One major problem with the brighter H4s; during a snow storm, the light gets reflected off the falling snow and creates an almost complete white-out condition.
Anyone have any solutions for this problem? Any driving lights that you think work well in this kind of situation?
I drive in the snow alot. Actually, I like driving in the snow...since that means I'm going to be skiing in freshies...
I ran 80/100's in my Hella's and then the same bulbs in my Cibie's. Nearly had to slow to a crawl in heavy snow with the Hella's. The flare back from the snow nearly blinded me. The Cibie's are fine - no question that the sharp cutoff on the low beams is the key.
I also have some Hella yellow fogs. I used these instead of the Hella e-codes in the snow. The Cibie's are better than the fogs.
I think that he is talking about Cibie headlights, not driving or fog.
You don't want your fogs mounted as high as your headlights.
1) Because the further off line from your line of sight, the less reflected glare you get.
2) When adjusted correctly, the lower the light, the less glare oncoming drivers have to deal with. A foglight that is too high or aimed too high is just as bad for approaching traffic as a driving light.
3) The greater the difference between your headlight and your foglight, the greater the difference in the shadows produced. This is a BIG benefit with driving in snow and over fresh snow on the ground. Those conditions can really hid the shape/level of the ground surface. Two different lighting angles (and colors too) can really help to fight this.
4) When actually driving in fog rather tha rain or snow, there is usually a boundary close to the surface of the ground where the fog is absent or at least thinner. The heat of the ground compared to the air causes this. Keeping your lights low lets the pattern shine under the fog, produceing far less glare.
Ok, ok, I will put some fog lights down low :whoops:
I was really hopping I could find some reasoning behind mounting them higher and more out of harms way. But everything you wrote makes perfect sense, damn you and your dark winters.
Depending on the exact shape and size of your bumper and of your lights, you may be able to figure out a way to mount them so that the can be swung back and up to sit behind the bumper and out the way (and protected) when you take the rig on the trail. Of course this can be a bit of an inconvienence to realign aftewards.
Keep in mind that you are trying to avoid any upward spread of the fog light pattern anyway. So if you can find a spot back under the bumper, against the front of the rig where it sticks down further, the lights will actually be well protected from damage. A level that would be an obstruction point if it was at the front edge of the bumper is often not so at all when moved back a bit underneath the bumper.
I have the typical ARB bumper like everybody else.
I was thinking that since I want to chop it up a bit to finally put a winch in, I would get some round fog lights and a large steel tube that they would fit into, then cut circles out of the bumper, weld the tubes in and mount the lights inside the tubes. Might be a bitch to get them pointed the right direction tough.
But, they would be protected from all sides, and I could put a grill over the end of the tube to protect the glass.
That sounds like my typically over complicated approach to things.
