Any SR Owners Wired Up Map Pocket Lights?

[AdamMacDon]

With the recent release of the rear heated seat upgrade for the SR model 3's, I was inspired to complete my car to a more or less "Premium" trim level. A later mission will be wiring up some of the extra speakers and a sub. But for now my current project is to wire up the ambient footwell lights, and ideally the map pocket lights in all 4 doors. I'll also probably add some lights to the rear passenger footwell areas as well.

I've seen many a thread about wiring up the two front footwell lights and those ones are the easy lights. The ones that are more tricky to figure out are the door mounted lights. I'm wondering if anyone has had any luck identifying which wires going into the VC_Left body controller are for the map lights? If not, I'll be sure to report back my findings once I start taking the car apart.

 

[XLR82XS]

Im sure there's a YT video out there about it. I do miss not having door pocket lights on my premium 2020. Tesla took them away altogether on all 2020MY.

 

[AdamMacDon]

Im sure there's a YT video out there about it. I do miss not having door pocket lights on my premium 2020. Tesla took them away altogether on all 2020MY.

Surprisingly, no videos about the pocket lights that I can find, just about the footwell lights, which are very easy to access. I wonder if on the new 2020's if the wiring is still there, or if it's completely gone.

 

[NixGhost]

Surprisingly, no videos about the pocket lights that I can find, just about the footwell lights, which are very easy to access. I wonder if on the new 2020's if the wiring is still there, or if it's completely gone.

I've ordered the door pocket lights and will be installing them. There are videos on how the doors come apart but bit pocket light videos as mentioned above.

 

[AdamMacDon]

I've ordered the door pocket lights and will be installing them. There are videos on how the doors come apart but bit pocket light videos as mentioned above.

Do you know if the wiring is still there on the 2020 builds, or did they remove it from the door harnesses?

 

[TydalForce]

I started a thread about the pocket lights a little while ago; someone replied yesterday with pics of the inside of the door
Pocket Lights
Apparently the wires are cut and not showing any significant voltage.

 

[NixGhost]

I started a thread about the pocket lights a little while ago; someone replied yesterday with pics of the inside of the door
Pocket Lights
Apparently the wires are cut and not showing any significant voltage.

Lets make this happen. I'm sure someone can figure it out. If the wires are there, maybe it's as simple as a rewire. If not I was just gonna tap into the puddle lights. Maybe once wired in the board will recognize it an send the signal to power on?

 

[AdamMacDon]

I started a thread about the pocket lights a little while ago; someone replied yesterday with pics of the inside of the door
Pocket Lights
Apparently the wires are cut and not showing any significant voltage.

Wow, they cut the wires, I wonder why? Seems almost like they went out of their way to disable the lights in the changeover year. My 2019 SR+ has the wires and hardware and I don't think the wires are cut, so I'm gonna attempt the install later this weekend and report back what happens. I know the lights are getting power as when I open the doors they flicker on for a second before the software lock kicks in and turns them off again.

 

[AdamMacDon]

Hi everyone. Update on the situation, I got my front door pocket lights and footwell ambient lights working too. My wiring would probably give most Tesla fans a heart attack to witness, but lets just say there was a lot of t-taps, butt connectors, and messy electrical tape work going on. I'm by no means an electrician, and different model years and options may have different wire layouts, so proceed with this mod at your own risk. I'm not an expert, but I've done wiring mods for sound system, engine swaps, and interior option additions on my previous cars (replacing manual seats with power, etc). Some pics of the results (sorry for my bad photo skills):

First step is finding switched 12v power. I used the common VC_left point, which is found on the drivers kick panel. There are several videos on that, so I'll leave that to you. Don't do what I did initially, which was to T-tap into the blower motor harness. It worked, but only with the climate control on, haha. Find the trailer wire or a better source of switched 12v.

I then removed the trim panels from the passenger kick area as well. Wiring up the footwell lights is self explanatory. Cut the positive wires to the lights and wire in your new wires going to the power source wire from VC_left. Driver side footwell positive light is red, the passenger one is a light grey. Black is the ground, leave that alone. I didn't bother taking pictures of this process, as it's the easiest part of the job.

