Xenon HID upgrade

[ecarfan]

I went w/ a 3W LED in the parking light housing and did not get any errors. That was in my old halogen housing though and when Tesla swapped them for HIDs due to the peeling issue I haven't gone back and put LEDs in again. I swear I took before and after pictures but can't find them rt now...
Also, I had a heck of a time getting the bulb into the housing and partially popped the little cover off inside the housing so I'm hesitant to try it again.

Thanks strider. I know very little about LEDs. Based on what @Chillout posted I assume I need a "T10" type LED. What about this bulb from DDM in 3W? 168/194/921/T10 High Power LED bulbs There doesn't seem to be a color temp choice on that web page, it just shows "LED Color" and a white box, no alternatives.

Here's the line from my order:

1

DDM HID Kit, 55W, 9005, 4500K

You don't need anything else (mounting brackets or a HID harness).
I did have one ballast go bad after about 4 months that they replaced under warranty (although it was a little bit of a pain).

Thanks, that's what i needed to know. The brackets are just $3, might get them just out of curiosity to see if there is a way to use them.

 

[Chillout]

Color comparison:

Philips 4000K led on the left, dealextreme cheap T10 led on the right (http://www.dx.com/p/t10-2w-6500k-126lm-9-led-white-light-bulbs-for-car-pair-12v-130166)

Less bright, but more blue/white and supercar'ish

While I was at it... I also took a chance on the "mystery unused cable"

I connected the wires of a DRL led unit I still had somewhere, and guess what?! It lit up. I still have to measure how much power is on this connector, but I might use this to connect my DRLs in the near future.

 

[ecarfan]

With the kindly assistance of @strider, yesterday my Roadster was converted to Xenon low beams using the DDM kit with 55W 5000K bulbs. Of course I then had to take the car for a quick drive last night after sundown. Wow, what a difference! The beam pattern and cutoff seems unchanged, but of course the beam brightness is vastly improved.

The DDM kit comes with cable extension pieces that are not needed, we cut off the rubber grommet that bundled the wires together to remove that piece. Also we used the small O-ring which as others have noted means you don't have to back out the three screws more than one turn. The new bulb went in easily. Mounted the ballast on the painted flat surface to the right of the headlight assembly as viewed from within the fender well. Used industrial strength velcro to mount the ballast Amazon.com: VEK90199 - Velcro Industrial Strength Sticky-Back Hook and Loop Fastener Strips: Electronics

This photo shows the location of the ballast (driver's side)

Connections made (passenger side)

DDM kit pieces I received.

 

[heychubs]

Thanks everyone for all the tips and suggestions! Just installed the DDM kit and what a difference. One hour later and I love driving at night now!

One question for those, who've swapped out their parking lights with LEDs. Is there a trick to getting to it? I couldn't figure it out while I was in there, and then just closed it all up as I was eager to finish the DDMs.

 

[ecarfan]

One question for those, who've swapped out their parking lights with LEDs. Is there a trick to getting to it? I couldn't figure it out while I was in there, and then just closed it all up as I was eager to finish the DDMs.

I did exactly the same: bought the LED replacement bulbs but it looks really difficult to replace them so didn't do it yet.

 

[Chillout]

It's pretty flimsy... the light can be reached by going round the corner. Getting the old one out is easy, just pull the plastic part that's holding the light.
Getting the new one in is a pain in the *ss....
Be sure not to use a big led, use one that's about the same size as a regular W5W/T10 bulb. It might be easier to take out the indicator light, so you have more working space.
Put the led in the socket and turn the lights on. You will see if the polarity is all right, but you will also create some extra light to work in. It allows you to see where the light is moving, when looking into the headlight. The led is never pointing straight to the front, but is "hanging" diagonally. When you are careful, it will just click in place.

 

[heychubs]

I did exactly the same: bought the LED replacement bulbs but it looks really difficult to replace them so didn't do it yet.

I bought three different pairs of color temps/sizes, as they were cheap and I couldn't really decide on which to use. I'm eager to try them out, so hopefully I can find some time to try again.

It's pretty flimsy... the light can be reached by going round the corner. Getting the old one out is easy, just pull the plastic part that's holding the light.
Getting the new one in is a pain in the *ss....
Be sure not to use a big led, use one that's about the same size as a regular W5W/T10 bulb. It might be easier to take out the indicator light, so you have more working space.
Put the led in the socket and turn the lights on. You will see if the polarity is all right, but you will also create some extra light to work in. It allows you to see where the light is moving, when looking into the headlight. The led is never pointing straight to the front, but is "hanging" diagonally. When you are careful, it will just click in place.

