Reverse / Backup lights upgrade?

[Jungl3]

The reverse lights combined with rear camera at night are basically useless. I find myself having to rely on the red brake lamps instead to assist with reversing. Not ideal...

Is there a way to replace/upgrade the MY reverse lights? I can't find any results when searching the forum or www.

 

[Cerberus]

Ditto, I’m using brakes light to see anything.

 

[Freewheeler]

[Edited] For my home security camera (with night vision) I bought an infrared floodlight (about a 500W incandescent equivalent) that operates within the same nm wavelength as the camera. You can’t see it with the naked eye (other than a faint red glow at the fixture itself), but the camera sure can! It lights up my entire lawn out to the end of the driveway some 50 yards away. I edited this because I just confirmed the MY rear camera does not pick up this particular wavelength, but...

Geeking out now, but I’m wondering if a powerful IR light operating in the correct nm range and tucked away in a discreet location could provide ample light for the camera to see without necessarily having to illuminate everything with visible light. The backup lights aren’t user serviceable (other than perhaps for the truly ambitious) since they’re LEDs built into the light housing.

Does anyone know how to determine the nm range of the rear camera?

 

[RocDeef]

Vleds makes a license plate frame that has LEDs across the top. It's bright as hell. I've used it on another car and it's nice.
It's not a really difficult install, but you'd need to run a wire into the lift gate and splice into the reverse light signal. I'm not ready to cut anything or take anything apart on my model y yet.

 

[SSedan]

The Y is towing rated right?
Does the wiring for that have a backup light wire that could power something? Might be a solution without any splicing.

 

[Battpower]

Complain big time to Tesla. I bet it is same issue that effects MS MCU2 (later) models. In those cars the camera interfaces to the car differently for the rear compared with others.

It is useless in low light conditions. Earlier Model S / X with earlier version main display / MCU 1 do not have the issue.

Apparently relates to image processing used.

 

[Freewheeler]

In those cars the camera interfaces to the car differently for the rear compared with others.

Kind of interesting when I went out last night to see if the IR floodlight had any effect on the rear camera imagery. The rear camera image remained pitch black while the side camera images glowed red (but still no image). Curious what the camera/processor specs are or if they put IR blockers on some/all of them to prevent noise.

 

[Battpower]

Kind of interesting when I went out last night to see if the IR floodlight had any effect on the rear camera imagery. The rear camera image remained pitch black while the side camera images glowed red (but still no image). Curious what the camera/processor specs are or if they put IR blockers on some/all of them to prevent noise.

Certainly visible LED doesn't seem effective and I have two generations of IR security cam illumination neither of which seem to get picked up by the car.

This thread has some pics of images from S / X for comparison.

How is your rear camera after MCU1 to MCU2 upgade (dark?)

 

[Freewheeler]

have two generations of IR security cam illumination neither of which seem to get picked up by the car

I recall when buying my accessory IR floodlight that I had to match the nm wavelength to the camera, something like 850nm - 950nm, but there are other IR ranges for different devices, so wondering if there's a wavelength other than visible light that would work, but only the camera spec would say.

 

[Jungl3]

[Edited] For my home security camera (with night vision) I bought an infrared floodlight (about a 500W incandescent equivalent) that operates within the same nm wavelength as the camera. You can’t see it with the naked eye (other than a faint red glow at the fixture itself), but the camera sure can! It lights up my entire lawn out to the end of the driveway some 50 yards away. I edited this because I just confirmed the MY rear camera does not pick up this particular wavelength, but...

Geeking out now, but I’m wondering if a powerful IR light operating in the correct nm range and tucked away in a discreet location could provide ample light for the camera to see without necessarily having to illuminate everything with visible light. The backup lights aren’t user serviceable (other than perhaps for the truly ambitious) since they’re LEDs built into the light housing.

Does anyone know how to determine the nm range of the rear camera?

Got excited to test, but then read your edit and the rest of the thread ... =(

 

[Double_J]

Agreed, it's way too dark. I'm not sure if my other cars were as bad but I certainly notice it now because I back in to my garage to charge at night. Soooooo dark!!

 

[patnshan]

I'm glad I have lights in my garage. You are right, they are too dim.

 

[Freewheeler]

Got excited to test, but then read your edit and the rest of the thread ... =(

So although the 850nm wavelength IR light for my security camera wasn't visible to the backup camera, I bought a cheapo 940nm IR flashlight and laid it on the ground behind the car at night, and selected reverse. I could see the flashlight casting across the driveway, so it appears the rear camera operates in that range. A bright enough IR emitter it could illuminate quite a large area without being visible. The oddity is the light gives everything on the screen a pinkish-purple haze but is still invisible to the eye.

I may mock up a far more powerful version, an alternate is to mount a tasteful third backup light in the trailer hitch panel. I'm not set up for towing, and if I was I wouldn't need that backup light with a trailer. I would just need to find a cool looking one.

 

[Jungl3]

So although the 850nm wavelength IR light for my security camera wasn't visible to the backup camera, I bought a cheapo 940nm IR flashlight and laid it on the ground behind the car at night, and selected reverse. I could see the flashlight casting across the driveway, so it appears the rear camera operates in that range. A bright enough IR emitter it could illuminate quite a large area without being visible. The oddity is the light gives everything on the screen a pinkish-purple haze but is still invisible to the eye.

I may mock up a far more powerful version, an alternate is to mount a tasteful third backup light in the trailer hitch panel. I'm not set up for towing, and if I was I wouldn't need that backup light with a trailer. I would just need to find a cool looking one.

I'm not setup for a tow hitch, but do you know if a towing harness is available and comes stock with the car? Wondering if possible to tap into the tow harness/plug and route wires through bottom/rear of car, through trunk, and mount the IR flashlight via suction that would point out the rear window.

 

[Big Earl]

The issue is the exposure settings. Note how the side cameras have great visibility in similar lighting conditions. Another member in a different thread installed auxiliary LED reverse lights but the backup camera lowered the exposure, negating the extra light.

This was corrected in a previous software update (same issue on Model 3) but reverted to being too dark in a subsequent update. Hopefully Tesla will fix it for good at some point.

 

[TomServo]

Agree, backing up in the dark is a challenge. Seems Tesla could fix this for a few dollars.

 

[Freewheeler]

Hopefully it's a software issue that is fixed soon.

do you know if a towing harness is available and comes stock with the car?

From what I understand there's a connection for the harness, but I wouldn't approach the IR thing, especially a flashlight in the rear window They are specialty items for night vision applications that would require a custom fabrication or be butt ugly. Best off griping until Tesla comes up with a fix.