for bad design
PS just to add smaller confined spaces are more of a problem due less air so over heating quickly gets out of hand
The price of solar controllers is absolutely shocking they cost about a tenner to manufacture it's all profit. Glad you got a free one.
That was a close call 🤔 big hat's off to 12volt for stepping in and sorting this out 🍻👍👍👍
Thanks Brad and yes 12 volt planet rock!
That should go to trading standards as it should be a product recall. That is lives your messing with. Good on you both for bringing awareness. Thank goodness you and puppies are ok xx
Thank you Sue, we are all safe and that’s the main thing 🥰🥰
Product recall? They are Chinese made🤣🤣🤣
I’m just glad that Emma & Neil are ok , you can replace a product but you can’t replace you too
Thanks Neill, you are a legend!
Thanks for putting out the video l know how you feel traveling around Norway and my 2000w carrybatt inverter blew up smoke everywhere it inside the Motorhome.
Wow it’s scary what can happen with electrics, again this hi lights the importance of being safe with electrical products in your vehicle, you must of had a real shock, glad you are ok though (as you have written this post we are assuming you are ok) 😊😊
Yikes guys, glad your OK. X
Thank you x
I deal with electronic faults daily so I see equipment in this state regularly. Firstly is the case metal? If it is then the risk is pretty low as long as you used correct fusing and cable size.
Firstly I know Jack about solar controllers but looking at the charred mess it looks like the unit was dumping power into it’s dump load. That combined with the hot vehicle might have melted the insulation on the dump load wiring.
The manufacturer might want to fit a fan on the dump circuit as the power is being dumped anyway.
As for yourself make Sure you have headroom, if your panels are rated for 20A then pop in a far higher controller eg 40A
The casing in plastic not metal unfortunately but all other wiring and electrics have been thoroughly tested and all in correct working order, its an actual unit fault, these things happen but we have now got the viltron which in our option is a much safer bet!
Guy’s I’m absolutely pleased that your van and you are ok, I had one of the epeaver mppt in my lorry, strangely it began to smell, that’s when I went over to Victron, love you guys millions and so glad your safe ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
We are all safe and sound buddy, thank you for the lovely comment we love you too 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
So glad you're safe and found this I love your video's even the practical ones!
Thank you Karen 💜💜
My wife and I had the same problem when we went to Portugal !
Our water heater failed to heat the water, I down loaded the fault codes for the heater and it stated that the voltage was over 12 volts!
I took the control panel for the solar panel of and removed the back plate, finding that the electrical circuit board was burnt !
This controller is not the same as yours that has failed I must add
People be aware and check these panels periodically.
this makes me feel sick it really does i think emma’s face says it all too ..and not a apology from the company 😱disgusting
Just bloody glad my mates are still here to tell the story and well done to 12 Volt planet for coming to there rescue 🥰🥰
Thank you Lisa, we both really appreciate it! Just glad it wasn’t worse and it’s all fixed now ❤️❤️
@@UrbanVanlife 💕💕
Greetings from Oz.
These events can be scary and I'm glad you caught it and everything is OK.
As an electronics engineer, if you gave me that unit and showed me that install location I'd say this was inevitable - sorry. Maybe not the mppt but something was going to overheat. If an insurer asked me to assess this unit, this is what I'd report:
"The device has overheated. Two electros have popped their protection vents likely from the overheating. That's the stinky gooey stuff everywhere - the electrolyte gasoff. If the electros were not rated to 105c then that could be considered a defect. Looking at the exterior top of the unit it's been very hot for a long time, long enough to discolour the plastic. A shortterm overheat won't do that and a fire will warp and char it. There is no sign of fire attacking the inside of the lid at the top, so naked flames is unlikely. The install enclosure is cramped and unventilated and likely contributed to the overheating."
You might want to shuffle the electronics around so they have better clearance for fan exhausts etc. That space needs air exchange whenever it's operating. Cut some vents in the bottom of the timber doors and put 12v extractor fan(s) inside the door at the top, exhausting out. There's plenty of devices that can control the fan(s), a simple ebay temp module operating at a suitable temperature inside the enclosure.
