As many have realized, the standard LEDs in the interior don’t provide much illumination…particularly when older eyeballs are concerned.
Soon after I got my MS, I replaced them with Abstract Ocean LEDs. A big improvement.
However, on a dark street, I noticed that they were still inadequate in brightness and position for me to find stuff in the rear trunk. So, round two…
Here’s what I did to upgrade the lighting to the next level (one side described; both sides done):
1. Bought a pair of daytime running light panels from Amazon.
2. Exposed a small amount of the double stick tape from each of them and attached the “hook” side of some black Velcro. (Fortunately, the interior trunk liner acts like the “loop” side of Velcro).
3. Popped out the cargo lamp near the tail light.
4. Pulled out the rear fender trunk liner from the top far enough to push some thin two-conductor wire from the existing cargo lamp opening to the new location (see photo).
5. Used wire nuts (because I was lazy..automotive crimp terminals would have been better) to attach one end of the wire pair to the new light panel (making note of polarity).
6. Tucked the wire nuts and extra wire behind the trunk liner, pushed the liner back in place, and then attached the light panel to the location shown in the photo. Because of the Velcro, it's easy to re-position it.
7. Attached the other end of the wire pair to the two wires at the existing bulb socket. (Positive to Orange-light green, Negative to Black). I used small Posi-Taps for this because they are quick, easy, and make minimum disruption to the factory wires.
Caveat: At 12.0V, each panel draws ¼ Amp. This extra load (plus the Abstract Ocean LEDs) shouldn’t risk overloading the trunk lighting circuit, but no guarantee…especially since the voltage can go to 14+V. But so far, so good.
Photos:
Source of materials:
www.abstractocean.com/Tesla_interior_light_kit/
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D2VDRVM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
www.amazon.com/Lockitt-POSI-TAP-pack-connectors-20-22/dp/B001MPW54G/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1508074918&sr=1-1&keywords=Lockitt+POSI-TAP+6+pack+wire+connectors+20-22+awg
Soon after I got my MS, I replaced them with Abstract Ocean LEDs. A big improvement.
However, on a dark street, I noticed that they were still inadequate in brightness and position for me to find stuff in the rear trunk. So, round two…
Here’s what I did to upgrade the lighting to the next level (one side described; both sides done):
1. Bought a pair of daytime running light panels from Amazon.
2. Exposed a small amount of the double stick tape from each of them and attached the “hook” side of some black Velcro. (Fortunately, the interior trunk liner acts like the “loop” side of Velcro).
3. Popped out the cargo lamp near the tail light.
4. Pulled out the rear fender trunk liner from the top far enough to push some thin two-conductor wire from the existing cargo lamp opening to the new location (see photo).
5. Used wire nuts (because I was lazy..automotive crimp terminals would have been better) to attach one end of the wire pair to the new light panel (making note of polarity).
6. Tucked the wire nuts and extra wire behind the trunk liner, pushed the liner back in place, and then attached the light panel to the location shown in the photo. Because of the Velcro, it's easy to re-position it.
7. Attached the other end of the wire pair to the two wires at the existing bulb socket. (Positive to Orange-light green, Negative to Black). I used small Posi-Taps for this because they are quick, easy, and make minimum disruption to the factory wires.
Caveat: At 12.0V, each panel draws ¼ Amp. This extra load (plus the Abstract Ocean LEDs) shouldn’t risk overloading the trunk lighting circuit, but no guarantee…especially since the voltage can go to 14+V. But so far, so good.
Photos:
Source of materials:
www.abstractocean.com/Tesla_interior_light_kit/
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01D2VDRVM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
www.amazon.com/Lockitt-POSI-TAP-pack-connectors-20-22/dp/B001MPW54G/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1508074918&sr=1-1&keywords=Lockitt+POSI-TAP+6+pack+wire+connectors+20-22+awg
