Sun Visors - Missing Vanity Light?

[Herbie65]

I think Tesla is saving that for the interior redesign.
And if they dont add into the new design I would be pretty annoyed with Tesla.

That is what many of us thought/hoped for at the facelift update..

 

[Xolt]

Nice... For some reason I didn't even try it was just a thought so thank you for correcting my misunderstanding.

Jeff

It could be larger though

 

[Tangible]

The Chevy Malibu I'm renting while on vacation has vanity lights, coat hooks, and deep door pockets. It costs about 25k. I could buy five of them for what I paid for my Tesla.

 

[Herbie65]

The Chevy Malibu I'm renting while on vacation has vanity lights, coat hooks, and deep door pockets. It costs about 25k. I could buy five of them for what I paid for my Tesla.

But the question is: would you?
i prefer my Tesla,without hooks, vanity lights etc. And what i really want in it, i make myself)))) it is really a good therapy)

 

[oktane]

You should work for Tesla! Glad to see third-party is taking up the slack.

 

[supratachophobia]

After a few days work....... Version 1.0

probably soon available if there will be interest.

View attachment 215242

So let me get this straight. Tesla, a company with a market cap of 20 billion and 200k cars on the road has somehow been upstaged by @Herbie65 hacking something together in a basement somewhere....

 

[David29]

True but on the X, you can't maneuver the sun visor over to the side window to cover sun coming in from the side which you can on pretty much every other car ever made so... I don't own an X just test drove one and didn't see how that functionality would be possible so if it is, then don't hesitate to correct me.

Jeff

Yeah, I had a loaner Model X the past 2 days while my Model S was getting its annual service, and the feeble sun visors drove me nuts. Cleverly designed but ineffective against the constant low winter sun I was driving into. If I had an X, I would need to get the sunshade for the windshield.

 

[JPP]

The strange thing is that i see this in the technical schemes of the 2014 version of the Model SView attachment 215178

...any idea where this is found in the headliner? Is this the magic connector above the microphone grille that many of us use for always on 12V for a dash cam (and also used for EU case with the added intrusion sonar alarm system)? Or is this tapped from the power to the existing small bullet dome lights?

From the schematic this looks like switched 12V from the 'ignition'. Maybe the same circuit as the small bullet dome lights?

 

[jerry33]

...any idea where this is found in the headliner? Is this the magic connector above the microphone grille that many of us use for always on 12V for a dash cam (and also used for EU case with the added intrusion sonar alarm system)? Or is this tapped from the power to the existing small bullet dome lights?

Early cars, like mine, had wiring meant for a planned visor light. Sometime later, that wiring was removed, so about 90% of the cars out there don't have it.

 

[JPP]

It definitely needs to be done in the shop. The wire needs to be put in, the light needs to be cut out. The switch needs to be build in.
So there is a lot of tweaking on the sun visor involved.
It is still in the developing phase.
- We will for sure not do any cutting in the existing wiring of the car
- We are still looking for the perfect microswitch or reed contact for the switching.
- What light unit shall we use (here we used the standard footwell/trunk/door light unit or maybe we should go for a thin ledstrip on the inside of the mirror cover?

View attachment 215276 View attachment 215277

Herbie--strong work. A few thoughts:

While the single OEM Tesla lamp would probably be more than adequate, the strip LED would provide more even illumination.
Strip LEDs are often very bright--maybe more than you need.
Also strip LEDs come in different color temperatures. Might want a warmer color here.
If you do decide on using the Tesla OEM lamp, note that some of us (like me) have done the Abstract Ocean LED upgrade to much brighter lights. From my wife's and my cars I have a total of 2 dozen essentially new Tesla lamps just sitting in my garage. If you choose to go with the single OEM LED light, and if you want them, I can send them to you. Just send me a private message here on TMC.
Upthread someone posted a clipping from the Tesla technical manual regarding power to visor lights. Would be nice to figure this out to see exactly where to tap into (I assume you want always on 12V). FWIW many of us have the open/unused connector above the microphone grille in the headliner which has always on 12V (which I use for a dash cam). Maybe not true in EU cars with the motion sensing intrusion alarm module (not supplied in the US).

Too bad that you cannot make a kit to be installed by the end user. It would reduce a lot of 'across-the-pond' shipping to/from the Netherlands.

Please keep us all posted--you will find that you have a large pent-up market for this upgrade (...just ask my wife).

 

[sorka]

After a few days work....... Version 1.0

probably soon available if there will be interest.

View attachment 215242

Count me in!

 

[sorka]

Early cars, like mine, had wiring meant for a planned visor light. Sometime later, that wiring was removed, so about 90% of the cars out there don't have it.

My March 2015 P85D has it.

 

[sorka]

That is what many of us thought/hoped for at the facelift update..

