Ambient lighting

[Glan gluaisne]

As above, the brighter lights make a massive difference in the boot. Before changing them the stock boot lights were dire, so dim that it wasn't possible to see the back of the boot at night. With the new lights fitted it's as good as other cars I've owned.

 

[Irata]

I noticed last night the boot lights are a bit dim, so again I expect those have not changed.

Thanks for all the advice.

I noticed the frunk light is a yellow colour, doesn't match the others.

 

[s88ats]

I swapped the puddle lights and the boot lights for brighter versions. Did you have a source of information to follow for doing the pocket lights? I have the SR+ so it never came with the ambient footwell lights ... is that a feasible DIY upgrade?

Not so much information, I used a picture of someone who did it and applied a bit of logic. My wire loom wasn't the same but found a set of three wires that did what I needed it to. Turns on with ambient and off when its been switched off. Not found these on the rears atm. Not sure what the process would be for SR+ as they don't have any ambient lights.IRRC a few members had taken power from the centre console while doing a speaker upgrade.

Upgraded LEDs make a massive difference in the boot. The rest are to taste really.

I would say that if you're upgrading the glovebox one be prepared for a lot of stress. It is a right mare to get out, and definitely not worth it (my OCD meant I couldn't not replace it after I'd done all of the others).

Also - I can't speak for all makes of LEDs but Abstract Ocean are adament that the footwell LEDs are "special" and aren't interchangeable with the ones you install for puddle lights, etc. Something to do with how they dim.

Yes my OCD was exactly the same. I was so close to throwing the towel for the glovebox light, but it had to be done!

 

[Strategium]

I changed all of my "ambient" lights (puddle T, rears brighter white, boot, frunk, footwells, center console, and glove box). I really liked the looks of the pocket lights and diy'd it. Done both the fronts and haven't finished doing the rears just yet as I couldn't find a 12v.

Does anyone know how to change the dome lights?

Would you mind describing how you did the DIY install for the front door pocket lights? I was disappointed when my 2020 M3 was delivered last December and these had been deleted from the premium interior spec, as far as I remember after I had ordered the car back in the summer. I have swapped over the boot lights for the brighter versions and put coloured lights in the footwell and changed the puddle lights already. I have to admit that after installing these and having had a swine of a job with changing over the front driver door puddle light, which seemed to have been installed with a ridiculously short wire (on other doors all much longer), I gave up at the time with the glovebox light, which also seemed to be a real pain. I was just reminded reading this thread that I never went back to do it - in fact, I think I have never opened the glove box since then!

 

[Strategium]

I think the red footwell lights work well with the red paint and the puddle lights are a bit of fun - I have the '3' on the rear doors and the Tesla T on the front ones

 

[jeremymc7]

There’s at least one YouTube video out there about adding the door pocket lights back in. It wasn’t too complicated but it’s still not the simplest thing either.

 

[s88ats]

Would you mind describing how you did the DIY install for the front door pocket lights? I was disappointed when my 2020 M3 was delivered last December and these had been deleted from the premium interior spec, as far as I remember after I had ordered the car back in the summer. I have swapped over the boot lights for the brighter versions and put coloured lights in the footwell and changed the puddle lights already. I have to admit that after installing these and having had a swine of a job with changing over the front driver door puddle light, which seemed to have been installed with a ridiculously short wire (on other doors all much longer), I gave up at the time with the glovebox light, which also seemed to be a real pain. I was just reminded reading this thread that I never went back to do it - in fact, I think I have never opened the glove box since then!

Yes I was exactly the same, really disappointed. I didn't understand why it was removed (but I'd go bald trying to figure out Teslas logic) and tried searching for a retrofit. Annoyingly my SC said I wasn't able to order the pocket lights as it was "region-specific" and the European spec didn't have it and even if I was to source the lights it wouldn't work as the harness was different. The mobile ranger said the same thing when I queried it with him and then went on to say 'be very careful and avoid changing the puddle lights' - his face when he saw the T was priceless.

