Is ambient light buzzing resolved?

[Zextraterrestrial]

It's horrible; had it early this morning after the screen defaulted back to auto (I think...) when the car was sleeping. So now I'm probably going to turn off the ambient lighting completely and call service on Monday.

I was told that 5.8 fixed mine. service updated my car and when they went to check on my light buzzing they said it wasn't doing it. I just checked it and it is not fixed . I have had my ambient light off since day 1 because it is way buzzy and my screen is always dimmed.

 

[mknox]

LOL. I never heard the buzzing to start with. I still don't hear it.

Same here (or should I say "hear"). Does anyone know if there was a physical change made at some point during production, or is it just that my old man ears can no longer hear that frequency?

 

[Doug_G]

Mine used to buzz, but do not anymore.

It's funny because some people never reported a buzzing noise, some people said it went away with a software upgrade, and some people say it's still there. This makes me think there might be two causes.

One possible cause would be Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) to adjust the brightness as you adjust the console dimmer. Many people reported that the buzzing stopped if you dialed the dimmer to maximum brightness. That makes sense because PWM would be fully on. I think Tesla fixed this by NOT dimming the armrest lights; that could easily be done in software. They are indirect lights in the first place and there's no real reason to dim them.

As for some people saying they still get buzzing, it's entirely possible that there are two potential sources for the noise. Perhaps there's a DC-to-DC converter somewhere that likes to buzz when they're on. That is something that could vary from car to car. If this were the case it would also be possible to fix it with a hardware modification, but if they did I sincerely doubt they'd put out a TSB for it.

 

[mknox]

I think Tesla fixed this by NOT dimming the armrest lights; that could easily be done in software. They are indirect lights in the first place and there's no real reason to dim them.

Interesting. I'm going to have to check that out this evening. To be honest, I thought they were looking a little brighter than I recalled them being.

I wish Tesla would leave the footwell lighting on as part of the "ambient" package. They're not very bright to begin with and I think it adds something. My last car left dim footwell lighting on at night and it would brighten up when the doors were opened.

 

[NigelM]

I spoke to service today and our local manager understood it completely. He's raising it anew with engineering.

Maintaining screen brightness to avoid the buzzing is no longer an option due to the defaulting auto function; the only option seems to be to turn off the ambient lighting whenever it's dark...... :-(

 

[mknox]

Interesting. I'm going to have to check that out this evening. To be honest, I thought they were looking a little brighter than I recalled them being.

Nope. They still brighten and dim with the slider setting on the 17". And still no buzzing sound from mine.

 

[Doug_G]

Nope. They still brighten and dim with the slider setting on the 17". And still no buzzing sound from mine.

Hmm... Okay, i guess the only answer is "mileage may vary". Same as the balloon sound.

 

[DrComputer]

Yes, they still buzz. After every firmware upgrade I've tested to see if they've fix it and so far they have not. The simple fix will still be to decouple the dimming of the screen and dimming the ambient lights. Seems simple, but I'm sure it's a Z item on their list of things to fix. So like others, I've had them turned off since day one. Sad.

 

[mknox]

Yes, they still buzz. After every firmware upgrade I've tested to see if they've fix it and so far they have not. The simple fix will still be to decouple the dimming of the screen and dimming the ambient lights. Seems simple, but I'm sure it's a Z item on their list of things to fix. So like others, I've had them turned off since day one. Sad.

If they do decouple, I hope they provide a separate option for dimming the ambients. When I was testing it out this evening, I really didn't like them on full. Mine don't buzz and I think it must be something hardware-specific. It seems Tesla is replacing whole drive units at the drop of a hat for unusual noise... you'd think some defective interior lamps would be a no- brainer. Has anyone actually reported this to Service and had them replaced or received some sort of explanation?

 

[NigelM]

Yes, they still buzz. After every firmware upgrade I've tested to see if they've fix it and so far they have not. The simple fix will still be to decouple the dimming of the screen and dimming the ambient lights. Seems simple, but I'm sure it's a Z item on their list of things to fix. So like others, I've had them turned off since day one. Sad.

Please ask your local service center to open a ticket with engineering. The more input they get, the more chance that we get a tiny bit of hope on this one (esp as it only seems to concern earlier cars).

 

[DrComputer]

Please ask your local service center to open a ticket with engineering. The more input they get, the more chance that we get a tiny bit of hope on this one (esp as it only seems to concern earlier cars).