Now for some fun, want to feel like you're defusing a bomb in your $60,000 car? Perfect, lets play roulette. Just kidding, I got in the zone one night and poured over the wiring diagrams to the 2019 Model 3. I identified the pigtail connectors for the door wires. Good news is the front door wires are super easy to access. Bad news is the rear door harness is in the worst spot possible. Here is a diagram of where the connector is for the front wires (it's mirrored for both sides):

Now look where the rear doors clip into (I decided against wiring them up, I like camping in my Model 3 and they might get annoying anyhow):

Now a real life picture of the front clip for the front door pockets. I found it easier to unplug this to work on it. Be warned if your car isn't off, it will nag you about using the manual door release if you unplug it. Push the black tab it and it comes out easy.

Now, with the harness uplugged, the fun part begins, you gotta pick the right wire to cut. On both sides, the wire is red, but the pin position and wire colors of the neighboring wires differs. Here is the driver side just after I snipped the connection.

Now just wire up your 12V power to the wire that ISN'T connected to the harness clip. That will feed straight through the door and to the map pocket light. You're probably wondering how the heck you'll know what wire to cut, and the answer to that is easy. It's on the back row farthest from the black clip. I've mapped out the wires you need and their two neighboring wire colors and sizes. My writing is terrible, but I think it's readable. I've only confirmed that this is accurate for the front wires, but I think it should be right for the rear ones too.

And that's it, you're done! Well, more or less. If you're brave enough to attempt the rear doors, please post your experience and I may try it. I took one look at the harness location and said "nope"! I originally had a hidden switch I was going to mount to the driver side kick panel to allow me to kill the ambient lights on demand, but after seeing them in person I don't think they'd be bright enough to warrant turning off, so I might not bother doing that after all.

If you're one of the wealthy people who has a 2020 with a premium interior, I've heard your door pocket lights may be disabled but still present. The conclusion seems to be that Tesla cut the wire in the door panel itself, so you'll have to pull the panel and rewire it in that case. I'm assuming later models will also be missing the light, so you'll have to buy that if so. Your mileage will vary!

 

[XLR82XS]

If you're one of the wealthy people who has a 2020 with a premium interior, I've heard your door pocket lights may be disabled but still present. The conclusion seems to be that Tesla cut the wire in the door panel itself, so you'll have to pull the panel and rewire it in that case. I'm assuming later models will also be missing the light, so you'll have to buy that if so. Your mileage will vary!

2020 premium here and the door lights are not there. Nice write-up man! Kudos.

 

[Seabreeze2112]

Hi everyone. Update on the situation, I got my front door pocket lights and footwell ambient lights working too. My wiring would probably give most Tesla fans a heart attack to witness, but lets just say there was a lot of t-taps, butt connectors, and messy electrical tape work going on. I'm by no means an electrician, and different model years and options may have different wire layouts, so proceed with this mod at your own risk. I'm not an expert, but I've done wiring mods for sound system, engine swaps, and interior option additions on my previous cars (replacing manual seats with power, etc). Some pics of the results (sorry for my bad photo skills):

View attachment 524949

View attachment 524950
View attachment 524951

First step is finding switched 12v power. I used the common VC_left point, which is found on the drivers kick panel. There are several videos on that, so I'll leave that to you. Don't do what I did initially, which was to T-tap into the blower motor harness. It worked, but only with the climate control on, haha. Find the trailer wire or a better source of switched 12v.

I then removed the trim panels from the passenger kick area as well. Wiring up the footwell lights is self explanatory. Cut the positive wires to the lights and wire in your new wires going to the power source wire from VC_left. Driver side footwell positive light is red, the passenger one is a light grey. Black is the ground, leave that alone. I didn't bother taking pictures of this process, as it's the easiest part of the job.

Now for some fun, want to feel like you're defusing a bomb in your $60,000 car? Perfect, lets play roulette. Just kidding, I got in the zone one night and poured over the wiring diagrams to the 2019 Model 3. I identified the pigtail connectors for the door wires. Good news is the front door wires are super easy to access. Bad news is the rear door harness is in the worst spot possible. Here is a diagram of where the connector is for the front wires (it's mirrored for both sides):

View attachment 524946

Now look where the rear doors clip into (I decided against wiring them up, I like camping in my Model 3 and they might get annoying anyhow):

View attachment 524948

Now a real life picture of the front clip for the front door pockets. I found it easier to unplug this to work on it. Be warned if your car isn't off, it will nag you about using the manual door release if you unplug it. Push the black tab it and it comes out easy.

View attachment 524953

Now, with the harness uplugged, the fun part begins, you gotta pick the right wire to cut. On both sides, the wire is red, but the pin position and wire colors of the neighboring wires differs. Here is the driver side just after I snipped the connection.

