LED fog lights?

[jetjock]

Just fyi 3p, Luxeons are old hat. Cree and Seoul Semiconductor are where it's at right now. Twice the efficiency of Luxes. The latest Q5 Cree XR-E will do something like 125 lumens at 350 ma and 200 when fully driven. Impressive devices. I've been using them on cars where I install color organs. Me thinks 3 XR-Es or Seoul P4s in a 120 degree side emitting configuration would work pretty well in the fogs. 400-500 lumens out the front if pushed hard. Need good heat sinking though.

 

[Ric]

Or just buy a $75 dollar HID kit.

 

[jetjock]

Well yeah, he could but he asked about leds. Not to mention HID in anything but a properly designed housing is a step backwards as far as being a true lighting improvement goes. They look cool though. Seems that's whats matter most to people. Go figure.

 

[3p141592654]

JJ, the post was actually about a nice line of LED compatible switching power supplies. Use whatever LED you like, (but don't use Cree, they are evil!)

 

[jetjock]

Lol, I understand. My bad. I saw the word luxeon and went from there. I see now what you were getting at. Regulators and buck/boost circuits are nice for stuff like flashlights but in a car simple current limiting by resistor works fine.

I seldom get involved in these lighting threads because there's more to it than people think. A lot more. There's a lot of science behind it, not only lighting science but how human beings see and how they think they see science. It's been studied to death in the aviation and military sectors. Bottom line is if one really wants to see better rather than looking cool they need to do the research. For example the crappy color rendition white leds provide (as you're likely aware, they don't produce white light) is a disadvantage in many applications.

 

[flubyux2]

yeah, indeed... i dont rely on the foglights for any bit of illumination as i explained before. so i just wanted a cleaner, whiter light to enhance the appearance of my car in twilight conditions.

i get really agitated by people who get the wrong HID retrofits for H4 housings or go crazy on the color temperature... theres people around here who go for the 8000k+ kits and think its the best thing ever. purple light isnt cool and certainly doesnt help you see any better.

 

[Poodles]

4300K in the headlights and 3000K in the fogs is what I got... made new blinders for the fogs and using Hella E-code housings for the headlights...

I do have an idea though, some of the of the newer cars out now are using LED headlights... you could probably use one of them int he fogs with great effect...

 

[PROJECT N00b]

4300K in the headlights and 3000K in the fogs is what I got... made new blinders for the fogs and using Hella E-code housings for the headlights...

I do have an idea though, some of the of the newer cars out now are using LED headlights... you could probably use one of them int he fogs with great effect...

Maybe you can get one of those HIDs from a S2000 and fit them into the fog light housing.

 

[flubyux2]

poodles, those are exactly the temp HID's i would get for myself and thats all i ever recommend to anyone who says they want HID's in their car.

the S2000 projectors/HIDs are decent. they are only marginally better than the MKIV. and actually, the MKIV projectors are REALLY good after the lines get polished out of the lens. not to mention, the Euro-spec MKIV glass headlights have REALLLLLY good projectors too, better than the US spec headlights. imo, if i were to go thru the effort of a full retrofit and convert to Projector, TSX and TL lenses are the ONLY acceptable way to go. imo, they are the best of the best, Sir. unless Karl Zeiss produces Projector lenses/kits. then, those are the best of the best of the best, SIR! ... With honors, SIR! lol but those could get really expensive.

but, i dont value the fog lights as a significant source of illumination for normal road use and i didnt see the need or value to go thru the effort to retrofit a proper D2R kit into the stock housing, nor modify them for a projector lens and a D2S kit. id save that labor for a flush-mount headlight kit

 

[Poodles]

well, I was originally going to use 6000K, but was sent the wrong kit. If I get my 6000K I'll see how them are and see if I like them.

Sadly, Kelvin isn't a good standard to base the illumination or color on between various brands. Some OEM 4300K look the same as aftermarket 6000K...

 

[flubyux2]

no, its not a good standard. one company's 4300 could be a 5000 and a 5000 could look like a 6000. i mean, i know what a 4300 SHOULD look like and if its got more blue on the ground than a factory HID, its not what i would consider sub-5000k.

 

[Poodles]

ok, since photobucket decided to stop being gay, here's a quick crappy pic

 

[flubyux2]

those lights look pretty intense. did you take any pics of the cutoff of the headlights and the pattern of hte fogs?

 

[Poodles]

not really as the camera is garbage and it's pretty much auto everything. The cutoff is pretty good, not as good as a true projector but even with HID's it's less glare than a normal DOT sealed beam...

fog lamps have a nice wide and low beam, didn't grab before and after pics of with and without blinders....need a better camera...

 

[flubyux2]

what did you do to the blinders/sheilds and how did it change? i did accidentally bend one when i was playing w/ my fog lights. that one will probably bline someone now.

the other thing i noticed, w/ my H4 housings, i have a fairly decent cutoff w/ an unsheilded bulb. the cutoff is the same pattern as my friends MKIV with the Euro-glass headlights. its not the Z pattern like the S2000, TL or TSX, but its flat and then angled when it gets to the side of the road. seems decent for cheap housings.

 

[Poodles]

same, but the area above the the cutoff is nearly black (especially with the fog lamps off)

I made all new blinders for the fog lamsp that where longer to clear the HID's...