The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

Personally, i like the hella 500s the most. Cheap and great performance

 

Here's another huge shoutout to @crashnburn80 for this spectacular thread and to @Yoshi I for his nerdy breakdowns of all the technical stuff that makes Fog Light.. a Fog Light. Thanks guys!!

After years of having a Love and Hate relationship with my PIAA 510 Yellow Fogs. It was finally time to upgrade after I had discovered that one of my PIAA 510 lenses had fallen off the housing somewhere along a very washboarded dirt road in Death Valley.

I had in mind to purchase a set of BD SAE Yellow fogs because well.. they are a big name and have some well known products with decent customer service. After reading this thread and after watching a ton of YouTube videos, I purchased a pair of DD SS3 Pro SAE Selective Yellow instead of the BD Fogs. I chose the Pro version because the cut-off is not as sharp as the Sport or Max. I'm thinking less of a cut-off maybe a little more ideal while on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere.

I purchased the SS3's directly from Diode Dynamic during their BlackFriday sale, I thought what a great price until I saw that @memario1214 -hotshotoffroad had a way better deal going on. Oh well, next time I'll buy from hotshotoffroad when ready for the next lighting upgrade which will be very soon.

I made my own dedicated wire harness to Power the SS3 Pods with Back Lighting using a weatherproof 5 pin relay. The relay turns on when the Ignition is ON. Since this a 5 Pin Relay, Pin 87A will have +12v on it until I tell it not to with the Fog Light Switch. Pin 87A is powering the Backlights. Pin 86 powers the Fog Lights. When the Fog Lights are ON, the Back Lights are OFF. I spliced the Factory +12v Fog Light wire to the relay at Pin 30. This allows me to use the Factory Fog Light Switch.

Here's the basic relay diagram




de-pinning the extra wire not used from the connector and re-pinning the Back Lighting wire in a new color. Deutch Connectors are Rad! So glad that Diode Dynamics uses them..



Getting tinned before crimping


14g into a two 16g Splice, repeat the same for the Ground and Back Light Circuits..


Adhesive lined heatshrink..


Tying it all together..


And we get this..


Splicing a new longer wire into the Factory +12v Fog Light wire so it will be long enough to reach the relay. The DriverSide Headlight was removed for access.


The new Fog Light relay is under this panel I made. This fuse box turns On by a relay when the IGN is ON. Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of the relay when it was all done.


I try and go the extra mile always trying to prevent chafing where needed. Unfortunately I ran out of zipties so I used some wire. This is all temporary anyways, ill be installing a pair of JDFab Inner Fenders very soon.


Everything's wired up correctly. Here's the SS3 SAE Fog Light with the Backlight On and how it looks in the middle of the afternoon..


And with the Fog Light ON in the middle of the afternoon..


Not really aimed properly yet at a distance of 25' or so. And wow,,night and day difference compared to my old PIAA 510'3!! Totally happy with my decision going with Diode Dynamics!!



My next lighting upgrade on the list is to finally retire my 7" Kragen Red Ring HID's that I'm still rocking after all these years. I have it down to two choices, either (4) Diode Dynamics SS5's or (3) Baja Design's LP6's. What does TW recommend going with?

 

While I think the LP's are a better looking light, the ss5's have a true sae driving pattern albeit to bright to comply with said sae standard

 

With as base as my Tacoma is (manual windows, not even intermittent wipers), it always seems like an extra challenge when I want to upgrade something here or there. I purchased the DD SS3 driving lamps expecting installing that the bracket would be a little work but they don't even provide the nylon insert for the aiming screw! You're supposed to take this tiny nut from the OEM unit but being such a base truck, I have only the fog lamp hole COVERS (52127-04010 and 52128-04010) which are just molded plastic without break-aways or any means of connecting the DD brackets. The closest I've gotten is 52125-0C020/52126-0C020 but while some sources say Tacoma, they're listed as a Tundra product. I can't find any reference whatsoever to OEM Tacoma fog lamp mounting brackets, just the lamp assembly itself.

Am I digging a deeper hole by trying to source an OEM solution or should I just be cutting the existing fog covers and fabricating a mount for the DD brackets? Any ideas where I'd be able to find the nylon clips?

 

Vision X/Denali CR-4 SAE fogs

Denali originally launched the CR-4 SAE fogs and used Vision X as their 3rd party manufacture to produce the lamps. Vision X later acquired Denali and now offers the CR-4 lamps under both brand names.



The CR-4s are available in white, selective yellow and amber. Rare to see a manufacture offer 3 different fog color options and uncommon for true amber fog to be offered. Industry trend has been to move away from amber toward selective yellow for fog lights which is higher performing. Amber CR-4s are only available under the Denali label, Vision X offers only white and yellow. This review will cover the white lamps only.

Vision X specs the lamps at 40w (3.3A) power draw, which is higher than the SS3 Max. The lamps also spec the modern F3 compliant pattern. These are available in a Tacoma fog pocket it (also fits 4runner/Tundra) or standalone pods. Vision X offers a lifetime warranty on the CR-4 lamps.

The lamps use a protruding aspheric projector optic. Somewhat challenging to see in the photo, but the lamp face is not flush like Baja or Rigid that uses similar optics behind an outer cover lens, the lens on these lamps is very 3-dimensional.


Powered on.


The beam pattern is extremely tight and uniform with sharp cut offs and colorful purple bands on the top and bottom of the pattern.


The pattern is nice and wide, intensity does fade some to the far sides of the pattern.


Cold start in 63 degrees F ambient. Measured 37.7w / 2.73A vs 40w / 3.3A spec.
17.3% below power spec at cold start.


After 20 minutes of runtime the CR-4s pull 24.6w / 1.78A. vs spec 40w / 3.3A.
44% below power spec.