The process was fairly simple really as long as you don't mind taking apart the door, spicing into wires. My wife was surprised to see me open up a few week old car (glad I did as it turned out 2 of the door cards weren't clipped in properly). I tested from the connector end first to ensure I had the correct wires ie turn off when cars off, comes on when ambient is on etc. I used a test led to do this along with a multimeter - ground and positive is all you need for these. As I wasn't able to get hold of the original lights and had spare led's I just used these and later changed them to led strips (I also had lying around) and just fed it through. The strips stuck nicely to the single piece which comes apart when removing the door card (where the pocket lights are) and looks brighter than the single led. Attached the difference in single led and the strip.

 

[OneTinyFish]

Thank you, Abstract Ocean

 

[srk67]

There’s at least one YouTube video out there about adding the door pocket lights back in. It wasn’t too complicated but it’s still not the simplest thing either.

Do you happen to have the link for this?

 

[jeremymc7]

Sorry no. It’s been half a year since I watched it.

You’ll just have to do a search and scroll though them.

 

[Blokie]

Did everybody go for the Abstract Ocean lights, or can anybody recommend any Amazon/eBay ones that they can vouch for?

 

[Glan gluaisne]

Did everybody go for the Abstract Ocean lights, or can anybody recommend any Amazon/eBay ones that they can vouch for?

I went for these cheap ones from eBay: 2/4/8Pc Interior LED Light Bulbs For Tesla Model 3 Door Glovebox Trunk Wheel Cap | eBay

They seem fine, fit well, nice and bright and seem to be very similar in quality to the OEM lights.

 

[Adopado]

Did everybody go for the Abstract Ocean lights, or can anybody recommend any Amazon/eBay ones that they can vouch for?

Ultra bright LEDs from Taptes for the boot and for Tesla "T" puddle lights have been great.

 

[Blokie]

I went for these cheap ones from eBay: 2/4/8Pc Interior LED Light Bulbs For Tesla Model 3 Door Glovebox Trunk Wheel Cap | eBay

They seem fine, fit well, nice and bright and seem to be very similar in quality to the OEM lights.

Which lights did you replace with these?

Wondering what these "special" foorwell ones are at Abstract Ocean!

 

[Durzel]

Which lights did you replace with these?

Wondering what these "special" foorwell ones are at Abstract Ocean!

Apparently it's to do with the fact that the footwell lights dim under certain conditions, whereas the others just turn off. AO say that the car "doesn't like" regular bulbs being plugged in to the footwell sockets, but to be honest I never tested it and took what they said as gospel.

 

[Glan gluaisne]

Which lights did you replace with these?

Wondering what these "special" foorwell ones are at Abstract Ocean!

Doesn't seem to be a problem in practice, and all the OEM lights are identical, there's no difference between the footwell lights and any of the others. I fitted brighter lights in the boot and both footwells, and they all seem to work just fine. They are just LEDs, so the current they draw is pretty small. I checked one of the new lights before I fitted it and it only drew about 35 mA at 12 V, yet despite this low current they are massively brighter than the OEM lights.

 

[KennethS]

For those who have installed under door puddle lights from sources other than Abstract Ocean, do you notice that they dim substantially when the other door on the same side of the car is opened? I initially put AO ones in just the two front doors. Subsequently I bought less expensive ones for the rear doors but found that they would dim quite significantly when both doors on a side of the car were opened simultaneously. I ended up buying two more from AO to replace the less expensive ones and the dimming is no longer an issue. I had a brief email correspondence with Christal at AO and she said they all do it to some degree, but some brands are worse than others.

 

[Stuart1714]

Did everybody go for the Abstract Ocean lights, or can anybody recommend any Amazon/eBay ones that they can vouch for?

I got a couple of puddle lights from Torque Alliance, but I’m not sure what’s going on with them at the moment as they cancelled my last order due to a change of ownership.

After a month, my lights package from AO has just turned up. It’s a couple of white footwell lights for the front and 3 lights for the boot and glove box.

There’s also a bar light for the boot and a couple of footwell lights for the rear which wire into the front footwell lights and stick to the bottom of the front seats.

 

[rincewind]

AM I alone in thinking that the steering wheel lights are really dim?

 

[s88ats]

I've just watched a YouTube video of a guy reviewing a 2021 refresh LR RHD here in the UK - he has door pocket lights !?!?!?!?

@ 7:31

I can only assume he's used an old pic - can't see it in action in the video. Unless Tesla brought it back again... someone with a refresh model would need to confirm