View attachment 524954
Now just wire up your 12V power to the wire that ISN'T connected to the harness clip. That will feed straight through the door and to the map pocket light. You're probably wondering how the heck you'll know what wire to cut, and the answer to that is easy. It's on the back row farthest from the black clip. I've mapped out the wires you need and their two neighboring wire colors and sizes. My writing is terrible, but I think it's readable. I've only confirmed that this is accurate for the front wires, but I think it should be right for the rear ones too.

View attachment 524960
And that's it, you're done! Well, more or less. If you're brave enough to attempt the rear doors, please post your experience and I may try it. I took one look at the harness location and said "nope"! I originally had a hidden switch I was going to mount to the driver side kick panel to allow me to kill the ambient lights on demand, but after seeing them in person I don't think they'd be bright enough to warrant turning off, so I might not bother doing that after all.

If you're one of the wealthy people who has a 2020 with a premium interior, I've heard your door pocket lights may be disabled but still present. The conclusion seems to be that Tesla cut the wire in the door panel itself, so you'll have to pull the panel and rewire it in that case. I'm assuming later models will also be missing the light, so you'll have to buy that if so. Your mileage will vary!

Hi everyone. Update on the situation, I got my front door pocket lights and footwell ambient lights working too. My wiring would probably give most Tesla fans a heart attack to witness, but lets just say there was a lot of t-taps, butt connectors, and messy electrical tape work going on. I'm by no means an electrician, and different model years and options may have different wire layouts, so proceed with this mod at your own risk. I'm not an expert, but I've done wiring mods for sound system, engine swaps, and interior option additions on my previous cars (replacing manual seats with power, etc). Some pics of the results (sorry for my bad photo skills):

View attachment 524949

View attachment 524950
View attachment 524951

First step is finding switched 12v power. I used the common VC_left point, which is found on the drivers kick panel. There are several videos on that, so I'll leave that to you. Don't do what I did initially, which was to T-tap into the blower motor harness. It worked, but only with the climate control on, haha. Find the trailer wire or a better source of switched 12v.

I then removed the trim panels from the passenger kick area as well. Wiring up the footwell lights is self explanatory. Cut the positive wires to the lights and wire in your new wires going to the power source wire from VC_left. Driver side footwell positive light is red, the passenger one is a light grey. Black is the ground, leave that alone. I didn't bother taking pictures of this process, as it's the easiest part of the job.

Now for some fun, want to feel like you're defusing a bomb in your $60,000 car? Perfect, lets play roulette. Just kidding, I got in the zone one night and poured over the wiring diagrams to the 2019 Model 3. I identified the pigtail connectors for the door wires. Good news is the front door wires are super easy to access. Bad news is the rear door harness is in the worst spot possible. Here is a diagram of where the connector is for the front wires (it's mirrored for both sides):

View attachment 524946

Now look where the rear doors clip into (I decided against wiring them up, I like camping in my Model 3 and they might get annoying anyhow):

View attachment 524948

Now a real life picture of the front clip for the front door pockets. I found it easier to unplug this to work on it. Be warned if your car isn't off, it will nag you about using the manual door release if you unplug it. Push the black tab it and it comes out easy.

View attachment 524953

Now, with the harness uplugged, the fun part begins, you gotta pick the right wire to cut. On both sides, the wire is red, but the pin position and wire colors of the neighboring wires differs. Here is the driver side just after I snipped the connection.

View attachment 524954
Now just wire up your 12V power to the wire that ISN'T connected to the harness clip. That will feed straight through the door and to the map pocket light. You're probably wondering how the heck you'll know what wire to cut, and the answer to that is easy. It's on the back row farthest from the black clip. I've mapped out the wires you need and their two neighboring wire colors and sizes. My writing is terrible, but I think it's readable. I've only confirmed that this is accurate for the front wires, but I think it should be right for the rear ones too.

View attachment 524960
And that's it, you're done! Well, more or less. If you're brave enough to attempt the rear doors, please post your experience and I may try it. I took one look at the harness location and said "nope"! I originally had a hidden switch I was going to mount to the driver side kick panel to allow me to kill the ambient lights on demand, but after seeing them in person I don't think they'd be bright enough to warrant turning off, so I might not bother doing that after all.

If you're one of the wealthy people who has a 2020 with a premium interior, I've heard your door pocket lights may be disabled but still present. The conclusion seems to be that Tesla cut the wire in the door panel itself, so you'll have to pull the panel and rewire it in that case. I'm assuming later models will also be missing the light, so you'll have to buy that if so. Your mileage will vary!

