FOg lights (1 Viewer)

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aux foglights? I have seen lots of PIAA, IPF, Hella, KC and some other brands and wanted to see what is good to buy.
THanks.
 
I have PIAA 1500 fogs now, and am somwhat pleased. Small, compact fogs mounted in the 'air vents' of the stock bumper. Output is good, beam spread / angle is less than expected, price was reasonable, quality is really good.

Only other fogs I've ever run are the Cibie 35 series, now called the 'Airport', I think. I've always been a Cibie fan...like their lenses/reflectors, and overall performance is hard to beat for the buck, IMO. Look at http://lighting.mbz.org/products/products.html, for one, for the different models / applications.

Hope this helps....not experienced with the other brands, although many here speak highly of IPF
 
Warn lights are good from experience. They are pricy but they are unbreakable. The casing is solid metal all around. Also provide great light. My bro runs hellas, alot cheaper, but still good. There is a visible difference in the light out put and over all quality between the cheaper hella and the warn lights. Both work well.


-Matt
 
Adrian,
I selected the IPF 968's because of price. They were about $110 for the pair including a nice wiring harness with relays and a switch, which I didn't use. They also offer a round version of the 968 (diff nbr though.)
-B-
 
Dark,

Specify what task you want the lights to perform. So many people simply refer to any aux light as a "fog" light that I find it useful to understand what you want in a light before making recommendations. Also, some indication of a budget or max size you're willing to put up with since increases in both price and size will generally increase performance.

IdahoDoug
 
I am looking at PIAA 520 series. I found couple of them from ebay for $155.00. I know PIAA is a good brand and all I need is driving in blizzard condition and dark side roads.
I was also looking at Hella 500 series which I have it in my wife's Discovery. Good lamp for the price($70).
I did look at Warn, Hella rally4000(Way too expensive), Cibie, and IPF and they all are very good performer but little out of my price range. I am looking around max $160.00 for set of lights.
 
I'll jump in with a question too - I'm looking for aux lights to mount directly on OEM bumper '94. I want MAX illumination for driving and illuminating a campsite when we pull in after dark.

Suggestions? I know Christo carries IPF and has a great wiring harness. Is it a :banana: job?
 
I would think fog lights for lighting up a camp site (as they have a shorter but wider beam), while driving lights would do the job best for lighting up the road (longer thinner beam). I know there are combo lights, I just have never tried them. Sorry if I am just stating the obvious. The mount to the bumper should be simple. You can use the main bolts to mount it to the top, or you can mount smaller lights where the air intakes are in the actuall bumper. If the firewal is like a 91 the wiring should be simple also. Just don't cut the main electrical wire to the radio thinking its one of your foglight wires... :doh:

-Matt
 
Easiest mount on a stock bumper is simply to drill through the chrome cap and into the steel bumper. Plenty stout for my full size Hellas - they never jiggle. The bonus is that if you sell, you can simply get this chrome strip from a wrecker and the holes are covered.

For blizzard/snow driving, fogs are obviously the ticket. I don't like the PIAA fog beams I've seen as they light up the road right in front of you, where Hellas have a "band" of light that does not do this. If the dual beams really do both jobs, that would be a nice setup. Personally, I think full size lights are the only way to get professional grade lighting and once you've driven behind them you'll never respect all the tiny/square/cateye, etc lights again.

Any light will suffice for campsite use. I have a Hella FF worklight on the rear of my roof for this purpose, however.

IdahoDoug
 
I'm using the JDM PIAA L525-X H4 driving/fog lamps w/ 80w/80w bulbs that supposedly are equiavlent to 135w/110w in hi/lo beam modes. They are very bright; hi's are much brighter than the 55w hella xenon+30% bulbs (in the hella e-code lamps w/ upgraded harness) I run for normal hi's. I have them all wired together, so all 4 hi beams turn on/off together w/ the flip of a switch (very convenient). The lo's are operated by the OEM fog light switch in the dash, which is connected to the parking lights. The hi/lo can be operated independently, at least the way I have them wired.

If you don't have H4 bulbs in your lamps (or lamps that have integrated hi/lo capability), you may need a dedicated pair of driving and fog lights (just more load on your electrical system and more cost). IPF makes one model w/ H4 bulbs. I considered getting the IPS J lights (integrated driving/fog), but I thought they looked a little wimpy in terms of light output. Depending on where you live, you may or may not need fogs. I use the hi beams most of the time (desert driving), seldom use the lo's. PS: If you can, upgrade to e-code headlamps w/ heavy-duty harnesses. A harness rated at 100w increased headlight output by 40% over the stock Toyota wires (measured w/ a photographic ambient light meter capable of measuring 10% differences). The e-code lamps are vastly superior to DOT lamps (band of very even light for lo beams, well focused high beams), so much so that I really don't need aux. driving/fog lights anymore! Hella did a study that showed something like a 40 yr old adult needs twice the light to see the same thing as a 20-yr old.
 
How much for the ecode 80 series headlamps? Source?
 
Thx Jim re the 40 year old comment. May have to use that one on wifey. I spend too much money each month playing golf, even though she's now playing as much as I am!
 
[quote author=IdahoDoug link=board=2;threadid=6257;start=msg51249#msg51249 date=1066248748]
How much for the ecode 80 series headlamps? Source?
[/quote]

I can get them if there's enough interest.

IIRC, $550 was the price for a pair delivered. Pricey, but if you ever price a broken NA model it makes the upgrade easier to rationalize.

H4 outer with a H1 dedicated high beam. If there's enough interest in a group buy (at least 5-10 pair) we could probably knock at least $50 off that price.

Anybody interested?

Edited for my crappy spelling.
 
>> Hella did a study that showed something like a 40 yr old adult needs <<
>> twice the light to see the same thing as a 20-yr old. <<

It's part of the aging process that none of us can avoid. I've had cataract surgery and now have one "new" lense and one "OEM" lense. The difference between eyes when comparing white objects is dramatic; not unlike Halogen vs HID.

-B-
 
Hmmmm,
I always wondered why you looked at me sorta funny-like. :rolleyes:

That 'splains alot 8)
 
The OEM lense is original equipment. The "new" lense is aftermarket. I couldn't find a new OEM one. :D

-B-
 
[quote author=Brentbba link=board=2;threadid=6257;start=msg51258#msg51258 date=1066250288]
Thx Jim re the 40 year old comment. May have to use that one on wifey. I spend too much money each month playing golf, even though she's now playing as much as I am!
[/quote]

If you go to www.hella.co.nz and under the search, type in age and vision, then click on the first link "H1 and H4 Premium Xenon Globes," then look at the bar graph entitled "Need for Light of various age groups," you'll see that not only does a 40 yr old need twice the light as a 20 yr old, but a 50 yr old needs twice the light as a 40 yr old and a 60 yr old needs five times the light as a 40-yr old! In other words, a 50yr old needs FOUR times more light to see the same object as a 20-yr old. In photography terms, that's two stops...huge! (it's like putting on dark sunglasses vs. no sunglasses)
 

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