HID Foglights

[Hib Halverson]

The deal with fog lights is you want a beam which is very low and with a sharp cutoff. The key is the cutoff which reduces the amount of light reflected off the fog and back into your eyes.

You want the low (in height not necessarily its intensity) beam both to further decrease reflected glare and, if the fog is not right on the ground, to project light under the bottom of the fog deck.

Fog lights usually have a very wide and low beam with the sharp cutoff.

Back in the day, when I used to run a lot of "map-type monte carlo" sports car rallys at night in an older car with a four-light system, I had my fog lights also set up such that the beams crossed each other, so I could, also, use them as corning lights. That is, the left fog light was aimed at the right side of the road and the right shoulder and the right fog was aimed at the left side of the road and the left shoulder. In fact, using them as cornering lights was more common than using them as straight fog lights. Driving fast through the twisties at night and you'll quickly learn the value of cornering lights to find apexes.

I did not use yellow bulbs in those fogs–just regular 55W H1 quartz-halogens.

Low beams each had 100/130W H4s
High beams each had 100W H1s
Driving beams each had 100W H1s.

The fog lights were switched separately. The driving beams were wired in with the high-beams. Needless to say, driving that car, running about 125-mph on a rally out in the Mojave Desert on a moonless night was a lot of fun.

Oh, yeah. The car had a really big alternator. The high beams and the driving lights were relayed and the power line feeding the headlight system was 8-ga.

I guess that's enough on lighting, eh?

[edram454]

Originally Posted by boyking

What color (temperature) bulbs did you go with for your fog light install? The website recommends yellow (3000k). Thanks.

John

I did not choose the color. I just ordered the kit and I got what they sent me. It is bright white not yellow. When I order my HID headlight conversion I will go with the 6000k blueish color. I did not stipulate fog light color when I ordered.

ed ramos #3028

[WVZR-1]

Originally Posted by Hib Halverson

Oh, yeah. The car had a really big alternator. The high beams and the driving lights were relayed and the power line feeding the headlight system was 8-ga.

I guess that's enough on lighting, eh?

I wouldn't think that larger amp'd charging systems would be required for production lamps but I would think it very wise to check the voltage at the lamp of choice. Supplying "alternator output" voltage to the lamps and using relays dramatically improve even stock lighting.

I believe that most lamp life is calculated at 14V but the supplied voltage at the lamps is generally way low. I haven't measured any older systems recently but I'd think that few manage much more than maybe 11+V. Most newer production lamps are all relay controlled with separate relays for lows and highs.