That's what I see - from what I can see. If you have decent ventilation of that enclosure then I'd put a temp probe in there for a few days to see what's going on in there.
Yep my epever controller is not contained in anything, our is in the main part of the campertrailer where there is plenty of air. They need ventilation and get quite warm in cooler ambient temps.
With 200w of solar on a 20 degree day I've felt the controller and they get quite warm.
i was thinking similar
kinda like an overload protection failure lead to another part failing
also the inside a vehicle can reach above 100 dergrees celcius so yeah
Lucky find and save ....I went all Victron ..find them to be a very nice product works well all together ....
Yes Victron are very good 👍
The black gunk and the strong smell is from the catalytic capacitors that have burst. That is the back cylindrical part that is metal on the end, the two to the right of the cable have cleay burst open in the overpressure vents. Just capacitor failing is common in electronics but in this case it look like it was a secondary effect when the board overheated.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but the part of the video of you in the boot is so short / quick not sure but I think your faulty MPPT controller was mounted flat? In my opinion that unit is designed to be mounted vertically to allow the heat sink to dissipate the heat via air flow.
Hi Simon, yes that part of the video was short but the actual offending unit was previously mounted vertically
FFS! We've just bought one, 30A.....pleased you guys are ok though.
Glad that you are ok, that thing was a total disaster.
Thanks buddy 👍
Mounted flat and inside a box without ventilation is a recipe for failure , glad your both ok 😉
Indeed. The Victron DC>DC charger is another widget that gets hot. People need to mount them properly.
It wasn’t mounted flat it was mounted vertically for a start but thanks
OMG Glad you guy's are OK 👌
Great vlog guy's 👍
Be safe 👍
Thanks so much Stan appreciate the kind comment!
Hi, Will sent us so have subscribed now👍. So unfortunate what happened and pleased you were safe. Thanks for heads up certainly worth noting that's the make to swerve! Safe travels to all 💜
Hi Newalks, thanks for coming over and saying hello, welcome to the madhouse, happy Thursday to you 💜
Were there fuses on the solar panels? What was the ambient temperature inside the van? I'm glad y'all are okay.
I hope it wasn't installed lying down and that the space was well ventilated.
It wasn’t installed lying down I don’t think I have ever actually seen that in any van build but maybe some people do but we wouldn’t and yes there was ventilation
BLOODY Hell Neil Emma. Glad you r save
Thanks buddy
For added safety, could you not put in a 40AMP fuse on the power lead going into the unit? That way you'd have an initial fuse, and if that were to 'fail' then the unit takes over? Just a thought ...
The unit has several internal fuses for it's rating.
Are you fused/breaker at the solar input? Believe the fuses in the unit are for the batteries. Thinking the solar was pumping large amounts of current into that unit and not having anywhere to go
Youz are good to people so you deserve good luck.
Thank you James appreciate it 🥰🥰
I nearly went for one of those... But Uncle Spunky told me to turn my world blue... 😏🧡
Gotta love a bit of blue 😊😊
I don't think your placement of the unit was allowing for the heat sink to do its job, not much airflow in that area, we have been having some really hot weather and might have been a build up over time to the stage of almost catching fire.
I use victron in my van build I would recommend you not place it in the same confined area, allow air to flow around the fins.
Glad your all safe and did not lose the van and belongings.
2 years is a long time to build up . And like we said in the video the email from the company states is was a total fail of the units board
@@UrbanVanlife I don't really care for that controller I was going to buy it some time back, but I decided to pay a lot more and get better kit.
I also don't think it was a case of two years build but more recent like the last few weeks where we hit 40c and so on, and space to vent, whatever that is past now, just allow the victron to vent. I also recommended the victron SmartShunt and a decent BusBar Box this will allow you to better mange your battery bank., and if you want to go all in the Battery Sense will allow the charge controller to better charge the battery, by knowing the bat temp.
Surprising that did not set off your smoke alarm
Looks like the capacitors have popped and vented the electrolyte out onto the board. They might of popped due to the heat of another failure but capacitors are a common failure point on modern electrics.
