Improved Trunk lighting - Is there demand?

[sigurdi]

Frunk on not D cars.
I recomend to take out the plastic unit the light is sitting in.
It is put in place by two pladtic plugs below the rubber seal. Just move the rubber up front and pull the plastic straight up.
Then you can access the bulb from behind and easely replaced.
Push in at the bottom vefore down when puttibg the plastic unit back to its place.
I have pictures if anyone needs.

 

[tomp]

I've ordered two sets (8 lights) and eagerly awaiting their arrival later this week.

Thus, I have 8 lights to utilize and I'm looking for input on how best to use them. Three (3) of them will definitely go to the trunk, and 1 to the frunk.

That leaves 4 left to allocate. My options are: front footwells (2), front door puddle lights (2), glove box (1), rear footwell (2 - pending bracket as my car does not have them, unless I can somehow zip tie to the seat - which may be useful with 2 kids in the backseat and the inevitable stuff that falls under there).

Can anyone advise between how to prioritize the front footwells, the front door puddle lights (my car has them, but honestly I'm not sure what they are for, and never even noticed them until I looked), or the rear footwell, or, maybe, the glovebox??

Thanks!

 

[green1]

I've ordered two sets (8 lights) and eagerly awaiting their arrival later this week.

Thus, I have 8 lights to utilize and I'm looking for input on how best to use them. Three (3) of them will definitely go to the trunk, and 1 to the frunk.

That leaves 4 left to allocate. My options are: front footwells (2), front door puddle lights (2), glove box (1), rear footwell (2 - pending bracket as my car does not have them, unless I can somehow zip tie to the seat - which may be useful with 2 kids in the backseat and the inevitable stuff that falls under there).

Can anyone advise between how to prioritize the front footwells, the front door puddle lights (my car has them, but honestly I'm not sure what they are for, and never even noticed them until I looked), or the rear footwell, or, maybe, the glovebox??

Thanks!

I'd chose the puddle lights myself, all the other places can be solved easily with DIY, those ones are a bit harder.

 

[liuping]

The actual trunk release cable is secured in the recess using a hook and fastner (i.e., Velcro) strip. Move it so you can get your fingers in the space and then squeeze the clips of the light to help release it.

I could not squeeze the clips from behind, but I was able to push on the back of the light, which combined with he spudge got it out. I could not do it with the sludge alone.

I did the front and all three in the truck. I'll save the rest for when I have more time. Those were the most important anyway.

It definitely makesa big difference. The left is the new light, the right is the original

 

[DavidB]

I've installed 7 of the lights, and will install more another day.

As others have noted, the difference in lumen output is amazing. Thank you, pete8314

 

[Ironman_Hokie]

I have an 85D w/o premium lighting

I've installed the new lights in:
Trunk (all 3)
Frunk (1)
Front door puddles (1 ea)
Front footwells (1 ea)
8 total lights to date.


I plan to do the rear footwells (under the front seats)

Biggest pay off by far is the trunk. HUGE, HUGE, difference. The two lights in the carpet are very easy to replace. The trunk door light is probably the hardest to get out of the 8 I've replaced so far. I basically had to break the old light to get it out (so what). Take your time and replace all of these.

The frunk was WAY easy for me. I pulled it out of the carpet almost by hand. It is much brighter then the old one but I also don't use the frunk much.

I found the front doors puddles pretty easy to replace. Other than laying on the ground and working up, the plastic under the doors is much more flexible then the trunk door, so they were fairly easy to replace.

The front footwell lights actually were easier then I thought they were going to be. Maybe it was because they were the 7th and 8th light I replaced, but they came out pretty easy. Plus, the plastic they are inserted into is pretty flexible and to be honest, if you scratch the plastic around the lights a little bit, who cars because you'll never see it.

I plan to do the rear seat footwells but need to wait for the brackets. Again, this will be a big difference for me since I don't have the lights in the rear footwells now (although I don't have that many passengers in the back).


I don't have the rear cutouts on the doors for the rear door puddles. I don't know if I'll bother or not. I may replace the glove box light but I don't use the glove box much either...

Overall, as everyone is saying, Pete's lights are awesome. I would recommend the 4 lights for the trunk and frunk for EVERYONE. The 4 lights in the front (front doors and front footwells) are MUCH brighter than the OEM. I expect big things for the rear footwells when I install them.


- C

I'd chose the puddle lights myself, all the other places can be solved easily with DIY, those ones are a bit harder.

 

[Cyclone]

Good lord almighty that was significantly harder than I thought. sigurdi's advice was invaluable in removing the panel from the frunk and then working on it inside with better leverage. I still ended up busting my knuckles (with blood) and had to get an adjustable wrench to help squeeze in the clips from behind so it could squeeze out. Pete, I highly suggest adding this to the instructions for those having difficulty.

For the trunk lid it was much easier. I ended up following swegman's advice and helped push the light in the trunk lid through from the emergency release. I did not change the two lights in trunk edge (premium lighting spot) as I've put in LED strips under the cargo cover and did not need any more lighting there. The one up top lights up the area above the cargo cover MUCH better.

