The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

Responded in the reverse light thread.

 

Yeah I think so too. Cutting these out was a pain.

 

Paul, reviewing the Denali page again, they've made the distinction that the listed specs are per pair of lights.

So for driving lights, is 75K candela the limit per lamp? Or for a pair of lamps?

And since I'm not well versed in theory or practical applications- do two lights automatically double the amount of light on target? Or is there more likely an expected factor of intensity increase (other than two)?

 

The regulation is per lamp. This is why Rigid puts the break in their SAE driving bar, so that it is a ‘pair’ of lamps as it exceeds the single lamp peak candela requirement.

Doubling light intensity on target would only occur if the peak beam intensity overlapped in the aiming, there will certainly be overlap in driving lights, but the driving pattern would be focused enough to not have the peak intensity over lap unless the lights are mounted directly side by side.

I did contact Denali offering to compare the lights in this thread and received radio silence.

 

Oh brother, well forget everything I said then. These are far lower output than the SS3 pods if the specs are "per pair."

Two lights would mean exactly double the light on target, yes. (double lumens, double candela, and double lux... no weird math, just 2x)

Thanks for the clarification.

 

Their site is a bit confusing calling both spot and hybrid as compliant driving beams. I calculate the following based on their lux specs at distance for 2 lamps:

Hybrid: 51,212 Cd
Spot: 169,459 Cd <- not compliant
Fog: 9,406 Cd

For comparison:
Max fog spec is 18,000 Cd

Worth noting they don’t provide alternative specs for the other colors, which will obviously be lower output.

 

I still would like to see their offerings and how they test! Maybe someone on the forums will be interested enough to buy some if they decline to submit test articles.

 

Found a super dark area to somewhat showcase the H9 bulbs in low beams, SS3 MAX fogs, and Selective yellow SS3 Pro’s with clear driving lens.

Perfect for backroads

Keep in mind my iPhone X auto adjusted the ISO and most accurate representation is the 2nd picture for the low beams

*Note: Hood glare is not as bad as shown*

 

@daveeasa get a Cali local to fab up some brackets. This thread made me remember how much I hate my aftermarket fog light housings. I need some DD fogs lol

 

I wonder if anyone has a MAX pod they would be willing to tear into (doubt it.....) and swap the Osram Boost HX chip for the SFT40? I know they are many variables in each of the 2 LED physical, optical, electrical and thermal characteristics. But it would be a fun test!

 

Not sure that could be done. The sft40 has a 5mm x 5mm footprint, whike the osram has a 4mm x4mm foot print. I'm not sure the foot pads are the same dimensions either, I'd have to take a look back at their data sheets. DD has fairly conservative drive current. It might be easier to attempt to increase that and eke more performance out of the existing pod, rather than try to modify the pcb to fit a larger footprint chip. The culpm1 LED can handle 6-8A current, double what it is seeing now.

Using an LED like the sft40 makes sense only if they increase the max current each chip sees. Going by the power draw, the max pods are likely well under 4A per chip. The sft40 can handle 8-10A if there is sufficient cooling. The formfactor is really the limitation, there just isn't sufficient mass or surface area to reliably radiate that amount of heat. So you would either brute force power a 4x arrangement at 5-8A each and have quick performance drops, or have your drive circuitry throttle back to 3-4A/emitter and have slightly lower performance across the board.

It seems DD recognizes the thermal limits, and, as we speculated a page or sp back, is introducing a larger format pod light. More mass, more surface area, more emitters and optics, more performance, all without massively overdriving a few chips.

Now, if one was so inclined, those Valeo/cibie/piaa cube lights might make a decent host, given the relative ease one could add fins to the top of the housing to significantly increase the surface area. Crash's beamshots show a nice, wide, even flood effect, with a central spot. A domeless emitter swap would likely tighten that spot up, and replacing or modifying the driver circuitry would allow one to hotrod them. Heat is still the enemy, this pod would just be easier to increase the surface area of.

 

I would be thrilled with an XL Max pod driving light at 7-9" ish or so. I'd even cut my grille like Tory for something like that.

 

Thanks @memario1214 ss3 pros

 

Interesting. The new 4banger appears to have an add-on laser option, which appears to add a laser to the center of the pod in addition to the 3 Osram HX Boost LEDs. No info yet on the TRS/Morimoto website.

 

"Can you remind me what I pay you people for?"

 

Is "unimpressed" too strong of a word? Does that make me a bad person? Yea, I'll somehow find a way to live without them and soldier on with my Diode Dynamics SS3 Max's. Folks who slapped eBay or Amazon drop in LED bulbs in their fog lights will call them a spectacular upgrade though - which will probably be somewhat true.

 

I highly doubt the laser feature will be in the SAE fog version, which they still haven't announced, I'm sure it will be just for their off road patterns. A single laser will give higher peak intensity in an extremely small isolated region, but not generally very beneficial to the pattern unless going for an extremely small spot pattern. Seems like they could have done a better job not obstructing the LED optics with the laser add-on.

 

Yeah but then you wouldn't be able to melt mosquitos.