Thanks Chillout. Do you mean reaching in from the fender side, past the HIDs and high beam, INSIDE the rubber high beam cover? I tried reaching around the corner, but maybe I wasn't persistent enough. Or my hand is too big.

 

[Chillout]

If i'm correct, there's a third rubber cover... but suddenly I'm not sure about this any more, I'll have to check. My hands are pretty small and it was still a really hard job for me.

edit: I found this pic:

Yes, you need to reach into the high beam, twist the indicator light to take it out and then there's more space to work in.

 

[jimmyz80]

I just wanted to add a quick update to this thread since it spans a long period of time, and it seems like there were minor differences in the DDM kit throughout this time period (grommet wiring, o-rings, etc.). Tonight my DDM 55W 5000K kit arrived and the install went a lot smoother than I expected. Two key points I'll provide an update on:

1. The rubber grommet that comes installed on the DDM wiring pigtails now has the bulb wiring going "in" and the ballast extension coming "out". So four wires pre-installed through the grommet. All I had to do was cut out a 1" hole in the big rubber cover from our headlight assembly, squeeze the grommet into it, and then put the rubber cover back in place. All the wiring is nice and sealed up, and I didn't have to cut any wires or modify any grommets.

2. The bulbs came with three sizes of o-rings, and the smallest one worked great. It actually felt like it made a slightly better seal than the stock bulbs, but still allowed the bulb to rotate in and out easily.

It's just now getting dark, so I'll post an update and some photos soon of what the 5000K kit looks like. On first glance in a dark garage though, the color looks very white with a tiny little amount of blue (definitely no more blue than my Nissan LEAF which is 5500K LED stock). The cutoff and beam pattern also looks EXACTLY the same as the stock halogen bulb against my garage door. More to come...

 

[wiztecy]

The cutoff and beam pattern also looks EXACTLY the same as the stock halogen bulb against my garage door. More to come...

That's all with the projector, so you most likely wouldn't see a difference there. You'll still get the uneven scattered, patchy streaks in the front that the stock halogen projectors create.

 

[jimmyz80]

That's all with the projector, so you most likely wouldn't see a difference there. You'll still get the uneven scattered, patchy streaks in the front that the stock halogen projectors create.

Yup that seems to be the case. Huge improvement over stock, but definitely not perfect. You swapped in new projectors, correct?

 

[wiztecy]

Yup that seems to be the case. Huge improvement over stock, but definitely not perfect. You swapped in new projectors, correct?

For sure, having brighter light the front is way safer for you or others. Especially in the rain.

The plug and play's are definitely great and you can't beat the price. They also seem very reliable, haven't heard anyone complain about them. A while ago people had issues.

Great move with upgrading your lights and brakes after picking up your Roadster!

Yes, I swapped the projectors out too. After comparing a Roadster halogen and HID projector side by side, I could clearly see a difference in quality as well as with the focus/magnification between the projectors. And like a good camera lens, the focus and clarity directly affect the final light quality. So I inquired with TRS after some Internet searches, seeing if they could fit a projector into the stock halogen housing. After talking with them they agreed to take on the task. So I picked up an extra set of halogen lights from my friend Augie, who upgraded to the Tesla HIDs, using those as a test bed. So it overall took TRS a little over a year to get something back, however with that they did release a rather an inexpensive kit to the public for the Roadster. Obviously this project wasn't top priority for them. They were nice enough to comp me the lights which sweet. And they wouldn't even allow me to pay shipping, I guess since they felt so bad for taking so long.

Later TRS did have issues with defective ballasts. At lower temps they failed to fire the bulb, however a cycle of your lights on/off would resolve it. TRS contacted the supplier after identifying an issue and quickly resolved the issue. TRS sent replacement ballasts out free if cost. So that should be resolved now. Haven't heard any other issues other than that.

One setback going with TRS is that you have to ship out your only set of lights, so unless you picked up an extra set, your Roadster is down for at least 2 weeks. You can do the swap yourself, but first you have to remove the housing from the Roadster and then drop them in an oven to split them. So I can see many not wanting to take on that task.