The four foot wells were very easy. The front wasn't hard at all beyong getting myself curled up down in there. Changed the front door puddles and love the extra lighting when I open my door. I would like to change the rears as well so they all match, but then I would needlessly change the other two trunk lights. I may cave at some point before the price increase and get that just so I don't regret it down the road.

At the same time, I changed my license plate lights as well. Big difference all over the car!

 

[Lyon]

Did my puddle lights this evening. Astounding.

Old:

New:

Wow.

 

[Andyw2100]

Lights arrived today. Thanks, Pete!

As everyone has been writing, I'm very impressed with the brightness. Great job, Pete.

I am writing to warn anyone not handy that you may want to ask a handy friend to help before tackling the hatch light.

I started with the frunk light, as that seemed to universally be considered the easiest. It presented no problem whatsoever. I moved on to the hatch, and started with the lights in the sides. They too were easy enough to get out using the spudger. I had read about the difficulties people were having with the hatch light, so I did remove the emergency release cover, as swegman suggested. Perhaps it's just my lack of ability in this field, but I struggled with that sucker for about 45 minutes. I hurt my knuckles, kept poking myself with the spudger, and eventually had to resort to also using a small flathead screw driver, as there was no way I was going to get that light out with just the spudger, even with access to the back of it. I slightly damaged the light, trying to work it out, but that's not what I'm upset about. I'm upset that I also put some small nicks and gouges in the plastic of the hatch surrounding the light. I imagine I did that with the screwdriver, but the light was just not coming out any other way. This is why I'm suggesting that if you consider yourself to be lousy at stuff like this, you invite a friend who is good at this stuff to help you.

I do have one more set to install, and based on what people have been saying, I may go for the front foot wells, and the front puddle lights. I do have the premium lighting option, so I'll probably wind up getting another set of lights, and eventually will do the last four as well, assuming I am able to do the next four without too much trouble.

The lights are definitely worth buying, and except for the light on the hatch, they have been really easy to change. I'd encourage anyone considering these to go ahead and get them, but just heed my warning if you have two left hands, as I do.

 

[pete8314]

Good lord almighty that was significantly harder than I thought. sigurdi's advice was invaluable in removing the panel from the frunk and then working on it inside with better leverage. I still ended up busting my knuckles (with blood) and had to get an adjustable wrench to help squeeze in the clips from behind so it could squeeze out. Pete, I highly suggest adding this to the instructions for those having difficulty.

For the trunk lid it was much easier. I ended up following swegman's advice and helped push the light in the trunk lid through from the emergency release. I did not change the two lights in trunk edge (premium lighting spot) as I've put in LED strips under the cargo cover and did not need any more lighting there. The one up top lights up the area above the cargo cover MUCH better.

The four foot wells were very easy. The front wasn't hard at all beyong getting myself curled up down in there. Changed the front door puddles and love the extra lighting when I open my door. I would like to change the rears as well so they all match, but then I would needlessly change the other two trunk lights. I may cave at some point before the price increase and get that just so I don't regret it down the road.

At the same time, I changed my license plate lights as well. Big difference all over the car!

I'm out of town, and away from my S, for another couple of days, but when I'm back I'll take a look at the frunk and removing the panel. It's odd (or maybe not) that some areas are proving tricky for some, and easy for others. I think as things stand:

• Everyone agrees that the pair of lights in the loading bay/soft trim of the trunk are the easiest
• The front puddle lights, aside from working off the floor are also straight forward, as are the rear puddles, if you have them
• The front footwell lights are a bit trickier, but no real issues (personally my drivers' side light was a PITA)
• The frunk is variable, as is the hatch lid
• I shed some blood for the rear footwell lights, hence why they made it into the finger-hurting section of the instructions. I may revise the order based on some of this experience!

This exercise definitely gets easier with experience, so starting with the easy ones and moving up the difficulty scale is definitely the way to go. The bulbs mounted in hard plastic trim are definitely the trickier ones to pop out.

 

[Cyclone]

For my frunk, the stock lights "clicked" out behind the trim. I had to end up using and adjustable wrench to squeeze in the clips to fit within the trim. It is a smooth lip though, so sufficient force could have pushed in the two clips on the stock bulb casing, but there was no way I was going to have sufficient force there.

Part of this is likely just production variations between cars not only in the bulbs, by the plastic insert in the frunk. I have the older, longer non-S frunk. Newer RWD cars have shorter frunks. I also have to from factory chrome in the frunk. Perhaps these older cars had less forgiving plastic inserts?

 

[Andyw2100]

I'm out of town, and away from my S, for another couple of days, but when I'm back I'll take a look at the frunk and removing the panel. It's odd (or maybe not) that some areas are proving tricky for some, and easy for others. I think as things stand:

• Everyone agrees that the pair of lights in the loading bay/soft trim of the trunk are the easiest
• The front puddle lights, aside from working off the floor are also straight forward, as are the rear puddles, if you have them
• The front footwell lights are a bit trickier, but no real issues (personally my drivers' side light was a PITA)
• The frunk is variable, as is the hatch lid
• I shed some blood for the rear footwell lights, hence why they made it into the finger-hurting section of the instructions. I may revise the order based on some of this experience!