Agreed. It looks like the two smaller caps on the right had holes in the top. I think they went off like volcanos. Also agree with Richy_Rich below. The caps may be underspec'd for the job.
The only reason why capacitors on “modern electrics” fail is because really cheap capacitors are used in the cheap Chinese junk equipment that everyone buys these days.
looks like an overload failure leading to overheating due to where it was stored
thats a fake Epever, dont use fakes, real epevers are fine, i personally prefer esmart3 mppt controllers
cant go wrong with victron solong as you have the cash
It’s not an Epever it’s a Photonic universe MPPT, we had advice off many other people who have much more knowledge than us about this product before purchasing it, and it wasn’t cheap either at the time of purchase so we thought it would be high quality, at the end of the day things can fail, it was one of those things and we just feel very lucky that it wasn’t much worse than it was!
@@UrbanVanlife thats my point its not an epever its a rebranded fake clone of an epever tracer, i've never heard of Photonic universe, it looks identicle to an epever tracer other than the brand but inside the main board is different. the 2 smaller capacitors that have blown are you able to read the brand?
Most companies would say hey we will send you another send us that one so we can figure out what went wrong. kinda crappy that they did not have a bit more compassion for the whole situation. Glad you were able to get another one quickly to get back on the road. Glad it happened when you were not in the van. the new one looked like an easy set up for sure. Glad you and the van are ok. DO you have a smoke detector under the bed in the area with the electrical?
So first off, that looks like an EPEver unit, but it's not the EPEver brand. So it's either under license, a new brand name for EPEver or it's a fake.
Also, I hope you are aware that, if that is an EPEver unit, it's COMMON POSITIVE and thus NOT SUITABLE FOR AUTOMOTIVE USE.
it’s not a cheep copy mate it’s the mpever unit that’s branded for phonetic universe lol .
@@UrbanVanlife It is common positive though, so it has to be isolated from the common negative van circuit in careful ways. When you have two isolated circuits like this, it is very easy to bridge them accidentally. It's why in some multi-phase building electricals you can get a lot more than 120V (US) between two different plugs. (Up to 480V in the UK). Connecting devices to different phases and then connecting those devices is possibly deadly. In this case it's 2 different "commoned" DC circuits. One + common, one - common. If you were, say, charging a laptop off the solar and connected it to a USB port on the van electrical circuit, then it would become a matter of the isolation in the laptop and the USB ports as to how it handles that DC bias. It would get worse if either or both of the panels and van circuits became common referenced by touching a tree, for example. Then you have a potential 24V short... or whatever voltage the panels are floating at short.
All electronics occassionally can fail. I all situations I would recommend adding a smoke detector in the electronics box. That might have detected it earlier (or anything else smoking). Smoke tends to stay there due to a closed space... and by the time it's out you're wayy to late.
Changing the epever upfront... I have one myself as well, and haven't seen many issues with it. A victron can burn as well, but they both are decent brands as far as I know. I think you're just unlucky. But glad you're safe anyway!
Yes we totally agree, think we just got a faulty unit which we all know can happen sometimes especially with electrical components!
I added a smoke alarm in my electronics cupboard. If it sounds my ipcameras (wyze camv3) pickup the sound and send me an alerts. Worth considering along with an PC fan air to the housing. Glad your ok
That controller was affected by high temperature....but not intelligent enough to cool the system down
I have a fire extinguisher ball in my power compartment so if any flames start the extinguisher ball will put out the fire,, not expensive and would save your van if you wasn’t near to put out the flames… well worth looking into just for peace of mind
Keep up the great vlogs glad the van didn’t go up
come across an intermit connection on one of the 4 lithium cells that caused similar,,,,,,
All solar equipment needs to be well ventilated,especially in hot weather.yours was not
Really? Have you been in our van personally?
