Overview:
As others have observed, the interior lighting is really dim. It’s pleasant “ambient/mood lighting” but falls short on practical lighting to actually see stuff in the dark.
My December 2016 MS has the Premium Upgrades Package. This includes thirteen 200 milliwatt cool white LED lighting modules, four red LED modules in the doors, cool white LED strings above the arm rests, and four warm white down lights on the ceiling. Initially, I decided to upgrade at least the trunk and glove box lights. These would be the big wins.
Approach:
At first, I planned to open the modules and solder in brighter LED(s). They were a pain to open and it looked like a lot of work to change the LEDs. Then, after a little research, I found snap-in replacement modules from Ultra-Bright LED Interior Light Kit (4 Bulbs) at reasonable prices. It turns out that, other than the guts, they are virtually identical to the factory modules. Impressive! On the bench, they measure about 850 milliwatts; about 4X the power of the factory modules.
I decided to order the full kit for the Model X, even though I have a Model S. The difference is two less red and two less white modules…and $40. The four bulbs that I decided to not replace are under the front seat (plenty of light from the overhead lights for the back seat) and the red lights on the passenger side (the incremental visibility is minimal and how often are kids skateboarding at night on the sidewalk?). It’s also not clear how much “safety” the brighter red lights add to the drivers side.
Installation:
As the Abstract Ocean site describes, there are various lighting payoffs and challenges to removing the factory lighting modules. They recommended a special pry tool, which users seem to like. I found this tool useless for anything but three easy to remove trunk lights.
In the end, I resorted to a large metal screwdriver with a wide thin blade. This made fast-work on all of the modules with virtually no marks to the interior trim or the old modules. The connectors were easy to remove. Some of the connectors on the new modules were a little tight. Some of the wires were really short (front footwell), while others were really long (red door edge). None of these presented any problems.
Final Comments:
The new lighting is not so much an improvement as a remedy for a shortcoming.
The new lights are “about right”. Bright enough, but not too bright. I wouldn’t mind even more light in the rear trunk.
The increased footwell lighting really shows off lint and debris on the black carpet.
It’s curious that all of the cabin lighting is cool white with the exception of the four warm white downlights. Don’t the lighting designers talk to each other? If I had to choose one color temperature for all of the cabin lighting, I’d have chosen warm white (the “living room” vs the “work room” look). The two cool white displays would really pop.
Overall, I’m pleased with these lights and the ones that I chose to replace.
As others have observed, the interior lighting is really dim. It’s pleasant “ambient/mood lighting” but falls short on practical lighting to actually see stuff in the dark.
My December 2016 MS has the Premium Upgrades Package. This includes thirteen 200 milliwatt cool white LED lighting modules, four red LED modules in the doors, cool white LED strings above the arm rests, and four warm white down lights on the ceiling. Initially, I decided to upgrade at least the trunk and glove box lights. These would be the big wins.
Approach:
At first, I planned to open the modules and solder in brighter LED(s). They were a pain to open and it looked like a lot of work to change the LEDs. Then, after a little research, I found snap-in replacement modules from Ultra-Bright LED Interior Light Kit (4 Bulbs) at reasonable prices. It turns out that, other than the guts, they are virtually identical to the factory modules. Impressive! On the bench, they measure about 850 milliwatts; about 4X the power of the factory modules.
I decided to order the full kit for the Model X, even though I have a Model S. The difference is two less red and two less white modules…and $40. The four bulbs that I decided to not replace are under the front seat (plenty of light from the overhead lights for the back seat) and the red lights on the passenger side (the incremental visibility is minimal and how often are kids skateboarding at night on the sidewalk?). It’s also not clear how much “safety” the brighter red lights add to the drivers side.
Installation:
As the Abstract Ocean site describes, there are various lighting payoffs and challenges to removing the factory lighting modules. They recommended a special pry tool, which users seem to like. I found this tool useless for anything but three easy to remove trunk lights.
In the end, I resorted to a large metal screwdriver with a wide thin blade. This made fast-work on all of the modules with virtually no marks to the interior trim or the old modules. The connectors were easy to remove. Some of the connectors on the new modules were a little tight. Some of the wires were really short (front footwell), while others were really long (red door edge). None of these presented any problems.
Final Comments:
The new lighting is not so much an improvement as a remedy for a shortcoming.
The new lights are “about right”. Bright enough, but not too bright. I wouldn’t mind even more light in the rear trunk.
The increased footwell lighting really shows off lint and debris on the black carpet.
It’s curious that all of the cabin lighting is cool white with the exception of the four warm white downlights. Don’t the lighting designers talk to each other? If I had to choose one color temperature for all of the cabin lighting, I’d have chosen warm white (the “living room” vs the “work room” look). The two cool white displays would really pop.
Overall, I’m pleased with these lights and the ones that I chose to replace.