As for the quality of light illuminated by the TRS including broad coverage and even light dispersment, having a Roadster with the Tesla HID & TRS HID side by side, its about the same with the end result. So I'm totally pleased.

 

[jimmyz80]

Great move with upgrading your lights and brakes after picking up your Roadster!

Also installed a PIAA silicone wiper blade. Those were the three big safety issues I wanted to sort out ASAP, and sadly enough I even ordered the parts before the car was officially mine. Addiction much? LOL

Yes, I swapped the projectors out too. After comparing a Roadster halogen and HID projector side by side, I could clearly see the difference in focus and different magnification the lens. And like a good camera lens, how good the lens directly correlates to light quality. So I inquired TRS after some Internet searches about seeing if they could fit a projector into the stock halogen housing and they took on the task, used an extra set of lights Augie as the test bed, and a little over a year gave me and released an inexpensive kit afterwards. Wasn't top priority. But they comp'd me the lights which was nice of them, they wouldn't even allow me to pay shipping since they felt so bad for how long it took. They had issues with the ballasts that came with them at lower temps, but they contacted the supplier and they quickly resolved the issue. TRS sent replacement ballasts out free if cost. So that was great for customer support. I think the biggest issue is that you have to send your only set of lights out to get swapped. You can do it yourself, break open the housing using an oven and such, but not many want to take on that task. I'm not sure if they even will split them now, don't see why not. But some have felt that.

As for quality of light illuminated out by the TRS and even coverage, its close or about the same as the Stock aftermarket HID lights Tesla sells for the Roadster.

I saw the kit listed on their webpage, but they don't seem to have any DIY instructions listed. I've taken apart headlights with the oven method before so I think i'd be comfortable doing the work, as long as there's no other major cutting or fabrication involved. My roadster came with one spare headlight I can experiment on too.

 

[wiztecy]

Also installed a PIAA silicone wiper blade. Those were the three big safety issues I wanted to sort out ASAP, and sadly enough I even ordered the parts before the car was officially mine. Addiction much? LOL



I saw the kit listed on their webpage, but they don't seem to have any DIY instructions listed. I've taken apart headlights with the oven method before so I think I'd be comfortable doing the work, as long as there's no other major cutting or fabrication involved. My roadster came with one spare headlight I can experiment on too.

One person on the forum did an issue, believe how it came wired to him or the way the instructions told him how to wire it. After I found out I inquired with TRS and they had explained they understood how the mix-up happened and indicated they corrected it. Haven't heard lately of anyone who'd picked up a set.

I think its fair enough if anyone wants to go this route to first go ask for detailed instructions, or at least have TRS respond back that there's a good clear set of instructions available. They also said they sell the black butyl sealant you'll need when you put the housing/lens back together. I think Amazon should have that too.

 

[Chillout]

It appears my first DDM-tuning bulb broke down... This morning I got an error message, and the bulb only goes on for 0.1 second and off right away after that. I guess I will have to take the wheel off again and replace the bulb. At least, I hope it's the bulb itself and not the ballast!

 

[hcsharp]

It appears my first DDM-tuning bulb broke down... This morning I got an error message, and the bulb only goes on for 0.1 second and off right away after that. I guess I will have to take the wheel off again and replace the bulb. At least, I hope it's the bulb itself and not the ballast!

It's probably the ballast. I had one of them go bad. DDM is a pain to work with. To return anything you have to thoroughly describe your troubleshooting process or they won't give you an RMA. Then plan on at least a month before you get the new part(s). It's easier to just order and pay for another set which annoys me.

 

[Chillout]

Indeed.. after some trying out I pinned the problem down to the ballast. DDM is weird... They're asking $25 for research costs, ridiculous if you ask me... I found a supplier nearby (in the Netherlands) that can deliver the same ballast for €27,--, which is basically just as expensive as DDM-research alone.

 

[Tesla 940]

I still haven't done any upgrade to my lights - mostly because I almost never drive it at night. That said, has anyone looked into LED headlights? I saw somewhere that they are even better than HIDs. Any thoughts?

 

[Chillout]

I tried LED headlights on my girlfriends car, a Seat Ibiza 2010. It works better than expected, although I don't know how it would hold up with a car that has headlight detection... it might throw an error...

 

[Panicopticon]

I played around with a set of LED lights on the Tesla. I wasn't very impressed with the quality. I suspect they wouldn't hold up very long in an automotive environment. If folks are curious I can dig up what specifically I ordered.