The problem if they had done that would be that they would have had to retrofit all existing cars:

Inside Tesla - 08.02.12

"The original beta Lighted Vanity Mirrors on the front sun visors were simply not acceptable to us from an appearance, function or size standpoint, so we rejected them and immediately started working on another solution. In the meantime, we started delivering cars. We did not want to be delivering cars without Lighted Vanity Mirrors when our Specs page at teslamotors.com said they would be present…so we changed the Specs page to accurately reflect there would be no Lighted Vanity Mirror in the sun visors.

You will not see the Lighted Vanity Mirrors back on the Specs page for a little while longer because we are still working on getting the form factor and functionality exactly the way we want. It will be lighted, it will have a mirror, and it can easily be retrofit into all cars. In fact, we will be encouraging everyone to get the retrofit.

So just to be clear, all cars that get delivered are set up to have reading lights in second row seats and Lighted Vanity Mirrors. Those that don't have the latest and greatest when they receive their car can have these items easily retrofitted at no additional cost."

As far as I'm concerned, they still owe me the mirrors. I copy and paste this about every 3 months and send tesla an email requesting status on my retrofit. I of course always get the same answer back.

My wife has repeatedly said that our Model S is a toy plaything and not a real car for real people and then she points out that our beater Prius has nice lighted vanity mirrors, grab rails, door pockets, center console storage, and coat hooks.

 

[JPP]

The problem if they had done that would be that they would have had to retrofit all existing cars:

Inside Tesla - 08.02.12

"The original beta Lighted Vanity Mirrors on the front sun visors were simply not acceptable to us from an appearance, function or size standpoint, so we rejected them and immediately started working on another solution. In the meantime, we started delivering cars. We did not want to be delivering cars without Lighted Vanity Mirrors when our Specs page at teslamotors.com said they would be present…so we changed the Specs page to accurately reflect there would be no Lighted Vanity Mirror in the sun visors.

You will not see the Lighted Vanity Mirrors back on the Specs page for a little while longer because we are still working on getting the form factor and functionality exactly the way we want. It will be lighted, it will have a mirror, and it can easily be retrofit into all cars. In fact, we will be encouraging everyone to get the retrofit.

So just to be clear, all cars that get delivered are set up to have reading lights in second row seats and Lighted Vanity Mirrors. Those that don't have the latest and greatest when they receive their car can have these items easily retrofitted at no additional cost."

As far as I'm concerned, they still owe me the mirrors. I copy and paste this about every 3 months and send tesla an email requesting status on my retrofit. I of course always get the same answer back.

My wife has repeatedly said that our Model S is a toy plaything and not a real car for real people and then she points out that our beater Prius has nice lighted vanity mirrors, grab rails, door pockets, center console storage, and coat hooks.

IMHO, now that George B. is gone, I have no hope that TM will retrofit this...but would expect with the hiring of the Volvo interior designer/engineer, this will be addressed at the next refresh.

 

[jerry33]

My March 2015 P85D has it.

Maybe they put them back, but there was a time when they stopped putting them in as people who added cameras to the car didn't have an already existing connector.

 

[JPP]

Not trying to hijack this thread, but I have been communicating with pete at Abstract Ocean for a while on this issue. I even went so far as to cobble together a rudimentary prototype of a battery powered LED light assembly for the S. I found a USB powered capacitive touch switch enabled LED module:

Amazon.com: Yitee® 4pcs USB Light Keychain Super Bright Pure White Single SMD LED Mini USB Port Light Ultra-thin Portable Night Light with Double Touch Switch: Camera & Photo

I grabbed a flat coin type Li battery (3V) and soldered it to the circuit board:



Here it is switched on:



Even at 3V vs. 5 V it is still pretty bright.

For fun, I stuck it up onto the visor mirror:



and here it is turned on:



I figured someone clever (like Pete who has fabricators who do his lights and other products) could get someone to slice down the circuit board (don't need the thickness or the USB connectors at the end) and make some kind of flat plastic case with a clear or opaque front lens with a small slot for the user to touch the metal capacitive strip. Yes, manual operation, and, yes, battery powered. But for those who don't want to go the hard wired route, maybe an option. A clever fabricator might even embed a microswitch that works when you lift the cover on the mirror, making it 'full automatic'.

 

[Herbie65]

Wait for our retrofit.
Pictures of our prototypes should come in the next few days

 

[FlatSix911]

Problem solved ...
Wireless LED Light Switch

 

[Jrogville]

I was surprised to find out that the sun visors seem to be missing vanity lights?

Was just showing off my new (to me) CPO to a friend just yesterday. He made a joke about the lack of lighted mirror, which his kid's $17k Toyota has. I laughed it off, but was a little irritated at Tesla. It surprised me too.

 

[Jrogville]

After a few days work....... Version 1.0

probably soon available if there will be interest.

View attachment 215242

I assume it's a single light because of it being a prototype, but it needs lights on each side of the mirror or you'll get shadows.