As for the frunk and hatch lid being variable, from what I've seen posted, the frunk difficulty is entirely dependent on model. I think it breaks down as D (incredibly easy), non-D (quite difficult.) Also other than you, Pete, I don't think anyone has had an easy time with the light in the hatch lid. I think that one has proven consistently tricky for everyone who has posted about it. And as you mentioned, yours may have become easy because it was the light you replaced many, many times. Certainly wait to see what others say, but I'm guessing you'll be able to remove the "variable" description from that one.

 

[ilovemycoffee]

I think the postive thing about the trunk light being extra tight is that the new light will fit so tightly there will be no rattling later.

 

[giantbeer]

This is probably a dumb question but I don't have the premium lighting package so my trunk only has the hatch light. I can feel the indentation for the lights in the trim so I expect I'll be able to find the wires back there. Do I just pop the new light in? Do I have to cut out the carpet or will it somehow pop out. Sorry if these were asked and answered but I couldn't find it. I've got a set on the way - can't wait to have some kind of lighting in the trunk!

 

[jgallops]

This is probably a dumb question but I don't have the premium lighting package so my trunk only has the hatch light. I can feel the indentation for the lights in the trim so I expect I'll be able to find the wires back there. Do I just pop the new light in? Do I have to cut out the carpet or will it somehow pop out. Sorry if these were asked and answered but I couldn't find it. I've got a set on the way - can't wait to have some kind of lighting in the trunk!

I just did this upgrade minutes ago. You will find the wire for the right light almost behind the cutout for the light. The left light wire is harder to find and is just below the charging socket! As others have said don't be charging your car while digging around in there!

Once you know where the wires are (mine were bound with some white tape) the rest of it is easy. Cut out the carpet piece which is mostly scored already. I used a sharp box knife to cut them out. (Stay within the lines!) Run the wire out the hole, plug the light in, push it back in the hole you cut out and your done! Same on both sides excepts for wire location. Yes, you do have to pull the carpet liner out, but it is easy to do.

The hard part for me was the hatch light as others have said. I had to use the spudger, a screwdriver and my fingers to get the hatch light out. Took about 15 minutes, but got it out without breaking it! Putting the new light in just takes seconds! It is getting the old one out that is a PITA!

The frunk was even simpler. No tools needed. Just pull the light out with your fingers.

Trunk lighting is amazingly improved! Thanks Pete!

 

[sigurdi]

The lights arrived in Norway today, good job Fedex. ;-)
And thank Pete for fast shipping.

I recomend to remove the plastic cover on passenger side to get the cables behind the carpet.

I can cut out a part of my video to show how this is removed. ;-)

Just pulling the carpet out can give you a carpet that do not go back like it used to be.

Have uppgraded the lightening on 30-40 Model S vehicles and the carpet is not perfect, from the factory on many cars.
Pulling and bending on it make it look worse.

The reason some have large problems and some have smal on some of the lights, the cutouts is not 100% equal from year to year and car to car.

This is the large differens on Tesla and German cars - on german all ligts is hard to get out, all panels is a pain in the ass to get off.
Tesla you almost never breake a plastic plug on Audi you always do.

I was a sort of disepointed in the lights.
They give more light and is perfect for the D frunk and inside the car for the foot lights.

The trunk not that much.

Tesla have two different lights old ones that is delivering wooping 0.23W@12v
New vehicles have 0.37W,
Peters lights was measured to 0.79W at 11.85v

I had hoped for 1W+ @ 12v.

The major problem with Trunk lights in Teslas and the majourity of cars is the placement and not always the power.

Will give Pete a large thank for making the lights v2.0, they are way better (4x) than the old old and twice the power of the newer Tesla leds.

 

[pedriscoll]

Can't wait for mine to arrive. I plan on doing the trunk and frunk first and deciding about the others later.

 

[CraZ8]

The hatch light was problematic and chipped the old light coming out. I am quite satisfied with the trunk lighting now. Mulling over doing puddle lights

 

[giantbeer]

I just did this upgrade minutes ago. You will find the wire for the right light almost behind the cutout for the light. The left light wire is harder to find and is just below the charging socket! As others have said don't be charging your car while digging around in there!

Once you know where the wires are (mine were bound with some white tape) the rest of it is easy. Cut out the carpet piece which is mostly scored already. I used a sharp box knife to cut them out. (Stay within the lines!) Run the wire out the hole, plug the light in, push it back in the hole you cut out and your done! Same on both sides excepts for wire location. Yes, you do have to pull the carpet liner out, but it is easy to do.

The hard part for me was the hatch light as others have said. I had to use the spudger, a screwdriver and my fingers to get the hatch light out. Took about 15 minutes, but got it out without breaking it! Putting the new light in just takes seconds! It is getting the old one out that is a PITA!

The frunk was even simpler. No tools needed. Just pull the light out with your fingers.

Trunk lighting is amazingly improved! Thanks Pete!

Thanks for the detailed explanation! I'll be giving it a shot as soon as they show up!

 

[trils0n]

Received my lights today -- thanks for the quick shipping. Looking forward to getting my car back from the service center so I can install them.