Hay mate. Have a look at installing a "fire ball" extinguisher in your boot 👍🤘
Just watch the victron it gets very hot
Thanks, we have other victron products that are the same so we are aware of how hot they get 🔥
Been running mine for 5 years with no probs
Been running ours for 2 with no problems untill now
I'd say user error, mppt is laying flat so heatsink can't work how it's designed too. plus the higher than average temperature we have had, in a locked vehicle with no airflow and its cooked in its own juices, melted solder joints and has been arcing out on high solar input, a dead short would have blown the fuses, seen this type of thing a few times, not just with epever, mount them vertical on a nice large thick sheet of ally and they never get warm, helps prolong the life
It was mounted vertically when it malfunctioned the company has confirmed it was the actual unit that was at fault
Came here from Wills whereabouts. Nothing quite like the nose for detecting problems. You dodged a bullet there! Poor show from the PU company as well. I'd imagine some kind of isolation switch might help - though how that would work with solar I don't know?
Thanks for coming over and saying hello 👋
Things fail & I accept that however there response was appalling. The more worrying thing is why did the fuses did not blow, might be worth contacting the body who test & provides the approval/standard that these are safe for consumer use?
Might be worth putting a smoke alarm in the garage as well pal.
O.K., first of all: I love you guys, you're one-of-a-kind folks with cameras aimed at you. Originals, so to speak. ❤😉
Leaving the scary title and all the comedy aside - you're smoke detector would have warned you of a potential problem. Yes, you COULD have died, but likely you would have just opened one of the emergency exits and gotten out.
Never, ever trust any Mickey-Mouse fuses hidden inside a high voltage / amperage contraption. ALWAYS install a properly sized fuse ahead of things.
I don't know, how much business this "Photonic Universe" outfit does, but customer reviews in the past year have been rather "unfavourable". Perhaps that is the reason, they're looking for a "Business Development Manager". If they had any clue about social media, they would have pounced on your complaint, sent you a new unit, umbrellas, matching tea cups and offered you the grand tour of their facility with dinner arrangement. That's how you turn a complaint into a "great customer experience" and win through publicity. Apparently someone skipped the scheduled classes and f****d up.
Trust me - when they see the fallout here, they will come back with the big ticket. Never fails.
Victron is the right choice. And invest in an extra fuse. And a smoke alarm (if you haven't got one yet) 😉.
Cheers from across the pond and safe travels! 🚐⛅🍀
Thank you for this wonderful comment, all advice and things mentioned are on point hope you have wonderful day filled with joy and sunshine, interesting they are looking for a business development manger 😂😂
Even if they had one offered us another unit we wouldn’t have accepted it as it’s give us a bit of a shake so to speak, so victron for the win!
Hi Neil. Quick question. Is your discount code for 12volt planet no longer valid. Just tried using it.
Hi there, thanks for letting us know! I think the code may have ran out sorry as they don’t keep them active for long periods of time
Woohoo, I also have the Victron 100/30 MPPT. Been running it since 2014. Rock Solid 😀 You won't be sorry
Hahahahaaaa at Will in trouble message (AGAIN). What was it this time?
That's bad but I'm not surprised
I cover these types of failure in my RUclips channel. Graham's DIY mobile solar.
You should have a look, and why I use temperature gauges over my MPPT controller. I would seriously consider fitting one on your setup
Very good advice we will be looking into this , thanks!
As the controller was passively cooled and it was inside the van on previously hot days I wonder how hot the controller got. This could have contributed to its eventual failure. Maybe a temperature controlled fan might help the lifespan of the new controller.
If you look behind where the old controller was the board looks a bit scorched. Might be a nice idea to put something non combustible behind the controller with an air gap behind from the board.
Your battery terminal was loose or your pv terminal was loose
Nothing was loose . If it was there would have been arching it the terminal incert point like we showed on the video . There was non . And also like we said on the video the company told us it was a total fail on the board it’s self . So no guess work is needed
@@UrbanVanlife cool
It does make you think if it was one of us minions No platform - would they have still reached out / replaced ?
Email from a minion says No.
Instagram - big platform - bad publicity...says yes 🤦♂️
Well firstly how would they reach out to you and know about the problem ??
