The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

From a reply on youtube:

Yoshi Ishida, 6 days ago: Junction to heatsink thermal resistance itself is lower on 4 Banger( lower thermal resistance=faster thermal stabilization). Video is using preproduction sample, it was for me to record thermal behavior curve log and had a wider range. Sample start-up is set 50W saturate at 34W but Production will be 48W start-up. Saturate at 36-37W under 25C for HXB. So it will be slightly brighter at saturation than video. SS3 max was logged 46W start-up and saturated at 33W in same 25C ambient would like to compare with SS3 sport fog, what you want to check is NCS( base model) wide beam 4Banger NCS yellow particularly has a very narrow selected yellow spectrum that has less spectrum scatter Looks yellow and actually yellow has a true difference in contrast penetration. And NCS model uses lower-powered efficient emitters, no active Junction temp feedback driver is needed, both SS3 sport and 4 Banger NCS to be low power unit, the thermal capacity is nearly identical.

 

Also, the 4banger is being priced at $300 and $500 for the NCS/HXB respectively, plus $75 each for model specific bezel kits (fog location). The direct comparison at those prices would be SS3 pro and max, and I'm just not seeing the value proposition there. The NCS is maybe comparable to the sport spec in terms of output, but are priced nearly 70% higher. And the HXB shows much less stable output than the max for the same price, and they've presumably saved at least 25% on the cost of chips. The fit kits are twice the price.

I'm seeing a lot of "copied homework" (pay us the same money) without "showing your work" (stable output and optic refinement). These either have to improve substantially or become extremely aggressive on pricing for them to be relevant.

 

A set? All the sets.

These numbers seem possibly a little low. Claiming 33w in 77 degrees F ambient, I have 36.7w in 60 degrees F ambient, which would mean greater than 10% drop in output with a rise in 17 degrees F ambient. Though my units were also pre-production. My startup number for the Max was also about 40w, no where near 46w.

 

Are there any examples of what the SS3 fog lights look like with and without the backlight? Is the backlight on even when the fog light is off?

 

this is what it looks like with the back light on. you would need to wire it to come on.


light off.

 

So if they are off (just hooked up normally), there is no difference from afar?

I don’t really want them on unless I turn them on. This would just be cosmetic when the fog lights are switched to on then?

Thanks!


Edit: never mind, I think you meant these run when the fog lights are off but have to be wired specifically to do to. The only plug and play option would be the standard fogs without backlight?

 

yea, if you wired them up to the stock fogs that backlight feature wouldnt get used. so would be on when your fogs are on and nothing on when its off. this is how i have my DD fogs wired up also. I actually never wire that backlight lol

 

You can also get the SS3s without the backlight feature at a cost savings if you are not going to use it.

 

I recently installed a plate bumper, and I'm looking to pick up 3" fog light pods to replace the now-deleted OEM fog lights, was looking at @Diode Dynamics's SS3 product line. I have read @crashnburn80's review of the SS3s in this thread, but still have a few questions:

Intended Use: I primarily use my fogs offroad in clear or dusty conditions, using them for wider/lower lighting to supplement my OEM headlights while cornering. I do occasionally (read: exceedingly rarely) get into thick fog out by the coast, but I can't remember any time in the past 20 years where I've actually felt the need to use them.

Questions:

1. These connect using the OEM fog light wiring, right? (The manuals on DD's product pages are for a lightbar, not fog lights.)
2. The Max is out of my price range, so it's either Sport or Pro. Are the Pros really worth the extra cost over the Sports, given my typical use. Based on the price, I'm definitely leaning towards the Sports.
3. Considering my typical use... white or amber? I'm thinking white, but I'm also think that white Pros would arguably be too bright?

 

For your use case I'd go pro. The pro has a very large pattern that makes itself useful off-road for near-field lighting. The max pattern is smaller (like the sport) but with greater intensity. A tighter cutoff allows me to raise the light (and get a farther throw). I was happy with the pros for street and off-road. I think you'll like the pro. Color is your choice, the nice thing is that the sport and pro don't pay much of a price in terms of intensity. I like yellow and 4000K white a lot.

 

If you encounter snow in your area then I would also suggest getting the PRO model. I've driven thousands of miles with other vehicles lights covered in snow while mine were completely clear from the heat produced.

Personally I find the white option would neuter you viewing distance as the foreground lighting would be noticeably brighter, and also if your headlight isn't the same color temp it may look a little off. Plus the contrast of headlights with yellow just looks cool imo.

 

Good points, @mynameistory and @Spike Spiegel. Just pulled the trigger on yellow Pros.

 

Hadn't seen these yet.


They claim TIR optics, look to be similar to the optic used by Denali (which still hasn't released). Power is quiet a bit under the high power units today though at 20w, that is more than the SS3 Sport but also being sold for nearly the SS3 Pro price.
https://vividlumen.com/collections/...amber-12-22-4-runner-10-22-tundra-14-22-11307

 

Funny they show the fog shining further than the driving.

 

Good catch, it looks like they have the patterns labeled backward in the arial output images.

 

That oval optic looks to be very similar to the LasFit pod lights "fog beam" optic. Rip off of a rip off, or rebrand of a rip off?

 

Also, because the SEMA coverage of the morimoto Retrobright lights seems contained here, TheRetrofitSource has another video up about them. More details on performance. The lamps are built around a replaceable LED bulb (which isn't necessarily bad, given they have the opportunity to design the reflector and lens for the lightsource, rather than shoehorn in a functionally out of focus bulb). Highbeams look terrible. Blotchy and streaky.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbxi8rNFrsk

 

I knew they looked familiar but I kept thinking of the Denalis. You are right, they do look very similar to Lasfit. We saw what a train wreck those counterfeiters were, covered in post #370 here for those that missed it.

 

I really like the general concept of this product. However having removable LEDs will make them not technically street legal. Seems like a poor approach in general, every legitimate headlight manufacture makes these same sizes as complete sealed LED assemblies, it is typically only the cheap low quality ones that sell them with removable LEDs. It would be interesting to know if the optics were specifically designed for this replacible LED unit, vs using a generic optic. Screen shot below shows a very unique tri-directional LED. With screw mounts it seems like it could be proprietary and not a generic optic, and not using a generically replaceable LED. Very disappointing. This product could have been executed so much better. You are not going to get the performance out of a shallow mount reflector headlight using a replaceable side-firing LED, regardless if the optics are optimized for it. Pretty easy to study Truck-lite or KC reflector optic designs for how to do this the right way, by reverse firing the emitters directly into the reflector for maximum intensity and focus of reflected light. Also interesting that they opted for a plastic lens on a classic car product instead of glass.

This could make for a fun comparison test in a 200mm lamp for 1st Gens and classic Toyota pickups (I had a few), and pit these against say a Hella H4 lamp upgrade with some stock wattage performance H4s. Hmm. TRS would have you believe in the video there are no sealed beam upgrade options available for these types of lamps, and that simply isn't the case at all.