My non-PUP has puddle lights

[Yinn]

I've been told (by mechanics at the service center) the lighted door handles have a different wiring harness that isn't present on cars that weren't shipped with lighted handles.

It's reversed. The harness is the same for the S. Some of those that tried to do puddle lights have used the wrong wire and resulted in the lights staying on even with the door closed. But, the door panel themselves are different and do not contain the PUP lighting strips. This info is all in the original large thread for AO lights.

On the X, every car comes with the LED tubes for accent lighting already. But either the harness is different or it requires software activation - don't think it's been determined yet.

 

[e-FTW]

It's reversed. The harness is the same for the S. Some of those that tried to do puddle lights have used the wrong wire and resulted in the lights staying on even with the door closed. But, the door panel themselves are different and do not contain the PUP lighting strips. This info is all in the original large thread for AO lights.

On the X, every car comes with the LED tubes for accent lighting already. But either the harness is different or it requires software activation - don't think it's been determined yet.

Just to be clear, you are saying that all Model S' do indeed come with the correct wiring harness so we can add the LED lights to them ourselves, on non-PUP cars?

 

[Yinn]

Just to be clear, you are saying that all Model S' do indeed come with the correct wiring harness so we can add the LED lights to them ourselves, on non-PUP cars?

Should - my Dec build AP2 MS had all the wires necessary and was a non-PUP car. Many others do too.

My disclaimer is that Tesla does a lot of unannounced changes so YMMV.

 

[e-FTW]

Should - my Dec build AP2 MS had all the wires necessary and was a non-PUP car. Many others do too.

My disclaimer is that Tesla does a lot of unannounced changes so YMMV.

You wouldn't happen to have a picture or description of what that harness would look like?

 

[Yinn]

You wouldn't happen to have a picture or description of what that harness would look like?

I only documented my rears. But the giant AO thread had pictures of the door wires if I remember correctly.

 

[huzz1970]

The easiest thing to do is to cut out the hole in the rear door. The hard plastic shell acts as a template. Use a small blade, like an Xacto knife. Just cut the opening. Look into the hole from below. A small flashlight will help. The wires with the plug are just taped together. Reach in with a long nose plier and pull the plug gently. The tape will release and you can pull the plug out of the hole to attach to the light unit. You definitely do not have to pull the door panel.

 

[huzz1970]

That's what I'm wondering...If I can do it without removing the door panel, that would be best.

See my response. You do not have to pull the door panel!

 

[cwerlin]

I pulled the panels on mine, but many others have not. On you will they be there question, mine is an October AP1 Updated MS and they were there.

 

[e-FTW]

The easiest thing to do is to cut out the hole in the rear door. The hard plastic shell acts as a template. Use a small blade, like an Xacto knife. Just cut the opening. Look into the hole from below. A small flashlight will help. The wires with the plug are just taped together. Reach in with a long nose plier and pull the plug gently. The tape will release and you can pull the plug out of the hole to attach to the light unit. You definitely do not have to pull the door panel.

That is the wrong connector for puddle lights in the bottom of the doors. The one you mention is for accent lighting, and results in your puddle light staying on when the doors are closed.
You absolutely must remove the door panel to get to the correct wire and connector, which is hiding much higher in the door. This has been documented in the AO thread. I know because is cracked open my doors and looked at all the wires and connectors, confirmed this and installed puddle lights to the bottom of my doors. I did everything I could to do this without removing (not completely, but enough to get hands in there) the door panel, to no avail.

 

[e-FTW]

Should - my Dec build AP2 MS had all the wires necessary and was a non-PUP car. Many others do too.

My disclaimer is that Tesla does a lot of unannounced changes so YMMV.

I may not have been clear: am asking specifically about the door handle LED puddle lights. Looks like I need to investigate. And figure out if I am game for the job of taking the handles out.

 

[e-FTW]

PSA: see this post explaining why the wires you can get to without popping off the rear door panels are not the correct ones for the under-door puddle lights: Improved Trunk lighting - Is there demand?
Using those wires you can easily fish out via the cutout at the bottom of the door will result in your puddle lights staying on with the doors closed.

 

[huzz1970]

ETW- sorry, that is NOT the wrong connector- the wiring color code is constant in all of the doors, at least in my car. You can reach it with an 11 inch long nose plier. The lights only turn on when the door is opened, go off when it is closed. i have not done anything with door handle lights. i have added a lot of extra lights and noise abatement on the body.

 

[Yinn]

I may not have been clear: am asking specifically about the door handle LED puddle lights. Looks like I need to investigate. And figure out if I am game for the job of taking the handles out.