Do you know which wires to tap into to be able to wire the footwell lights off the puddle lights on a 2020 SR+..(footwell no longer included/ physicaly there but software locked)...I see from your pics the wired have to be in same area...do you have wire diagram?

 

[AdamMacDon]

Do you know which wires to tap into to be able to wire the footwell lights off the puddle lights on a 2020 SR+..(footwell no longer included/ physicaly there but software locked)...I see from your pics the wired have to be in same area...do you have wire diagram?

SR+ never came with footwell lights (on the spec sheet), but every model 3 has the hardware there, at least as far as I know.

Do you mind me asking why you want to wire it to the footwell lights? I could find the right wire for you, it'll be on the same harness as the door pocket light I wired into. If you want ambient lights activated, I'd recommend using the switched 12v power most people use. Otherwise it'll only turn on when that door is opened.

 

[todd2fst4u]

Hi everyone. Update on the situation, I got my front door pocket lights and footwell ambient lights working too. My wiring would probably give most Tesla fans a heart attack to witness, but lets just say there was a lot of t-taps, butt connectors, and messy electrical tape work going on. I'm by no means an electrician, and different model years and options may have different wire layouts, so proceed with this mod at your own risk. I'm not an expert, but I've done wiring mods for sound system, engine swaps, and interior option additions on my previous cars (replacing manual seats with power, etc). Some pics of the results (sorry for my bad photo skills):

View attachment 524949

View attachment 524950
View attachment 524951

First step is finding switched 12v power. I used the common VC_left point, which is found on the drivers kick panel. There are several videos on that, so I'll leave that to you. Don't do what I did initially, which was to T-tap into the blower motor harness. It worked, but only with the climate control on, haha. Find the trailer wire or a better source of switched 12v.

I then removed the trim panels from the passenger kick area as well. Wiring up the footwell lights is self explanatory. Cut the positive wires to the lights and wire in your new wires going to the power source wire from VC_left. Driver side footwell positive light is red, the passenger one is a light grey. Black is the ground, leave that alone. I didn't bother taking pictures of this process, as it's the easiest part of the job.

Now for some fun, want to feel like you're defusing a bomb in your $60,000 car? Perfect, lets play roulette. Just kidding, I got in the zone one night and poured over the wiring diagrams to the 2019 Model 3. I identified the pigtail connectors for the door wires. Good news is the front door wires are super easy to access. Bad news is the rear door harness is in the worst spot possible. Here is a diagram of where the connector is for the front wires (it's mirrored for both sides):

View attachment 524946

Now look where the rear doors clip into (I decided against wiring them up, I like camping in my Model 3 and they might get annoying anyhow):

View attachment 524948

Now a real life picture of the front clip for the front door pockets. I found it easier to unplug this to work on it. Be warned if your car isn't off, it will nag you about using the manual door release if you unplug it. Push the black tab it and it comes out easy.

View attachment 524953

Now, with the harness uplugged, the fun part begins, you gotta pick the right wire to cut. On both sides, the wire is red, but the pin position and wire colors of the neighboring wires differs. Here is the driver side just after I snipped the connection.

View attachment 524954
Now just wire up your 12V power to the wire that ISN'T connected to the harness clip. That will feed straight through the door and to the map pocket light. You're probably wondering how the heck you'll know what wire to cut, and the answer to that is easy. It's on the back row farthest from the black clip. I've mapped out the wires you need and their two neighboring wire colors and sizes. My writing is terrible, but I think it's readable. I've only confirmed that this is accurate for the front wires, but I think it should be right for the rear ones too.

View attachment 524960
And that's it, you're done! Well, more or less. If you're brave enough to attempt the rear doors, please post your experience and I may try it. I took one look at the harness location and said "nope"! I originally had a hidden switch I was going to mount to the driver side kick panel to allow me to kill the ambient lights on demand, but after seeing them in person I don't think they'd be bright enough to warrant turning off, so I might not bother doing that after all.

If you're one of the wealthy people who has a 2020 with a premium interior, I've heard your door pocket lights may be disabled but still present. The conclusion seems to be that Tesla cut the wire in the door panel itself, so you'll have to pull the panel and rewire it in that case. I'm assuming later models will also be missing the light, so you'll have to buy that if so. Your mileage will vary!

