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Fog Lights

Discussion in '3rd Gen. Tacomas (2016-2023)' started by Bdavison, Dec 15, 2019.

  1. Dec 15, 2019 at 12:37 PM
    #1
    Bdavison

    Bdavison [OP] Active Member

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    Which is better or brighter, a set of rigid fog lights like on the TRD Pro or an led bulb replacement type?
     
  2. Dec 15, 2019 at 12:39 PM
    #2
    GreyBaldTaco

    GreyBaldTaco Well-Known Member

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    Check out the Tundra LED fog lights. I picked mine up for 115 from a local dealer. They a plug and play
     
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  3. Dec 15, 2019 at 12:42 PM
    #3
    tattooedsnake

    tattooedsnake Well-Known Member

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  4. Dec 15, 2019 at 12:54 PM
    #4
    crashnburn80

    crashnburn80 Vehicle Design Engineer

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    Use one of the SAE replacement assembly products from the above thread. There are much higher performing options than the Rigid Pro lights for less cost.

    Don’t use replacement LEDs in your fogs, they cause excessive glare. See the example below.

     
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  5. Dec 15, 2019 at 1:45 PM
    #5
    tattooedsnake

    tattooedsnake Well-Known Member

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    Listen to him. He will save you the headache and money lol.
     
  6. Dec 20, 2019 at 6:45 AM
    #6
    SirWade

    SirWade Member

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    @crashnburn80 Good morning, First time poster and first time Tacoma owner. I love my 2019 Limited 4x4 but not the 19W H16 fog lights lol. I'm 61 and have cataracts so night driving is a chore, especially in rain. I was looking at the DD SLF1 fog light bulb replacement. Would these also cause excessive glare? I'm guessing that with just 19 Watts to work with, an upgrade halogen bulb won't be much of an improvement. I think I will wait on your SS3 test and review. This could be better than just a bulb replacement for just an additional $80.00 over the SLF1 bulbs. Do you have any recommendations? I absolutely love the detail of your lighting posts. It points Tacoma owners in the right direction to make informative purchasing decisions. Thanks for all that you do for the Tacoma community.

    Wade
     
  7. Dec 20, 2019 at 7:09 AM
    #7
    LTG4087

    LTG4087 Well-Known Member

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    Love the KC Gravity fogs I put in about 6 months ago. Extra bright, perfect light pattern AE J583 & ECE-R19 Street Legal, available 5000k or amber and 23 year warranty. Burns out you get a new one. Spendy but, hey you're worth it.
     
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  8. Dec 20, 2019 at 7:17 AM
    #8
    MannyS

    MannyS Well-Known Member

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    This site contains affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.
    #8
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  9. Dec 20, 2019 at 7:20 AM
    #9
    GreyBaldTaco

    GreyBaldTaco Well-Known Member

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  10. Dec 20, 2019 at 7:39 AM
    #10
    MannyS

    MannyS Well-Known Member

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    2020 Tacoma uses the same part number as tundra chrome led fog
     
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  11. Dec 20, 2019 at 8:15 AM
    #11
    SirWade

    SirWade Member

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    Will these work with the 19W stock Limited wiring? Thanks
     
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  12. Dec 20, 2019 at 8:21 AM
    #12
    skierd

    skierd Well-Known Member

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    @SirWade all drop in LED bulbs will cause excessive glare. Try a set of amber H11 bulbs like these:

    Nokya H11 Arctic Hyper Yellow Stage 1 2500K Halogen Headlight / Fog Light Bulb https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0064FXNUE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_rqp.Db9JHCRHG

    Or an h16 equivalent. For h11 the bulb base will need to be modified slightly to lock in to the housing (one tab needs to be trimmed, took but should use the stock wiring just fine as I believe the wiring harness is the same between all Tacoma’s with fog lights.
     
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  13. Dec 20, 2019 at 8:51 AM
    #13
    SirWade

    SirWade Member

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    Please forgive me for the questions but I'm learning on the fly (or trying to lol). These are 55W and have a great review on Amazon. I looked at the Nokya H16 type 2 19W but wasn't sure if it would be a big improvement. Would I have to change a fuse since the wattage is higher?
     
  14. Dec 20, 2019 at 8:58 AM
    #14
    GreyBaldTaco

    GreyBaldTaco Well-Known Member

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    Yes, they draw much less power is my assumption. I am using them in my truck, it's a fairly common upgrade.
     
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  15. Dec 20, 2019 at 9:27 AM
    #15
    crashnburn80

    crashnburn80 Vehicle Design Engineer

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    Welcome Wade!

    Definitely don't go with a drop in replacement LED in the OEM fog. That will cause excessive glare like I demonstrated a few posts up. Instead use a complete replacement LED fog housing.

    With cataracts, short wavelength blue light is especially problematic for night driving, as you get scattering of the short wave length light in the eye making focusing much more challenging than normal drivers. I would recommend avoiding 'white' colored LEDs that have a high amplitude spike of short wave lenght blue light. Instead I would opt for selective yellow, which will be easier on the eyes and also more performant in poor weather conditions.

    Check out the latest SS3 offerings from Diode Dynamics, which offer an LED SAE fog replacement. Opt for either the Sport or Pro in fog pattern selective yellow. They will be significantly higher output than stock while also a color that is easier on the eyes.
    https://www.diodedynamics.com/ss3-led-fog-light-kit-for-2016-2019-toyota-tacoma.html
     
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  16. Dec 20, 2019 at 9:47 AM
    #16
    vicali

    vicali Touch my camera through the fence

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    Odd that you of all people are recommending a light you haven't tested yet.. plus its a complete rip-off of the BD you so love to slag..
     
