The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

Any idea what the difference is between the new/revised backlit model and the old backlit model? As far as actual hardware goes I mean. I'm in the midst of trying to figure out if I've had the incorrect lights sent to me by DD. The one's I received that they claim is backlit has a single 4 pin connector which splits to 2 wires when you plug in the harness. Any idea if this is the new or old model?

 

There is no old back lit model.

 

Oh! So does the backlit model you have, have a 4 pin connector on the back with a harness that plugs into it and splits into 2 wires?

 

Looks like Morimoto chose to make the 4Banger more impressive on paper while sacrificing functionality as an actual fog light. I believe any driver that utilities selective yellow fogs in inclement weather would much prefer the evenly distributed light offered by the SS3s.

After owning Morimoto XB headlights for my F150, I will not be purchasing any more products from Morimoto. I’ve sent over 80 emails back and forth with their customer service / “tech support,” yet my headlights are still not functioning as advertised. Most of my interactions with them started with their team initially blaming me for misunderstanding the product/ installing it incorrectly, and then a few emails later admitting that their product was defective. After I reached out to them, they also informed me that the headlights they had originally sold were not DOT compliant because they used smoked side markers. They sent me the updated version with amber side markers, but that set also had electrical problems. Both of their “fixes” just led to more problems and in the end they recommended that I attempt to return the headlights to the retailer (far outside of the return window). Very frustrating experience for $1300 lights.

On the other hand, my experiences with Diode Dynamics have been exceptional and I’m looking forward to purchasing more products from Paul and his team in the future.

 

The Max used in the HXB comparison was the original Max, not the newer updated Max with backlight. Output was slightly improved on the newer Max I believe but I have not tested it. I made a note in the comparison.

They don't look quite so green in person, both still appear yellow. Side-by-side the Max does have a comparatively more green hue, though the 4banger does take a 50%+ greater output loss on the yellow optic vs the Max (29% loss vs 19% loss).

An SAE J582 Aux low beam product would be neat, but I haven't seen any modern ones and SAE cancelled the J582 designation in 2005. Hella used to make some halogen J582 lights. The 4banger may have a more ideal pattern for your specific purpose, but running fogs as aux low beams isn't the correct thing to do as it is still a product designed for foreground light and needs to be aimed like a fog to be compliant. I did see that Ford addressed the headlight issue in some trims the following year, IIHS rates the available LED projector headlights in the 2021 F150 as 'Good', which is the highest rating vs the 2020 F150 LED headlights as 'Poor' the lowest rating. Unfortunately the model facelift looks to prevent a direct swap.

 

I cannot thank @crashnburn80 for this testing. I'm sick and tired of Civic groups recomending these switchback PnP LEDs for the fog lights. It's NOT a functional upgrade. Though in my case, I opted to use the non-backlit model with 6000k LEDs since I don't experience inclement weather that often.
Though my only concern is aiming them. The faceplate touches the fog light bezel.

 

Switchback PnP LEDs cannot work properly as it isn't possible to place both sets of emitters required to support multiple colors in the exact same location as the halogen filament to maintain optical compatibility. No credible manufactures make such a product. If you want to support multi-color in an SAE compliant fog pattern, the latest Rigid 360 is the only SAE product to do so in one assembly. You can run white, yellow or both for a warm white. Performance is not up to par with the latest offerings from Morimoto and Diode Dynamics though.

As for the aiming, there is play in setting the depth on the SS3 bracket, so you should be able to loosen the side mounting screws on the SS3 and slide it further back on the mount.

Edit: I know I still have that Honda headlight comparison to do as well!

Rigid 360 SAE dual color

 

No rush on testing. Though that doesn't stop from hoarding parts like a madman! As for aiming, I'll see if it needs to be adjusted. I hate to say it, I had a DD installer do the work (the horror). If these were the Elite Series, I would have tried to do it myself. In my case, the bumper cover has to come off in order to acces the screws that holds the fog light garnish.

Though two weeks before I had the SS3s installed, fate intervened and road debris cracked my fog light.


It was a sign...

 

Yep I need to adjust these... damn it. This will not be fun.

Low beams only


Fog lights on

 

Wow. Definitely. You may be able to have some adjustment just pressing on the lamp face depending on how tight the side bolts were installed.

 

Which fog lights are those?

 

Diode Dynamics SS3 Max

 

I had similar trouble at first with our Crosstrek too. With all of the liners in the way it was difficult to adjust the depth and height on the car or tighten anything. I ended up setting it all the way back in the bracket and guessed the angle before mounting. It took a few tries but we got there.

 

A note about height- when mounted low in the bumper and aimed as traditional fog lights are, any light below your line of sight over the hood is wasted. You might get small peeks of light in the tiny gap between your A-pillar and hood on the driver side. But for the most part, you want to try to have the bottom of the pattern end parallel with your hood line or just inside it. As a result, pattern height is a delicate balance to hit, especially for a universal aftermarket lamp. This is why I don't think that increased pattern height is always a good thing.

@crashnburn80 can you speak to why there is roughly a 500K difference in base white light color, even with the same emitters and clear optics? I'm also puzzled by the apparent color temperatures of 7000K and 8000K in the wide angle parts of the pattern.