I have asked the LA service center on multiple occasions and have been told that Tesla is NOT planning on a hardware fix for existing cars. That doesn't make me happy. Maybe we need to escalate this up to Jerome with an e-mail. He has been responsive about other issues in the past.

 

[NigelM]

I have asked the LA service center on multiple occasions and have been told that Tesla is NOT planning on a hardware fix for existing cars. That doesn't make me happy..

Same here with FL service; despite that I asked our Tampa manager to open it up again with engineering and he promised to do so. It's more annoying now because of the setting which defaults screen brightness to "auto" after the car sleeps; there's no solution except to turn off the ambient lights and never use them.

 

[NigelM]

Here's something new: I started the v5.8 update in my garage tonight, the ambient lights were on with the usual annoying buzzing; when the update started the buzzing stopped although screen brightness didn't change.

We'll see what happens at the end of the update but I suspect that the buzzing will still be there, no other update has fixed it.

Edit: post-update, the buzzing is still there. :-(

 

[brianman]

I haven't heard the buzzing in a while, and I leave my Night @ 25%. I dunno if they fixed it or if I just went tone deaf to that buzzing.

I have to correct myself here. I had forgotten that I turned off the Ambient light long ago (although it comes on when you open the doors). With my 25% display setting, I still get the buzz. Sorry for the confusion.

On the plus side, I guess my hearing hasn't degraded w/r/t to this frequency.

- - - Updated - - -

Here's something new: I started the v5.8 update in my garage tonight, the ambient lights were on with the usual annoying buzzing; when the update started the buzzing stopped although screen brightness didn't change.

We'll see what happens at the end of the update but I suspect that the buzzing will still be there, no other update has fixed it.

Edit: post-update, the buzzing is still there. :-(

I have a theory on what caused this experience. When the doors are opened, the ambients (probably at full brightness) display without the buzzing. Only when the doors are closed and you're in "doors not recently open" mode does the buzzing happen for me. While the update is underway, your ambient lights were probably in the "doors recently opened" mode of full brightness and hence no buzzing.

The good news (and I swear I mentioned this to Tesla eons ago) is that this implies it should be possible to address this issue purely with software.

 

[Duckjybe]

I just got my car back from Toronto service and I had complained quietly about the ambient light buzz. They have resolved the problem but it seems like a rather involved fix including replacement of the door panels. Here is the work order:

Concern: Customer states: Cabin ambient lighting produces buzzing sound
Cause: Perform service bulletin, replaced door panel ambient light buzzing
Correction: Interior Lighting General Diagnosis
replace all dome light assemblies, replaced door panel for ambient light buzzing
Part Qty
DR FR LH PUR/LTHR BLK/BLK W160MM 1.00ADPT (6006071-01-J)

Very nice to be able to finally use these lights for a bit of ambience.

 

[walla2]

S1045 still buzzes on 5.8 below 85%. The whole door panel change that is quite a fix to get rid of the buzzing. Clearly, this is really a hardware problem as repeated efforts to fix it with software have failed, and they eliminated the offending hardware at some point to "fix" it in future cars.

 

[woof]

Just for more data, my ambient lighting still buzzes with 5.8. I just turn it off.

 

[Jrhodesmd]

Like Duckjybe, I too had been quietly (well not so quiet, just privately between Tesla and I) complaining about the buzzing. Yesterday they finally replaced the door lights, both front and rear, at the service center and I am now for the first time in 1 year buzz free.
Story I heard from SC - Tesla knows about the problem. However, the fix they initially had was to completely replace all 4 door panels in their entirety. This was way too expensive of a fix, so they had decided not to fix it. My Tesla guys here in Austin are great, advocated for me and I also wrote an email or two. They came up with a much less expensive fix of just replacing the lights, which works great. I had been saying all along they should just try a software fix of leaving the ambients at 100%, but I guess that wouldn't work, maybe all go through the same controller (I'm not an engineer....)

 

[NigelM]

I wrote to Jerome a couple of days back, still waiting on an answer to the buzzing issue. Also now I know there's a fix I can talk to our service manager and push harder for it.

It did occur to me the other day that if I ever sell the car I'm going to have the issue of telling a prospective buyer about the buzzing - No I'm not even contemplating selling right now, but leaving the ambients turned off isn't a long-term solution. Tesla needs to fix this.

 

[pilotSteve]

I heard today from the Portland service center that there IS an approved fix for the buzzing. It involves a new "LIGHTING PAD" for each door. They have two on order for me. Maybe this will be final resolution of this problem. (fingers crossed).