Anyone fitted a charge port light?

[Adopado]

I've put my money where my mouth is and bought three fluorescent products. I'll let you know if any of them work, and if so, which works best.

View attachment 720793

None of these will work if you are in complete darkness. If there is some light around then they may show up better than the black plastic socket.

 

[dspwhite]

None of these will work if you are in complete darkness. If there is some light around then they may show up better than the black plastic socket.

Exactly, so it won't be a solution for everyone. But hopefully it'll be remotely visible where I park, and more so than plain white paper/card.

 

[Cnixon]

I tried the Tritium beta lights. Waste of time! I use the phone torch!

 

[Mrklaw]

If it was that dark at my house I’d probably already want a motion activated driveway light anyway for not falling into the bins and I’d make sure it reached the car (would also help deter car thieves)

Even a simple solar battery stick on light as mentioned earlier in the thread near your charger would do well I think

 

[MrBadger]

Lights are fine if you can illuminate the passenger side but if you can’t you end up with the situation where the rear lights remain on (an addition since last winter iirc) and are so bright that your eyes cannot adjust and see the totally unlit charge port area immediately adjacent.

We have a street light that should in theory give enough light to the charge port area, but shadows and the rear lights make any light from it totally ineffective. It doesn’t help that it’s now a modern LED light that only shines down casting and even bigger shadow than the previous gen did. My stargazing son would have been delighted by this less light polluting setup, but they are so effective that the neighbours have all fitted bright outside lights - doh!

 

[dspwhite]

I was assuming that the charge flap isn't 100% opaque and that enough ambient light might get through for it to work.

With it open, I tried shining a bright torch through the charge point at night, and nothing. It was completely opaque. Good thinking though.

 

[dspwhite]

Okay received the £13 fluorescent yellow Krink paint pen, and here are the results!

First off, with a flashlight so we can see what we'll be looking at:

Next off, without the torch, so a real scenario at night to see how visible it is. I recommend copying and pasting the picture to a dedicated picture viewer, as the white surround of the screen overwhelms the eyes and it's harder to see the faint white labels / yellow paint:

First off the bad news. The yellow fluorescent paint didn't make any discernible difference over the white label.

The good news, I can indeed detect the white paper over the dark background, both in the photo and in reality using my eyes in the dark. The faintness in the photo here (providing the photo covers the whole screen) is comparable to the faintness I had in reality too. I'd say just about usable as a practical way to outline the port. Your mileage may vary.

My advice for those wanting to fix this is just try some paper (preferably high quality white paper, you may even want to try ultra-white Spectralon, but by my estimation will only be around 3-4% brighter at most than white paper), and see how it compares to the dark port. You may just be pleasantly surprised.

 

[AndrewGR]

My home chxrging area is well lit but I struggled to return a Supercharger cable to the docking point at Charnock Richard services last night so poorly lit is the charging area.

 

[khyros]

has anyone figured out a way to illuminate the port? of course in the USA the proprietary tesla socket has a light ring around the port

 

[GRiLLA]

has anyone figured out a way to illuminate the port? of course in the USA the proprietary tesla socket has a light ring around the port

Thats the Model S/X, the 3/Y doesn't on either side of the Atlantic.

 

[khyros]

Thats the Model S/X, the 3/Y doesn't on either side of the Atlantic.

either way I bet the Tesla connector is easier to plug in than a type 2 in Europe

 

[Dasher]

Just for information, external lighting of the charge port is also discussed in another thread.

Highlight your charge cable

 

[yessuz]

The absence of a light in the charge port on the Model 3 seems a significant flaw. I spent several minutes trying to get the connector in last night, doing it by feel on a pitch dark night. The last two cars I've owned had a light under the charge port flap, that came on when the flap was opened and stayed on until a few seconds after the connector was inserted. Made life a lot easier when trying to plug in on a dark night.

I've had a quick search, but I haven't found any mention of a mod to add a light under the charge port flap. I've been thinking along the lines of making up a small LED, with a battery, and timer triggered by a motion sensor that detects the charge flap hinging up. Be interested to know if anyone's done something similar.

several minutes?!

it is far cheaper and more convenient to install solar charged flood lights with movement sensor near your car, that to spend money on the charging point illuminations... something like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B089DKVM5L/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[yessuz]

Yes, but I only have two hands (house keys etc in one hand, connector in the other).

A light that just comes on to light up the connector for a minute would be far easier to use, especially if it just came on automatically as the port opened.

you have two hands... and o pockets?!

 

[yessuz]

I hadn't realised that the interior lights etc don't come on as you walk up to the car at night. That's a PITA, as for the past ten years or so every car I've owned has turned the interior lights on automatically as you approach (or, in the case of the i3, when you use the remote to unlock it).

I believe you can open the charge port by just pressing the lower corner. Not tried it, just remembering the demo when I picked the car up on Friday.

I'm going to see how easy it is to make a small light to fit under the flap. Doesn't need much, just a single white LED, a coin cell, plus a tilt sensor and timer to turn the light on and off. Hopefully there's enough space available to fit it.

not press - it is touch sensitive - just light touch. your doors has to be unlocked.

 

[Pete UK]

0.6mm thick. Can be cut to suitable shape.
Not tried it.

information about multi-contacts-foil, ccfl, lightsticks, light foil, LEDs, stair lighting, architectural lighting, light projects

 

[MrBadger]

I gave up with trying to find a solution for our situation. Tesla seemed to make a change that kept the rear lights on for longer so they are still lit when we go to plug in. Using right hand to reflect light from rear light into charge port area is sufficient to illuminate the charge socket even though it would otherwise be in total darkness.

 

[Fursty Ferret]

I appreciate that I might be missing something here, but the only place I need to open the charge port door in darkness is at home. I just used some double-sized tape to stick a small waterproof keyring torch to the handle on the charge plug.

 

[Pete UK]

I’ve gone for a small solar powered security light from B&Q as a quick fix - £15. Screwed it to the house wall. Use it in PIR mode only.

Not sure how good it’ll be (says charge it for at least 2 days before using). It’s quite bright though. Time will tell, I reckon if it lasts longer than a year I’ll be surprised.

 

[ACarneiro]

I’ve gone for a small solar powered security light from B&Q as a quick fix - £15. Screwed it to the house wall. Use it in PIR mode only.

Not sure how good it’ll be (says charge it for at least 2 days before using). It’s quite bright though. Time will tell, I reckon if it lasts longer than a year I’ll be surprised.

I'm always sceptical of solar-powered lights. In winter (when you need them the most). In the UK.