No problem Pete and thanks for that. Nope, i'm neither an electrician but had been tinkering with auto, electrics, electronics, mechanics, etc, since the 80s.. and yet I'm still alive.
Yes, I do agree on the point about installing a relay on a Tesla seems silly but at the same time, Tesla is software-locking the footwell lights for RWD versions so the playing field is open in my opinion. Will definitely get to test out the relay on the weekend and report back. cheers.
finally, after a week off due to kids and viruses, i'm finally free to do things on the Tesla.
To report back, couple of interesting finds. Yes, old school relay works like a charm, to an extend. With my TO frunk in place, I added a small replay with pin 30 connecting to the +ve after the 25A in-fuse from the frunk; 86 connecting to the frunk button grey wire (the switched +ve); 87 connecting to LED +ve; and 85 connecting to ground (together with LED -ve). Though it works, it seems to burn out my COB LEDs (I've burnt through 6 already though I have about 20 spares lying around). I've tested out both the following types and both would burn out.
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However, if I swap the LED end with the old type of SMD strip, like the following, but only about 20cm long:
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No problem at all. Frunk button lights up, button functions as closing of the auto frunk, both the button and LED would light up until times out,
So I thought, hang on, did I need a relay in the first place (as I was observing the same symptom of the LED working for the first two operations before it shuts off). So I went and disconnected the relay, and merely connected the SMD LED strip directly to the frunk button GREY +ve wire and ORANGE -VE wire. Hey presto, works like a charm.
Now looking back, the COB LED bar I was using was running about 7W; the COB eagle eye LED was about 9W; while the SMD strip was rated at 4.8W/m, which is about 0.9W given it was slightly less then 20cm. That would explain why my setup didn't work while a lot of others on the forum said it was easy to connect up LED strip just tapping into the frunk button wires.
Glad I got to the bottom of it. Happy mod-ing!