The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

No, the latching relay should have a timer built in where it will open after it fails to receive more input power after some short period of time. So if your turn signals flash 3x/second, you could adjust the relay to remain closed for 5 seconds after the last input, meaning the circuit would open and shut off power to the turning lamp 5 seconds after your turning of the wheel or turning off of the turn signal switch.

 

Have you compared the DD Max combo as Ditch Lights compared to Baja Designs Squadrons Pro?

 

The Max SS3 makes less sense with the combo optic than the fog/spot/driving lenses, where its lower output but higher intensity chips are leveraged for higher performance. The Pro makes the most sense for the flood and combo optics, as it has the highest lumen output.

While there isn't a direct comparison, posts #477 and 478 on page 24 of the SAE J581 Driving light thread has some pictures from Toledoups, of his Max pods with the driving beam optic on the road.

 

Gotcha. That would make things much simpler.

 

@crashnburn80 do you think this bodes well for the next generation of Baja SAE lights? Do you prefer the narrow pattern or the wide pattern of something like the OEM fogs or the DD fogs?

I run Baja for all of my other lights but was about to pull the trigger on some DD SS3 Pro's or Max's. Do you think it's worth waiting to see how the next gen Baja lights perform? For context I live in Washington and travel the passes regularly, I originally wanted to go with the Max but was considering the Pro because of cost.

 

I have SSC1’s in the stock location on my GX460. Are the SS3 Pros a good step up? Looking for a bit more for the heavier snow. They’ll be behind the lower grille.

 

I had the SS3 Pro (selective yellow fogs) in my Tacoma, then upgraded to the SS3 Max (same color and pattern), so I might be able to answer your question. First, the Pros will definitely be an upgrade in the amount of light they put out. Unfortunately, with that extra power comes some problems. If you look at the SS3 lineup of Sport, Pro and Max, power goes up with each level. But going to the Pro from the Sport also comes with a less well-defined horizontal beam pattern. Said another way, there's more bleed above and below the peak intensity band. This means that even when properly aimed, the Pros can bother oncoming drivers with that bleed - which I experienced.

I decided to move up to the Max because only the Pro and Max really run hot enough to melt snow. The other advantage to the Max is that it has a much more well-defined horizontal beam pattern. In fact, it's much like the pattern in the Sports. Guess what? Although they're more powerful, they bother far fewer oncoming drivers. I've since moved the Maxes to my new 4Runner where they work equally well. I'm very happy with them.

BTW, the absolute only place I buy all of my lighting needs has been from @memario1214 at Hotshot Offroad . That's where all of my DD lights came from.

Hope that helps.

 

Thank you. Yea I saw all that stuff about the cut offs, I’m just being a cheap ass. If I buy the Max’s I can guarantee the SSC1’s will never be switched on ever again. I was also tempted to get Sports and just run them alongside the SSC1’s instead of individually (during the big storms). But legally I don’t think that’s allowed.

And yes. Got my SSC1’s through Colton.

 

I certainly think it will be a big improvement over Baja's previous SAE light. I believe they are supposed to start shipping in March if I'm not mistaken, so if you are on the fence the wait to know more shouldn't be much longer as long as it doesn't get pushed back again. I do have some on order, but there are many ahead of me on the pre-orders.

I suspect these will fall in-between the Pro and the Max in terms of output intensity. The photo appears the beam will be a fair amount narrower than the SS3s. I also suspect the Baja lights will not run as hot as the Pro/Max, which if you are driving remote windy mountain highways like Highway 2 or Blewett pass through the mountains in the winter is a significant factor. The projector optics are going to have far sharper cut offs, especially over the Pro. I’ll need to get my hands on some to test and compare actual performance though, so TBD.

On the Pro vs Max, the Max is certainly the better light with higher intensity output, sharper cut offs with much less spill and hotter lens temps. It is a bit more expensive, but for use on the passes in the winter I find it worth it as they perform better in every way.

 

In our last snowfall I ran my MAX’s for about 20 minutes as my headlights were iced up and I wanted a little bit more of a DRL for other drivers given the slippery conditions.

The MAX optics were not iced but they were also not hot to the touch. I do kinda wonder how they melt snow given how not-hot they were. Perhaps longer runtime is needed to get up to temp? I’ve noticed a similar lack of heat with my other set.

Crash keeps telling me about oven mitts. And I keep touching and no hotness. Story of my life???

 

Maxes take closer to ~35 minutes to reach full operating temp, cooling effects of driving in freezing temps may take longer, or if you park your vehicle outside and are starting with frozen pods. My numbers show lens temps at 100+ degrees over ambient, but if you are at say 20 degrees with incomplete heat up time, starting from a frozen state and cooling from driving it could be you were at a much lower say +50 degrees over ambient for example, or a 70 degree F lens temp. Thats not going to feel hot to the touch, but 70 degrees will certainly melt snow. The goal for snow is to have the largest positive lens temp delta possible, to be in the best position for snow melting.

It's the back of the pod body doing the bulk of the heat shedding, thats where the oven mitts come in. The rear of the pod runs about +140 degrees F over ambient, or about 40 degrees F hotter than the lens. If you start at say about 70 degrees for ambient tests, add +140 degrees, you get 210 degrees for the pod body. Fun facts for perspective, second degree burns happen at about 131 degrees F and human skin is completely destroyed at 162 degrees F. So when you pickup that 210 degree pod with your bare hands, you end up removing some fingerprints.

 

https://www.bajadesigns.com/products/squadron-r-sae-led-auxiliary-light-pod-pair/

Claimed 15,800 Cd falls in-between the SS3 Pro and Max. 29w spec power will likely not run as hot as the 36w Pro or the 38.5w Max. I look forward to testing them once I get mine.

 

Anybody running two sets of fogs??? Diode dynamics sports to be specific. If so what harness are you using. Any issues? Can both be wired to oem circuits? Or would need to power the 2nd set with inline relay? Thanks for your help

 

You’d just need a splitter off the OEM fog harness adapter. Run the H16/H11 to Deutsch adapter then a Deutsch splitter, Diode and others sell the splitter harnesses. The Sports are low enough power that 2 sets can be run off the OEM fog circuit. Note that 2 sets of fogs run simultaneously is not compliant.

 

Those are exactly my plans, I just wasn't sure if the 2nd set would cause problems and start blowing fuses. Yes I was aware of not being compliant. I'm better of just running some MAX fogs

 

It is only compliant to run a single set of fogs at a time. The Sports are only 15w, the fog circuit is designed for a 55w bulb, you have plenty of overhead. Running 2 sports might get you roughly 10% more output intensity, a little better for yellow since they have more efficient yellow optics. The single Max certainly packages cleaner as well.

 

Thanks for clarification on the circuits outputs. Lastly what do you recommend just go with the Max?

 

I've got SS3 Max fogs in selective yellow. They're plenty bright with a very clean cut off. I've been very happy with them and the oem led headlights. That would be my recommendation.

 

Nice, I definitely plan on upgrading my halogens to LED in near future

 

I’d certainly recommend a single Max set over dual Sport sets. Only real advantage of the dual Sports would be 4000k color temp if going for white. But Sports won’t run hot enough to clear snow, won’t be compliant, and have a bulkier more complicated install than a single lamp.