Here's some "daylight" pictures. i missed actual daylight, but the floodlights make it even more obvious. (white balance is off, making the light look blue. it's white i promise lol
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A little interior lighting mod
- Thread starter VelociRabbitt
- Start date
Here's some "daylight" pictures. i missed actual daylight, but the floodlights make it even more obvious. (white balance is off, making the light look blue. it's white i promise lol
Yep... im doing this
Let me know if u want the HDMI and Cam kit... I'll let it all go for 300 just to get it out of the garage.
Hmmm I don’t have any direct experience with the non premium lighting configs, however all the
i cant say for absolute certain, but I’m pretty sure the connections should still be where they are supposed to be... I could be wrong, but I believe the lights are absent, but the harnesses are all there.
You’d have to pop open the door panel to check, but I’ve never worked on one without the premium upgrade, so I don’t know for sure.
If not, you could probably go direct to the fuse box where the lights are connected to in the PUP configs... that’s beyond my paygrade and I don’t have the resources to be able to confidently guide you on that path :/
Check to see if the harnesses are there first.
Yes, there are harnesses in the door for the premium lights.
But how are these lights controlled? Is there software or something to do on the console to control them make them come on, dimness, etc.. or are they just "automatic" and do something on their own or in combination with other lighting controls.
You said you travel with the EL strip on at night. Are your footwell lights on at the same time as the EL?
But how are these lights controlled? Is there software or something to do on the console to control them make them come on, dimness, etc.. or are they just "automatic" and do something on their own or in combination with other lighting controls.
You said you travel with the EL strip on at night. Are your footwell lights on at the same time as the EL?
I see what you’re saying. So the lights work seamlessly with the premium lighting. With the ambient lights on, they dim and brighten with the display brightness. If you press the ambient light button to off, they go out. They still turn on with the footwell lights under this scenario when the doors are open.
The footwell lights are not a part of the ambient lighting, so they turn off when the car is in motion. So for example, when the headlights go on, the ambient lights also turn on automatically, as do the EL but the footwells do not. But again, that’s with the setting on the main display... I don’t know if those harnesses would be hot or linked to the display brightness without the setting to toggle.
The only alternative I can think of is using another 12v lead from somewhere in the car, like the cigarette lighter...the only issue with that is finding a way to hide wires and route cables :/
I'll stick an LED into the premium light harness in the door and see if/when/what conditions it comes on, and if there's any linkage to the dash (instrument and cluster LCD) illumination brightness.
I imagine brightness is done in the car using PWM (as opposed to variable voltage) so your EL power inverter inputs are are receiving chopped DC input. I'm amazed they work well enough to handle that... unless these have been produced explicitly for vehicle installations, then it makes more sense they would.
I imagine brightness is done in the car using PWM (as opposed to variable voltage) so your EL power inverter inputs are are receiving chopped DC input. I'm amazed they work well enough to handle that... unless these have been produced explicitly for vehicle installations, then it makes more sense they would.
That’s probably the best course right now... I know they did PUP retrofits at some point, so I’m sure it’s possible... it just comes down to how many hoops do you want to jump through...
The power modulation comes from the control unit in the car, not at the transformer, so nothing needs to be done with the lighting rig.
Also that’s friggen adorable lol
Not sure if this is helpful or not but my 2015 S85D without premium lighting came from the factory with one of the door edge lights wired into the ambient lighting connector in the harness. I noticed this because there was a weird red glow between the door and the door frame at various times for just that one door. Knowing what I know now, I'd guess that it was behaving as if ambient lighting was turned on, even though I didn't have that feature in my car. (Had it fixed, obviously under warranty, at my first service appointment.)
OP, this is very cool!
Bruce.
Mucall
2013 Model S 85
Thank you!! I figured it's easy enough to DIY, it looks pretty great and most of all, it's cheap!!
SteveW25561
Member
Yes!! From the outside you can see the lines from the doors all the way around, and it looks really sick. The rear doors really pull the whole setup together.