CR-4 white measured output


The outer body bezel of the CR-4s is plastic, unlike most pods that use aluminum. Plastic can seem ideal for its corrosion resistance compared to a coated aluminum housing which can pit of flake with poor coatings, however plastic is an insulator. To drive LEDs to their maximum performance LEDs need to shed heat and aluminum as a conductor that does that well, which is why most LED pods use aluminum bodies. Vision X does not.

Thermal FLIR image at 63 degrees F ambient.


The hottest parts of the lens are the opaque areas that don't allow light to pass though, areas of light emission are significantly cooler. The bezel being a plastic insulator is much cooler than the aluminum bodies we've seen from competing products. While the areas around the optics run reasonably hot due to blocking all light energy, the protruding optic and bezel do not run hot enough to be recommended for snow use. The yellow CR-4 would likely do better.

Looking at other F3 fogs with sharp cut offs like Vision X, the competitor I'd compare them to fog OEM fog pocket mounting would be the Diode Dynamics Elites.

DD Elites top vs Vision X CR-4 bottom


The Diode Dynamics Elites have a slightly taller and wider pattern than the CR-4s. Diode Dynamics also replicates OEM Toyota with blue banding at the top but instead using warm color banding at the bottom of the pattern, unlike Vision X that uses purple banding on both sides of the pattern.

Vision X CR-4 vs DD Elite


The Elites come in at 21.7% higher output intensity that the CR-4s with a taller and wider pattern and arguably better color temp.

While I compare these to the Elites based on performance characteristics, it's worth noting that the CR-4s carry a price tag nearly 2x that of the Elites.

 

I apologize if I missed it or couldn't find it, but is there a comparison shot showing the non-Pro LED fogs that come with the LED headlight package on the Off-Road model?

 

I don't believe crash has tested those ones.

 

Post #724. Admittedly not a great comparison post on my part.

You can also see Diode Dynamics test numbers screen captured from their YouTube video below. The Toyota projector LED fogs are the non-pro LED fogs from the LED package.

 

Awesome, thanks!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HciWtdHI6pY

 

Looking for some help, I have a 2023 TRD pro with the ridged Fog lights from factory. Since they come with an unusual mounting systems to fit into the factory bumper I have run into some problems transitioning this to my after market bumper with s single post mounting location. Does anyone make an aftermarket bracket that would fit and allow me to transition the factory Fog lights over to my new bumper?

 

I had figured a simple bracket fix wouldn't run me to much if there was one out there. also the system is already set up and protected for easy plug and play. I went with the Backwoods Adventure Mods High Clearance front bumper. I needed a little more protection as well as something to hold a winch. Im not overly concerned with the Lumens since I don't do much night wheeling but the bumper has the cut outs and figured I would try and transfer what I currently have.

https://backwoodsadventuremods.com/...oma-hi-lite-overland-front-bumper-no-bull-bar

 

The OEM Toyota Rigid fogs are based on the Rigid M-series. You might see if the single M-series bracket mounts will work on the Toyota Rigid units. It's been so long since I've had some I don't recall. That said, the fog is only 1/2 size for the holes in that bumper. You'd be better off selling the Rigids and the Pro bezels and purchasing some SS3s as @memario1214 points out. You could even possibly come out ahead with cash in your pocket if you went with the sports, while also having a higher performing lamp.

For your comments on night wheeling, fogs while helpful for width are not great night wheeling lights, but they are highly effective in poor weather on the street.

 

I recently mounted a set of SS3 Max SAE fogs to my sequoia. They're great, but I'm having a heck of a time aiming them. So far I've erred on putting them low, but I think I'm really missing out on their full potential. The issue is, they're so bright, that at 25' I can't really see a clean cut off line .. I'm guessing part of the issue is that the wall I was using was wet (winter in Seattle so kind of unavoidable), meaning extra reflection, but whatever it is, I'm having trouble. Anyone with the SS3 Max SAE have a similar issue?

 

By measurement, SS3 Max really don't have visually detectable cutoff line. Regardless of observation distance. Some batch shows regulation required minimum, some below regulation minimum, at this border line level gradient with massive output power, only reliable way to aim lamp is to use "digital level app" Park your vehicle on flat leveled ground, open your phone level app, put against front flat surface of SS3 pod, and aim down 4~4.5° is correct aim ( by photometric measurement per SAE J583 table)

In terms of fog lamp fog function, elite is far more superior

 

Thanks. That's really helpful. Because the lights are slightly inset in the old buckets my phone won't fit, but I do have a small digital angle finder somewhere in the garage.

Too late to go with the Elite's, though dang, that would have been cheaper. I guess since I heard such good stuff about the Pros I figured the Max would be even better. Oh well...

 

Max is much better than Pro as fog, elite just is "proper" fog for actual fog usage. Pro, I wouldn't even call that as fog Far away from SAE, gradient is too weak, can't be aimed. Many aim too high up using as if high beam, fog aren't low beam helper. Fog beam never should illuminate any more than direct in front of driver view. I see widely misused photo example all over.
You made right choice go Max over Pro for sure. Elite is most appropriate as fog, but downside is it can't combat snow accumulation.

As long as you aim lamp correctly, it won't cause glare.

By aiming correctly, you may find it shockingly low aimed, different from many SS3 max fog photo you may see online, but they are the one doing wrong and you are trying to do right.
Try angle finder, 4~4.5° downward aim to find approximate aim down reference. then match right and left. Hope you enjoy your new lamp!!!!

 

Thank you. I'll definitely dig out the angle finder and give it a full adjustment. And thanks for the reminder about snow melting. That is a big issue for me and why I started looking at the pro (and then max) in the first place.

 

Here is a video from our media team for reference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5RXq28ZOYo