Ahh, those I have no idea about. I thought you were asking about the interior accent lighting.

 

[cwerlin]

I have done both on my facelifted 2016MS and I could not get to the correct wire easily for the door bottom accent lights without removing the door panel, however I was removing the panel anyway to install the exterior door handle puddle lights. Removing the door panel is so simple, not sure why folks would risk pulling on the wrong wires anyway! To install the puddle lights you must pull the panel from inside the door and the chrome window trim from outside the door.

 

[steveho]

Ahh. The confusion is that there are two lamps per door that people are calling puddle lamps. The one that I think most of us are referring to as puddle lamps are at the bottom of the door, rectangular in shape. This is versus the lighted door handles. Or versus the soft LED ambient interior lighting, which is in the door armrest.

Tesla's nomenclature is:
Puddle Lamp (bottom of door)
Lighted door handle (obvious)
Soft LED Ambient interior lighting (door armrest)

 

[SomeJoe7777]

For my car, e-FTW's description was exactly correct -- when I took the door panel off, I had two unused connectors:

A) a connector taped to other wires near the bottom of the door, this was the connector intended for the ambient lighting, which my car does not have. I initially used this connector for my puddle lights, but found the exact described problem -- the puddle lights stayed on when the doors were closed.

B) another connector taped to other wires much higher in the door near the rearward-facing red light. This connector was the one intended for the puddle lights, and using this connector resulted in proper operation -- puddle lights on only when the door is open.

I had a 3rd connector presumably for the LEDs that are inside the lighted door handles that was already connected on my car (I do have lighted door handles, they came from the factory).

It is possible that not all wiring harnesses are identical, and the proper one for the puddle lights may be in a different location on some cars.

 

[steveho]

For my car, e-FTW's description was exactly correct -- when I took the door panel off, I had two unused connectors:

A) a connector taped to other wires near the bottom of the door, this was the connector intended for the ambient lighting, which my car does not have. I initially used this connector for my puddle lights, but found the exact described problem -- the puddle lights stayed on when the doors were closed.

B) another connector taped to other wires much higher in the door near the rearward-facing red light. This connector was the one intended for the puddle lights, and using this connector resulted in proper operation -- puddle lights on only when the door is open.

I had a 3rd connector presumably for the LEDs that are inside the lighted door handles that was already connected on my car (I do have lighted door handles, they came from the factory).

It is possible that not all wiring harnesses are identical, and the proper one for the puddle lights may be in a different location on some cars.

Dang it! I just went and checked my car. The "A" connector was indeed the ambient light in the right rear door! BUT the "A" connector was the puddle lamp in the left rear door! So Now I need to pull apart the right rear door to get to the other connector to make it correct.

 

[e-FTW]

ETW- sorry, that is NOT the wrong connector- the wiring color code is constant in all of the doors, at least in my car. You can reach it with an 11 inch long nose plier. The lights only turn on when the door is opened, go off when it is closed. i have not done anything with door handle lights. i have added a lot of extra lights and noise abatement on the body.

YMMV
In my car (September 2015), the correct wire was taped up near the red doorsil light, AND taped somewhere right in the middle of the door. So had to pop the panel.
Most everyone that reported doing this successfully had the same wire placement as I described.
Again, differences between cars and production line changes... Your Mileage May Vary.

 

[RayW]

The easiest thing to do is to cut out the hole in the rear door. The hard plastic shell acts as a template. Use a small blade, like an Xacto knife. Just cut the opening. Look into the hole from below. A small flashlight will help. The wires with the plug are just taped together. Reach in with a long nose plier and pull the plug gently. The tape will release and you can pull the plug out of the hole to attach to the light unit. You definitely do not have to pull the door panel.

I used an 8" spring hook to reach up, hook the blue tape, and pull it apart. Took about 5min total to install both rear puddle lights in my Fall 2016 non-pup.

 

[Cy4t2]

Glad I could help, the one additional tip when you are reinstalling the door handle mechanism. The fit between the threaded stud and the window glass is very tight, I actually used a plastic shim for installing a door frame in a house to help guide the handle mechanism over the stud (shims are nice and long, available at Lowes or Home depot for a couple bucks). I then used some double sided tape on the shim to hold the bolt on the stud while I used the wrench to get it threaded. The other 3 bolts which are accessed through service holes in the door are quite easy.

So you have confirmed that the wires for the ambient lighting exist and already have power? If so I'd like to add ambient lighting to mine. I have what I thought was PUP in my march 2015 70d but no ambiant lighting and I miss it after having it in my last MS.