@VelociRabbitt i am dying to do this project!!! So so cool. I’ve read your excellent write up many times. Thank you for helping all of us think through this and emulate your awesomeness. I did have a couple of dumb questions if you could help clarify:
For the dash light why did you place the transformer in the door? And not someplace near the fuse box area? It seemed to me like the red/black lines off the transformer that get spliced into the pigtail was very long and was well suited to run through the door wire Pass-Through. But you made it sound like you left the dash transformer inside the passenger door ... and I guess ran the connector side of the transformer through the Pass-Through to the fuse area. Any reason you went this direction vs having the transformer inside the car in fuse area?
For the doors I’m curious where exactly the light cable comes out of the door. Is it near the back of the door and then you run it up toward the front/steering wheel? Does it wrap around the back side of the door and simply disappear behind it? You have the light “connector” (which goes to the transformer) also hiding behind the door I assume? Gosh I’d love to see some photos of these transition points a bit closer.
Final question did you have excess cable on the doors? And if so where did you hide it? Shove it someplace? Or maybe all the excess is behind the door?
Thank you for sharing this awesome project!!!!
For the dash light why did you place the transformer in the door? And not someplace near the fuse box area? It seemed to me like the red/black lines off the transformer that get spliced into the pigtail was very long and was well suited to run through the door wire Pass-Through. But you made it sound like you left the dash transformer inside the passenger door ... and I guess ran the connector side of the transformer through the Pass-Through to the fuse area. Any reason you went this direction vs having the transformer inside the car in fuse area?
For the doors I’m curious where exactly the light cable comes out of the door. Is it near the back of the door and then you run it up toward the front/steering wheel? Does it wrap around the back side of the door and simply disappear behind it? You have the light “connector” (which goes to the transformer) also hiding behind the door I assume? Gosh I’d love to see some photos of these transition points a bit closer.
Final question did you have excess cable on the doors? And if so where did you hide it? Shove it someplace? Or maybe all the excess is behind the door?
Thank you for sharing this awesome project!!!!
It's been my absolute pleasure to share something I love with you great folks!!
As for your questions, I will do my best to be as thorough as possible.
1: For the dash light, I put the transformer in the door for one main reason. There are no ambient light switches anywhere else in the car, so tapping into that line is only do-able through the door. (At least in my limited knowledge, I knew it was a sure thing, so I did that). The wiring used to connect the transformer to the lighting power was very short, so I didn't have a lot of flexibility in the placement. The way it's actually wired up, the transformer sits in the door, and the wires run around the passthrough and connect to the lights before going back in the other end. That bit that I posted is actually where the lights connect to the transformer wires. It's also nice if I ever need to replace the lights, I don't have to undo ALL the more difficult snaking of the wires.
2: So I tried a few things with the doors, and found the best looking (and easiest to do) is to connect everything behind the panel, and leave about a foot of lighting as slack (Just tuck it into the door panel, since they don't "Glow" too much they aren't an issue) and come out of the door panel at the seam in the trim. It doesn't look the best, and getting around the outside of the door panel can be a bit of a hassle, but it sits very nicely and gives you room to mess up. essentially go across the back trim and work your way up to the steering wheel end, and then cut the light at about a 45 degree angle so the light can be sort of tucked at the interior door handle.
My first attempt, I actually went through the handle plate where you pop off that panel and find the torx screws. This was MUCH cleaner looking, but there was a lot of uneven pressure on that plate when it was closed up, and bent those plastic brackets. It also made the plastic piece pop open if you slammed the door which was a no-go.
3: For the excess cables, the transformer wiring and connector wiring I taped around the door panel to allow some slack while also securing what was around. Do a loose measurement of how much of the light strip you need to get to the interior handle, and leave yourself about a foot of extra slack. You can leave the lighting in the panel, since it doesn't glow too much, you can't ever see it. It's just a little peace of mind.
The key thing here is ALL of the connections and wires are hidden. The only thing you ever see coming out of the doors, or across the dash is the actual light strip. All the cables can be hidden (The dash light connectors and excess is hidden behind the glove compartment) This is what gives it a "factory" look.
If anyone is in NY (Long Island) area, I'd be more than happy to meet up at a supercharger and explain/show how it's done!
SteveW25561
Member
Thanks for your detailed replies! If you muster up the energy to do it one day, I'd love to see more closeups, especially at the ends of the light runs to get an idea how they come out of the doors and into the trim. That said, your descriptions are very good, so thanks!!
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