Hello is there an interest in doing a group purchase in the next week?
I suggest holding off on another group buy at this time.
There are some issues (shortcomings) with the original liftgate kit. As the current kit does NOT get interfaced to the car’s CANbus, the car does NOT know when the trunk lid is open. Thus, the touchscreen and the Tesla app always indicate the trunk is closed. As a result, I was unable to get the car alarm to activate by simulating a forced break-in to the trunk.
I’ve been in contact with Hansshow and they have been telling me they are working on a new version to address the shortcomings i told them about with the original kit. However it is very difficult dealing with them and the release of the revised kit has been delayed several times so far.
A “fix” (wiring harness modification and controller firmware update) was previously posted in this thread that allowed the car to know when the trunk lid was open. It was not a perfect fix because the trunk lid indication on the touchscreen would alternate between the open and closed position about once per second, and the trunk lights would flash ON and OFF in synchronization with the touchscreen indication, but it did enable the car to know the status of the trunk lid. Unfortunately, Hansshow requested that the modification instructions and updated firmware be removed from this thread. It was an easy modification to make to a kit already installed in the car.
According to my discussions with Hansshow, the revised kit (whenever it becomes available) will show when the trunk lid is open by alternating the indication on the touchscreen between the open and closed position (just like with the modification that was originally posted herein but later pulled), but the trunk lights will stay ON when the trunk is open (that is, they will not flash ON and OFF as they do in the pulled modification). I requested that Hansshow provide instructions (and the required firmware update) so that I can test the revisions and everyone herein can modify their installed kits. Unfortunately, Hansshow will not do so, saying we must buy a whole new liftgate kit and that I (meaning we) should trust them to have solved the shortcomings of the original design. I don’t think that is reasonable.
Tesla Offer sells a similar kit (for a little more money) but it connects to the car’s CANBus and thus does not suffer from the shortcomings of the current Hansshow kit. However, there is a risk that if Tesla changes the CANBus signals the Tesla Offer kit may not work until Tesla Offer issues a revised firmware release. Thus, one could have problems if, say, Tesla Offer was no longer in business down the road.
There are other kits on the market too. I have not examined the various kits at this time to determine whether one exists that does not require connection to the CANBus while providing a proper indication of the status of the trunk lid.