Thanks for posting this. Where do I access the rear harness connectors you mention (x030 and x050)? Only a positive wire needs to be connected for the front and rear door pocket lights? The ground is already connected I’m assuming?

 

[AdamMacDon]

Thanks for posting this. Where do I access the rear harness connectors you mention (x030 and x050)? Only a positive wire needs to be connected for the front and rear door pocket lights? The ground is already connected I’m assuming?

No problem. The rear door connectors (X030 and X050) are way up on the VC_Left and VC_Right. The placement is way up in the dash, where as the front door connectors are down very low and easily accessible, they are not easily reached.

If you were gonna go for it, I'd go for the wire at the B-pillar area where the harness feeds into the rear door. I haven't rigged up the rear lights, but it should be easy to gain access there by peeling back the trim piece.

 

[todd2fst4u]

No problem. The rear door connectors (X030 and X050) are way up on the VC_Left and VC_Right. The placement is way up in the dash, where as the front door connectors are down very low and easily accessible, they are not easily reached.

If you were gonna go for it, I'd go for the wire at the B-pillar area where the harness feeds into the rear door. I haven't rigged up the rear lights, but it should be easy to gain access there by peeling back the trim piece.

Thanks for the reply, I understand what you are saying. Yes, I think accessing at the B-pillar would be easier. I will look for an orange wire in that area. Do you know if there are any other orange wires bundled with it or will it be obvious?

 

[Mrbrock]

SR+ never came with footwell lights (on the spec sheet), but every model 3 has the hardware there, at least as far as I know.

Do you mind me asking why you want to wire it to the footwell lights? I could find the right wire for you, it'll be on the same harness as the door pocket light I wired into. If you want ambient lights activated, I'd recommend using the switched 12v power most people use. Otherwise it'll only turn on when that door is opened.

The footwell lights in my 2020 SR+ come on for a split second when I open my front doors then immediately go out so the hardware and wiring is there. Stupid that it is software locked but would be so easy to make it an option to pay to unlock.

As far as when they go on, in a premium interior, what is their normal behavior? Seems to me like you’d want to tap into the overhead map lights to mirror their function if they differ from the puddle lights.

 

[AdamMacDon]

Thanks for the reply, I understand what you are saying. Yes, I think accessing at the B-pillar would be easier. I will look for an orange wire in that area. Do you know if there are any other orange wires bundled with it or will it be obvious?

I think there may be one other orange wire in the harness out to the door, however it looks to be a substantially thicker wire (around 2x thicker). The Tesla wiring diagram is really quite a pain to read. There are no airbags in the door, so it should be safe to strip a tiny amount of insulation and test small orange wires on the door. Worst case I could see happening is you accidentally roll the window down or up, or unlatch a door. You can also wait until I do this myself, but I will be doing it when I upgrade to full premium audio, so it will be a wait of about a month for my parts to arrive.

The footwell lights in my 2020 SR+ come on for a split second when I open my front doors then immediately go out so the hardware and wiring is there. Stupid that it is software locked but would be so easy to make it an option to pay to unlock.

As far as when they go on, in a premium interior, what is their normal behavior? Seems to me like you’d want to tap into the overhead map lights to mirror their function if they differ from the puddle lights.

They could make it a pay to unlock option later, but given the lack of demand, I highly doubt it. Took rear heated seats a year to be an option for SR trims.

Ambient lights are just dim lights that always run (as long as you have them turned on). I suspect they run day or night, just you can't see them much during the day. For the closest to stock functionality, I wired them to switched 12v power that is on whenever the car turns on.

 

[todd2fst4u]

I was just about to wire up the front and back ambient lights but the 16.2.1 update changed the red switched 12v wire into a constant 12v.

 

[AdamMacDon]

I was just about to wire up the front and back ambient lights but the 16.2.1 update changed the red switched 12v wire into a constant 12v.

Really? That is an interesting development. After the contactors open, you'd think they'd kill power to it. I will test tonight since I am currently on the 16.2.1 release and have my ambient lights wired up to that red wire. If it is always on, then it is very easy to change to using the cigarette lighter power source instead:

 

[todd2fst4u]

Really? That is an interesting development. After the contactors open, you'd think they'd kill power to it. I will test tonight since I am currently on the 16.2.1 release and have my ambient lights wired up to that red wire. If it is always on, then it is very easy to change to using the cigarette lighter power source instead:

The light blue center console wire doesn’t behave like a switched 12v wire unfortunately. If using sentry mode for example, that wire gets 12v constantly.