  17. Dec 20, 2019 at 10:02 AM
    #17
    SirWade

    SirWade Member

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    Thank you so much for the reply. It never occurred to me about light color and cataracts. I have been leaning towards the SS3 and look forward to your review. Thanks Again!
     
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  18. Dec 20, 2019 at 11:24 AM
    #18
    crashnburn80

    crashnburn80 Vehicle Design Engineer

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    There are only a few options for selective yellow:
    1) Baja with their new optic which you can see the new optic here. Baja's intensity values are by far the lowest in the selective yellow group, half that of Rigid D-series. While the new optic minimizes uplight to barely under the legal limit by putting a opaque shield in-front of the LED, the gradient of the cut off is poor and that likely won't be fixed by the new optic. It needs an complete redesign to be competitive. The idea of making a 'fog light' to maximize up light is the opposite of how a fog light is supposed to function. While every other company builds fog lights to maximize output in the fog region and minimize uplight to be more effective in poor weather and minimize glare to oncoming drivers, Bajas approach has been to have low intensity output in the fog region and maximize the up light. I'll retest it with the new optic but as currently designed it is not a product I would recommend.
    2) Rigid's 360s, they will mount in the OEM location, but the mounts are not available yet and have had continual delays. Hard to recommend the light without a mounting solution available.
    3) Rigid D-series selective yellow, (what I currently run). These require external mounting plates, and while in the same spot as OEM, they are not in an OEM style mount. There are wide angle flush mount mounts for the 12-15 2nd Gen (what I run) which provide a very wide beam pattern as demonstrated here and with the flush mount have reasonable cosmetics. But 3rd Gen mounts are forward facing and have the fogs protruding as shown here. Most people are not a fan of this look. The D-series only have a 52 degree spread, meaning in a forward facing mount required by the 3rd Gen, shoulder illumination is going to suffer. Not a problem in the 12-15 2nd Gen thanks to the . So if he drove a 12-15 I would include this as a recommendation, but since it is 3rd Gen I do not.
    4) Diode Dynamics sport fogs - I have not yet tested this fog but will soon - These mount in the OEM location. Diode Dynamics TIR optics are among the most advanced and efficient in the industry. They also use a best in class 4000k LED for their selective yellow, meaning even greater efficiency in color filtration on top of the optic. Thanks to companies that publish extensive specs, you can compare the output intensity official specs from Diode Dynamics to Rigids official specs and see they claim to have the same intensity as the best in class Rigid D-series. Again, that is 2x that of Baja and while the outer lens looks the same, Diode Dynamics has a far superior optical design. The intensity is the same as the D-series, but the Diode Dynamics fogs spec an 80 degree spread, which is far greater than Rigid D-series 52 degree spread. That extra spread is going to provide far more shoulder illumination than the D-series while also having a clean OEM mounting solution.
    5) Diode Dynamics Pro fogs - I have not yet tested this fog but will soon - These mount in the OEM location and have the same optical advantages and efficiencies of the sports, but using larger higher power chips the focus isn't as crisp as the sports but the output specs claim best in class intensity, surpassing even the Rigid D-series, while illuminating a larger area than the sports. Again these also feature that same 80 degree spread for better shoulder illumination.

    Given the above, would you suggest:
    1) Lowest output intensity light with maximum glare and the least efficient optic.
    2) A light with no mounting solution available.
    3) A proven best in class light that uses an unpopular forward facing protruding mount on 3rd Gen but has a narrower angle pattern that doesn't illuminate the shoulder well when using a forward facing mount.
    4) A light that that by spec matches the output intensity of the best in class light, has an OEM mounting solution, and has a far wider beam pattern to better illuminate the shoulder. (Shoulder illumination is the purpose of a fog).
    5) A light that that by spec surpasses the output intensity of the best in class light, has an OEM mounting solution, and has a far wider beam pattern to better illuminate the shoulder. (Shoulder illumination is the purpose of a fog).

    The correct answer is #4 or #5.

    Based on extensive studying of the available products and all the available information and that the light is mounting on a 3rd Gen, it would be odd that I would recommend something different than #4 or #5, even though I have not yet personally tested them.

    I have tested a Diode Dynamics TIR optic products before with their selective yellow driving light bar. The TIR designs are impressive. I have also tested their SL1 headlight, and it is not a product I would recommend for the Tacoma. My recommendations are highly data driven and not brand biased.
     
  19. Dec 20, 2019 at 1:35 PM
    #19
    MannyS

    MannyS Well-Known Member

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    yes
     
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  20. Dec 20, 2019 at 2:11 PM
    #20
    vicali

    vicali Touch my camera through the fence

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    I appreciate your thorough response, as usual.

    While I agree that for your testing companies who share all of their specs and give out these number and details make it easy to compare lights across the bar. I can also appreciate that these numbers and details are very confusing to most people, don't give the full picture, and are used by some companies to exaggerate or mislead. Not to mention companies trying to protect their designs and details from being copied and sold on ebay..

    I also share your dismay on the BajaDesigns SAE line, myself I don't think that was a market BD needed to get into, and I bet they are trying their best to graciously exit.. leave it to the other companies who have designed lamps exactly for that purpose like the G4 and Rigids rather than trying to downtune an existing light to do something else.. I do run BD products and am a big fan of their lights and company.

    Diode Dynamics is a company I remember from my subaru days back in the beginning of the drop in LED craze. This is what I remember of them for, pages of drop in LED bulbs that end up cause in electrical issues and glare.. Nice to see them building lights, would be nicer if they didn't look exactly like another established product.

    KC G4 Amber did fairly well in the testing, mount clean, and were recommended to @SirWade below his post, but I think he said it best himself;
     
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    #20
    SirWade[QUOTED] likes this.

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