[supermoocow]

The funniest thing is that if I had the extra space of the 159, I can’t figure what I would do with it. I guess the bed would just be farther back and I’d have a longer counter, probably a bigger fridge.

If we changed to a 159 from a 136 we would put small bench seats on both sides (between the bed and the counter) and have a slide out table from under the bed between the drawers. For eating inside during poor weather, and maybe make it convertible into a child-size bed. But being as almost no progress has been made on on the van since the baby came, I don't think starting a new build anytime soon is a good idea.

 

[supermoocow]

The MPPT will only tell you battery voltage. The 'battery current' field is for current going to the battery from the charger, it can't measure current drain from the battery. We have our monitor and MPPT 'networked', but the MPPT still won't show you most data from the monitor (it does show the temperature probe).
I personally find the monitor far more useful, the data from the MPPT is more 'hey that's nice' type of data, since you get whatever the sun gives for input. The current draw and total Ah used seems vastly more useful, although once you get used to your setup you would get a pretty good idea of where it stands just from the battery voltage, assuming you don't have any huge draws ongoing.

 

[supermoocow]

We camped last night & screenshot the iPhone info from our BM 712 Smart;

I hope your temp probe is outside the van or this was taken long after camping was done.

 

[supermoocow]

We put felt tape (some random brand from amazon) anywhere wood touched metal. It was primarily to avoid squeaks but if it helps with insulation that's great too. It was also good for wrapping wire connectors/splices/etc to prevent rattling. The only squeak-like noises that we get are from loose items in drawers and from the metal grill in our stove-top (who knows why Dometic thought it was sufficient to put rubber grommets only on half of the grill's mount points, the other are metal on metal).

 

[supermoocow]

Factory Blemish 😳

Now, I have never seen a “straight” PM body ,,, but this factory blemish is a QC issue. I suspect it happened with a very minor “C” Pillar structural element assembly being out of tolerance.

We have two of those 'bumps' at body panel joints, probably one at that same location. I don't think they are concerned about 'pretty' when assembling cargo vans.