 

Agreed on vertical beam height. Here is the SS3 Max in a snow storm crossing the pass aimed correctly with a 4" drop at 25' as specified by Stern in the Gladiator. The Max overwhelms the headlights and since the fog cut off has a vertical aiming maximum an extra tall beam pattern provides no benefit. As shown, light closer to the truck provided by a taller pattern would not provide any visual benefit to the driver. Wider is certainly more beneficial.



As to the color temps in the wide angle part of the pattern, look at the pattern photos. Note the edges of the pattern as more blue than the central pattern. I'd speculate that the higher energy shorter wavelength light is more willing to follow the TIR to the outer extremities, but for a better technical explanation one of the manufactures may be better able to answer.

 

IMO, a fog light should be wide and provide additional lighting to the edges/ditches of the road as opposed to focusing light in a more central location. Functionally speaking it is more desirable to light a wider path so the driver can see upcoming turns, signs, obstacles, critters and give a wide view of what is ahead outside of the headlights beam pattern. 65 degrees vs 50 degrees is a considerable difference over distance. All of this info I know you are aware of, I'm just giving my take on it and maybe a better visual for people like me that have a hard time visualizing what that means on the road. If I miscalculated something, please correct me. I am actually curious if 50 degrees is any wider than the OEM low beams?

50 Degrees=
23.3' wide @ 25' distance
46.6' wide @ 50' distance
93.3' wide @ 100' distance
279.8' wide @ 300' or 100yd distance


65 degrees=
31.9' wide @ 25' distance
63.7' wide @ 50' distance
127.4' wide @ 100' distance
382' wide @ 300' or 100yd distance


Now remember what @crashnburn80's LUX numbers were at 33 degrees, IRRC his distance at 18' from the lens to the garage doors. In theory this is out of the specified width of both lights as the HXB is apx 25 deg off center and the DD SS3 is 32.5 deg off center, but in practice there is obviously additional light spill for the better. Either way, this shows that one will produce a far wider pattern that I believe is more useful as a fog light and I'd be willing to bet many would agree. Additionally it appears that the light is more evenly distributed across the beam pattern of the DD SS3. Think about it this way, the average lane width is 12' and shoulders are usually 4-10' as well. That means if you are in the middle lane on a of a 3 lane road (6 lane total highway, assuming 12' lanes and 8' shoulders) and the fog light in the center (52' total width) of the middle lane that the HXB would hit the edges of the shoulders at apx 55.8' vs the SS3 Max at apx 40.8'. Again, thats just the edges of the shoulder, not the ditches or factoring in the light bleed on the sides. Just something to think about in your decision making process.

I will give it to @MattKossoff and their team for making a competing light that offers a beam pattern that may suite other peoples needs. I think they would make great ditch lights as the beam is taller and potentially used as auxiliary low beams for other uses. I will be curious how the updated backlit SS3 Max compares as well. The way I look at these two products is similar to projectors. Comparatively, we all know the RX350 projector with a clear lens is the king of projectors and still the projector that all other projectors are compared to because of it's great combination of width, intensity and light distribution. It's not to say the G5 variants or others are bad, but everyone has different preferences in how their lighting is focused down the road. I see these two SAE LED pods in the same way, different strokes for different folks.

I think it would be cool to see a legit auxiliary low beam pattern from either manufacture, but I know the market would likely be slim and legality would be difficult since there is no longer an SAE standard for them.

Something you could do is remove the trim piece and shave a few millimeters off the back side of the trim piece to give you a gap that would allow you to adjust it. Unfortunately, I know that means you'll likely have to remove the bumper. I had to do this on our Subaru Ascent, minus removing the bumper. I used a utility razor scraping the plastic on the back side of the trim piece with minimal pressure applied, like you're deburring edges after a cut. If you do it in a single pass around the whole circumference, it will be an even amount removed. On mine it took about 3 passes to remove about 1mm of material, but yours may be softer or harder plastic.

 

Note that in this example the 50 degree HXB vs 65 degree Max spread is with a 10k Cd minimum. The fogs do have a wider pattern than that, the Max fog has an 80 degree spec'd pattern spread, though I'm not certain off the top of my head what intensity minimum is used for the pattern spread specification. And yes, the garage door is 18' from the light source.

 

@TacoFergie I admire the RX350 Bi-xenon metaphor. Those are great because they concentrate a lot of light across the entire width of their upper cutoff, much like other projectors respected in the retrofitting world from Koito. Fact is, anything that shines down the road should have the brightest band of light at the top, and a gradient of intensity towards the bottom (foreground) to aid in long-range visibility. If the beam pattern is even from top to bottom, the light that hits the ground directly in front of your vehicle will cause your retina to close up, washing out your ability to see in the distance. This is consistent with @crashnburn80's comment above (about washing out the low beams) and another one he made earlier (concerns about intensity wars in the fog light space)

Its obvious you guys are A) very enthusiastic about high performance lighting B) the technology that gets us there and C) the regulations that allow us as drivers to enjoy the former, but keep us and oncoming traffic safe.

With that, I have asked our lead optical engineer at Morimoto, @Yoshi I to join the conversation here on TW. His expertise will certainly add value to the conversation as a whole.

 

Welcome @Yoshi I !