Secondly if you want large company’s to support you are you putting the effort in to make videos make content and help people with the videos and content you make . If the answer is no then this is a you problem and nothing less . Plus if you where a Buisness owner who would you support as a Buisness . The branded channel who could possably bring Buisness your way . Or would it be Dave that lives round the corner .at the end of the day both the company and the influencer are businesses looking to grow .
put basically, chinese crappy components used with very low quality control that ALL brands use to cut costs... smoke alarm and cm alarm! also please dont buy knock off wago connectors, lots of horror stories...
Very true, we don’t use those wago connectors either as they just aren’t our thing 👍👍
Whatever happened to your Renogy controller? I am and new subscriber and I just watched an install video you had done on that one. Different van? I have a Renogy MPPT 30
That was our previous van, we had a T4 before but during the pandemic we bought a new van and converted it
thanks buddy,just bought another van (downsizing)and next week I am installing solar,on one of these was on my shortlist 😍😍😍😍😘
Pleasure James 👍👍
@Urban Vanlife I have a 30a epever mppt I’ve had it for 3 ish years now not a problem I’d say you where just unlucky I’ve never seen any solar controllers do that I’d say there was a component fault on the board
Thanks and yes it was one of those things that we where just unlucky and there was a fault with the unit!
Could you explained how you could of died? Charge controller produce heat while charging, unless you sleep during the day like a vampire you would of fought it.
So are you calling all people who have night time jobs who sleep in the day vampires?
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
That looks like a EPEVER copy? I've got the biggest amp version direct from EPEVER
I put smoke alarms around my electrics as back up
It’s not a copy mate it’s the same unit they have. Branded for phonetic universe . Exactly the same pile of junk
@@UrbanVanlife never heard of that brand had mine 3years not a problem hopefully yours was just a random one like my expensive inverter that went up in smoke
Just came over from the days channel, and wow really love the way you edit/film. Great to watch ☺️☺️
Hi Crystal and welcome 🤗
Thank you so much for the compliment on the filming and editing 💜💜
Lesson learned, don't buy the cheapest third rate no-name Chinese electronics. Spend the money for something decent, it's a lot cheaper in the long run.
😂😂😂 it’s not a cheep copy mate it’s the mpever unit that’s branded for phonetic universe lol . Do you honestly think we would have a truma boiler , Luthium battery’s . Victron Orion and then buy a cheep copy mppt . Lol come on now get ya Google going budd
Victron. Excellent choice. You pay more for it but the quality and reliability is there.
It’s not actually that much difference in price than the previous one, but never had any issues with the rest of our Victron products so trusting in a product we know to be sound!
Isn't the lesson to fit some smoke detection equipment, no equipment is infallible, an electrical fire should never result in death.
Very good advice
Emma is beautiful I think you should keep her on , and I'm glad your still both alive
I have to or she would haunt me
Power fluctuation at initial turn on is the Victron MPPT searching for peak power conditions.
Thanks 👍👍
😱 we have the epever version which looks the same? It all looks OK but very worrying after seeing what happened to yours. So relieved you caught this in time as it could have been a totally different outcome. We will be changing ours me thinks. See you both soon ✌💙
Yer there the same unit . But the case is just branded for phonetic universe . But TOTALY the same . I’m sure it’s just a one off but keep your nose open . See you on the road guys . Love ya xx
@@UrbanVanlife 👍
Lucky escape guys 👍🏻 big shout to Craig at 12volt planet I bought my Sargent unit from them and they are a great company 👍🏻
Thank you can’t fault Craig and 12 volt planet amazing people and company!
You could rename the channel Emma and the Truffle Snuffler lols.
I like it 😂😂😂
I'm curious; would it have happened because of the heatwave?
It worked perfect in the heat wave . Which is strange . Then 2 weeks after failed
WOW! Sooo glad you found that before it burned down you or the van!
Thanks Patti 🙏
Or death wish throwing basins full of water over Mazzy 🌼
Braver than me 😂
Hi guys have you got a link to your push button door catches video
Sorry only just seen this been a busy week, but we see you have already found it 👍👍
Almost died but don't worry we got a freebie 🙈🙈🙈🙈🙈
Would have been a good title that . But your forgetting we didn’t ask for a freebie . But good choice of words tho well done you
Good work going with victron. Our unit has been absolutely solid. Love being able to change all the settings so easily via the app.
