The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

Same here in upstate New York.

And I wouldn't buy automotive lighting from anybody else but Hotshot Offroad!

 

Heated lenses would be great for a fog for those in cold climates, rather than relying on power thermals and lens energy absorption from selective yellow filters to generate heat. While the later can work in high power lights, it also takes some time for the lamp to heat up, especially if the lamp is already at freezing temps. JW Speaker and many others have heated lenses for headlights, and when the heaters kick on it is near instantaneous. Of course everything comes with a price, lens films for resistance heaters to achieve a proper heated lens may reduce output intensity by ~10%.

 

10% drop for stock looking fog with heated lenses worth it, especially in the conditions where you need em.

 

Definitely agreed. Fogs are a tool for the worst weather, and for many that includes snow. And if the weather defeats the tool by covering it and blocking the light output, then that 10% difference doesn’t matter at all. For myself, fogs are almost exclusively a snow tool, hence why I view operating and lens surface temp as important.

 

Yeah same here although I dont generally get the wet sticky snow of the pnw

 

I don't fully understand why resistive heating is needed over the lens vs the circle of the housing? Wouldn't that be adequate for a round pod? Or am I showing my Hawaiian roots with idiocy now?

I would want all this extra stuff tied to to the mirror heat button for the "baby it's cold outside" moments.

 

I would imagine with it not being fully enveloped the center of the lens wouldn't defrost. Same reason the rear window grid is focused center out.

Visit WA sometime in the winter and I'm sure you'll see why if you go through the passes.

 

Depends on the outdoor temps and the snow conditions. But a light that doesn't have enough excess thermal energy isnt going to transfer that heat to the lens as plastic is a reasonably decent insulator, especially when compared to the aluminum cooling fins of the housing.

 

Definitely planning to do some of that and excited about it. Got my chains ready, even practiced installing on my snows before I put them on. First winter in the PNW and we are excited!

 

I was thinking an aluminum ring with some way to run power through it via that 4th pin of the deutsch connector, assuming ground, fog power and backlight are the other 3.

 

Maybe we can all have a winter get together with beers. What say you @crashnburn80?

 

As mentioned, the plastic lens will be an insulator, heat will not radiate from the extremities to the inner lens very well. However hot edges can reduce some snow buildup, but if it is sticky snow it still may coat and block the lens. The higher power white pods already benefit from this where the aluminum outer ring gets hot, but the lens has no heat. However, if you are going through the trouble to make a heated lamp, you want it to work in the worst conditions, not just some of the conditions. For that to happen, the entire lens needs to be heated. No need for switches to activate the heaters, they self activate based on temp. No additional wiring or complexity.

 

Certainly possible but the aluminum ring would have to be heated to a pretty high temp to maintain lens cleaning when its 14°f and snowing hard

 

Always down. Aside from the typical light shows at my place, last group beers event we did was here.

An additional complication, is many vehicles have very recessed fogs, like early 2nd Gen, which then turn into massive snow buckets. Even if the edges are hot they can be overwhelmed by snow packing in. The entire surface needs to be hot.

 

I know I dont know why they recessed the fogs so much on the 05-13 trucks

 

Certainly an extreme case for the 05-11. But even the Gladiator/Wrangler fogs are recessed too, not to the same extent, but enough to be problematic in snow.

 

@Diode Dynamics

Hello, I'm going to have a shop install your Subaru Ascent fog light kit on my Subaru Ascent and I was wondering if I'll need to buy the relay and fog light button separately? What about the mounting screw and j nut? (I only know of these items because I've read other people say they needed them when they installed theirs -- but I'm having a shop do it so I'm not sure if I need to do anything extra besides purchase the kit?)

 

Welcome! Does your Subaru have factory fogs?

 

Would the Diode Dynamics SS3’s pros create sufficient lens heat during storms? We get our fair share of bad storms in the NE


Thanks