Victron is a quality product that’s a definite 😊😊
It always comes out, if you buy cheap, you'll buy it twice or even triple.😉 That's the downside of copies made in China, they copy stuff but don't understand the engineering behind it.
😂😂😂😂 it’s not a cheep copy mate it’s the mpever unit that’s branded for phonetic universe lol . Do you honestly think we would have a truma boiler , Luthium battery’s . Victron Orion and then buy a cheep copy mppt . Lol come on now get ya Google going buddy
@@UrbanVanlife It seems you have not googled them. Just for clearance, I used Chinese stuff in the past too, but it gets replaced step by step by European continental parts. But yeah you have to be happy, not me. If you think it was a quality product then it is your fault. It seems the board heated up and the isolation lying on it melted. It's a ventilation problem, overload or construction fault. 50/50 cheap work. O and this type of mppt you'll find on aliexpress under a different brand a lot.🤪
Yer they won’t apologise. I’ve worked somewhere before where they said don’t apologise or even sympathise, even if it’s sad or we’re at fault, because it’s a legal form of acceptance of liability 💰 sad world 😕
Unfortunately the way of the world these days 😒
Xpelair were the same when I had a problem with an Hvac unit failing. No apology, blamed it on poor onstallation, despite it working ok for 6 months.
Correct me if I'm wrong but if I may offer a good meaning observation you have mounted these units horizontally whereas the correct and recommended way is vertical to give proper air circulation to the rear heat sinks, heat rises and they do get quite warm in their bulk charge state especially with lithium battery's them being more charge efficient hungry. Victron is a great choice by the way.
Hi ya the unit in question was mounted vertically not horizontally, the company have confirmed its a fault with the unit
Blimey matey. Very worrying. Just out of interest was it mounting vertical in a free air space. So hot air could rise along fins (heatsink) at back. Its possible it was caused by Thermal Runaway. However it should have had a thermal fuse fitted in circuit as a safety measure. I would put a flame on the plastic to see if its flame retardant. Just for info. Post mortem is required and I would expect supplier, manufacturer to want it back to do this. Glad you are ok. Cheers from old George. Hang onto it for a while as if we meet up I would like to see it.
good vid on the channal that a close call on the van neil and emma thanks lee
Thanks Lee hope you are well 👍👍
Great video 👍🏿 thanks. Poor of old Dan bored.. think he misses male bonding a Beer 🍺🍻🍺
Thanks Julie 💜
@@UrbanVanlifeDone little email to you it just disserpeaed 🤑
I have the victron good kit
Very good kit 👍
It seems you played the "me-too-five-bucks-less" game and lost. You bought a clone that is not at all an EPEver controller. If you had purchased a genuine version, they are more resilient. That being said, it also didn't look like it had proper ventilation either. Implying that the one you have is 'basically the same' as EPEver is not reasonable though. The look the same but they are not made by the same company.
Seen you need to do a little research mate . Epever let other company’s Brant there units for sale under there own umbrella .it’s a photonic universe brand the board is exactly the same
@@UrbanVanlife That's actually not at all true. I've imported solar products from China for 19 years and it is about the way copyright works. Companies regularly clone each other, substituting cheaper parts. I can purchase that charge controller from Beijing Episolar, the original manufacturer, or at least 6 other, unaffiliated companies. Take a look at the PowerStar W7 inverter. That's a perfect example. That inverter is made, in varying qualities by Must, ZL Power, and 15 others. All look the same, none are affiliated.
Your also forgetting we said it was a phonetic universe controller. Plus we spoke to them and they seem to have given a different story to what your telling us . Regardless we also stated that this could be a one off . We also states that people should check these things so what more can we do . It is what it is so don’t import things we just make stuff . And our research tells us use victron from now on
Shall be looking inside my mppt just to check for any burns ✌ Do you have a link where i can get an emma ?❤
Nahhh you don’t want that link …. Emma is defective 😂😂😂
@@UrbanVanlife 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Hi Neil what model of solar regulator did you have.
Photonic Universe 40A MPPT solar charge controller/regulator with built in LCD display for solar panels up to 520W (12V battery system) / 1040W (24V battery system) up to 100V
I have the same one, do u think I should bin it👍🇮🇪😀
Seems it was a fault on this particular unit but we wouldn’t use them again
So how would some one That as no idea start and how to start with no idea wot wot.
Research research research! Also if it’s not something that they feel comfortable with get a professional in to do the work, safety is key with electrics!
Just a thought, and it's just a constructive opinion.... I felt like you were speaking to us like children here. Respect the audience and give us some cred here. We've to sit and listen to you speaking this way to us. You guys do some good stuff, and I do watch. But I can't stand delivery like this.
Funny cos no one else seems to have felt like this so may be the problems you mate . As stating we sounds like your talking for the whole community
@@UrbanVanlife I'll accept that. On the chin, you're Probably right.
And don't run 12 volts 12 volts is you're asking for trouble Run High Voltage run 24 volts where to run much lower and amps and it'll run much cooler
That’s crazy you guys are so lucky
Very lucky 🍀
was going to be buying one of them not now have to re asses my options on a other topic when not in use i switch the main solar panel braker off ATM I have a PWM Solar Panel Regulator Charge Controller, one of them £10 ones lol over 5 yr old now + I have one in my shed 40 amp that's 6+ yr old never missed a beat love Victron have a Victron inverter but when on a budget afraid Victron to expensive ATM
Virgoes packed up just after he installed it go Victron all day long.
Funny enough we are away with Greg right now and 4 years on his is still working 🤭
Watch his videos his Photonic disaster packed up just before he went on his first Euro trip . He replaced it a t Photonics Orpington I know I served him !
This happens and can to any piece of equipment. Make sure it's well vented and easily accessible. I've been very fortunate using Renogy.
I haven't watched the video yet, but assuming you upgraded to Victron?!.....
Pleased you got it replaced, still fascinated as to what actually went wrong with it to cause the catastrophic failure - the smell of burning electrical plastic etc seems to take an age to get rid of doesn’t it. Thank goodness it was contained and very sound advice to check things - I recently upgraded my inverter wiring following a check. Very nice of the guys from 12v Planet to step in and help out. Interesting that the victron mppt you have has the settings switch - mine is a smaller one and seems all to be software configurable. Ps: worth changing the PIN for Bluetooth access too to help stop people on site messing around with them and changing settings.
Have a great weekend - all the best, David 👍
That is mad!!! 🙈Very scary, although I’ve installed around 10 EPever solar controllers, and never had an issue, but they have always been the blue ones not that greyish one like yours. My dad has 800w of solar on his boat going through EPever controllers for 7 years and not had a thing go wrong. Maybe a poorly soldered wire/component on the circuit board? Who knows. 🤔Hopefully the victron holds up 😅🤞
This isn't an EPEVER charger. It's a knock off. Fake knock off product catches fire. Who would have guessed.
@@retrozmachine1189 true I guess, EPever must have better quality control 👍
Its not a fake product it's a Photonic Universe MPPT who are made by the same people as EPEVER so wrong buddy!
We have gone blue now buddy so fingers crossed all should be well!
@@UrbanVanlife yeah man, my best guess is that it was something to do with when you swapped to lithium 🤔 I would swap but I can’t justify spending twice the cost on something that does the same thing, and I hate phones and apps and victron doesn’t make a simple cheap £30 screen… 🤣 enjoy the blue!
Glad your all OK what matters. .. thankfully you saved your van so lucky m8
💯 thank you 🙏
My two Tracers have been working since 2017 with no trouble, so it could just be a bad one, generally speaking plastics used in electrics these days are self extinguishing so tend not to actually start fires they just smoulder and go black. Mine are installed in a metal cabinet with a cooling fan in the cabinet, this is then installed in a metal compartment, but my setting is outside my house not in a camper van, so your situation is different.
She was calling you a name Quote “ idiot here” unquote
She’s called emma