The SAE J581 Aux High Beam Thread

That's exactly the combination I ran on my 2014 Tacoma and I loved it. (The Ultimate Headlight Upgrade with the good OSRAM bulbs, DD SS3 Max fogs and a DD 30" Stage LED bar with all Driving lenses.)

Crash is 100% correct in that you won't want to run the high beams and light bar in the snow though.

 

@crashnburn80 and @Too Stroked, thank you both!

 

Unsure if I should be posting in this thread or the J583 thread. I found these threads thanks to a reddit comment. Been reading both threads for the last week or two. I bought some DD pods take advantage of the Black Friday pricing. Now I am worried I bought the wrong thing for my usage and wants.


I bought two SS3 Max Yellow Fogs and two SS3 Max White Driving. They will go on my Gen 1 Raptor in the fog pocket of the bumper. I am going to wire the backlights to my running lights / markers. The pods themselves will be wired to the OEM aux switches. One switch for fogs and one switch for driving. I plan to use fogs in inclement weather or when at an off road event in snow. I plan to use the driving to compliment my high beams when on country back roads and when at off road events. There is no vehicle inspections in my state. I know not to use them when there is traffic around me. I am removing the crappy recon brand pods. Waiting on DD to release their 20 inch bar next year to remove the recon 20 inch bar. Thinking flood or combo for that bar when the time comes. I eventually want to add A pillar / ditch DD spots. Thinking SS3 Max as well. Maybe I'll spring for SS5 there instead. Unsure. That's a next year decision.

My concern is did I buy the wrong pods for my intended usage. Hate I didn't know about the SS3 Pro Yellow has a 4000k bulb. Not a huge fan of 6000k. Just removed the ugly 6000k interior bulbs from previous owner. Swapped them for warmer light LEDs from DD.

 

Pros are good for flood but max is preferable for fog and driving. Max has only one emitter color choice. So in my book you got it right.

I actually really like the white max fog for not foggy but windy mountain switchbacks. Puts light where I want it to track the lines clean and doesn’t blind anyone.

 

Good choices for the lights. They'll serve you well. The yellow lensed maxes will be great in inclement weather, and the driving lights will knock your socks off.

If you like the selective yellow color of the fogs, consider getting the Max- specific lens in the driving light optic as well. I currently have a set of SS5 Sports with the selective yellow driving optic, I find the yellow color mixes well with the ~6000k white of my trucks LED headlamps, and its quite similar, visually, to having a set of halogen lamps.

 

Has anyone tried using Morimoto 2banger pod lights to act as a high beam? I am curious about what it looks like while on the road.

 

It's highly effective as high beam on road usage. 2Banger HXB combo lens actually provide beyond J581 high beam capability It actually pass as UB2 ( headlamp integration, standalone or bi-function high beam addition usage) It does not have massive flood but width spread is concentrated in proportion to natural enhance upper range visibility and ample width.
I am not tacoma owner, but I am using to test ( I design those)

My config is HXB Spot on one side, HXB Combo on other side. I think HXB spot is bit too loose for me. I likely will suggest NCS Spot and HXB Combo combination.


I have MLED2.0 for my main beam, set spot on driver side, combo on passenger side. To me, it gave me most comfortable high beam assist function.




Sorry for low res, below are screen shots from driver perspective video
This is Low beam + AUX high (2Banger 1x HXB spot 1 x HXB Combo) to show coverage addition ( I didn't take photo or video AUX high portion only, but hope you can see coverage)

spot beam is aimed bit high relative to combo beam center.
Even 2Banger HXB spot beam, beam is too large for spot ( because I am using as range boost combined with main beam)

With usage of main headlamp high beam, it supplement range very well for its compact size.






I didn't think many interested in 2Banger, but I will gather more pictures if anyone interested in.


Here is combo lens distribution





Here is This is 1 x Spot 1 x Combo combined beam this is essentially beam pattern of my AUX high set up

 

Kinda looks like you’re opening fire on something. Can relate

Illustrates the point just fine.

 

Looks like a great combination of beam patterns, especially in such a small formfactor. Any pictures of how you chose to mount those? That's often the biggest limitation, especially on cars.

 

Some homedepot trip, hammer and vise, bit of blacksmith skills was required. Driver side, wiper clearance probably is the hardest fabrication point I think.


i had to make it so close to gain wiper clearance, felt cushion used just in case. BTW, pod mounted height is slightly higher ( about 5mm) on driver side, for that wiper clearance challenge reason.


Driver perspective is like this


I wanted to position bit outer, but bending those plate manually to desired shape was hard. I am OK with it. Very compact. Certainly will look different with Tacoma, my car is 15 Mazda3.

 

That's such a logical mounting point for small lamps on all small cars, its too bad it runs afoul of the law, just inviting tickets.

 

Thank you so much for the example, I will be installing mine on behind the grill of my 3rd gen tacoma. I will try to do both combo lights and see what they look like. I will also try to do a video of both spot beams and link it thru here. Please post more of your examples, it would be great if you link some videos.

 

DD SS3 and SSC2 very foggy morning

 

@Yoshi I

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KUfHje4pqyU&t=848s&pp=2AHQBpACAQ==

Interesting little units here. Includes its own reflector, claiming 300k cd intensity at 3A drive current.

 

I am bit worried about that unit safety, and long distance remote phosphor design hugely compromise with emission position tolerance.
Unconverted laser scatter is one of concern. then, emission position on phosphor is questionable. Beam dump ( unconverted laser capture structure) is not designed in this model.


Mirror receiving very tight optical density, if this mirror even slight misaligned, laser dump can fail, major hazard


I can't tell quality of that lamp, but from it looks, bit questionable and I think biggest issue is cooling.
Laser and phosphor both require strong cooling, if data is logged at 25C condition, at ideal operating temp of 60C, 20% flux down. If it goes to 110C, 70% flux down.

Module look compact, but it will need massive heatsink to keep laser temp low enough realistic output likely is 1/3 is my prediction.
I just don't feel comfortable using reflective phosphor without beam dump safety design.

I would use safety feature integrated solution like Kyocera one, or Giga White by Nichia.
I made similar sized mock up, using protected reflective phosphor model. Pair this one with pretty hardcore fan (9000rpm) and heat pipe, max it handle likely is only 10W of heat power.
To enjoy higher output, heatsink must be even bigger ( grid major line is 5mm, minor line is 1mm btw)




To give minimally useful spot size, something like this is plausible, but I would say, 150,000Cd super tight spot beam is expected final output upper hope (reasonably with front headlamp lens on or protective front lens on)



Compact size is attractive, but even with robust cooling, optical efficiency is pretty low and cost also is much higher than LED. Not saying it is useless, but his type of hyper focused spot beam is very hard to use in my opinion.

 

Quality of the unit is definitely questionable. It's an interesting test piece perhaps to play with, but with too many tradeoffs, especially given the effectiveness of high power LEDs these days, and the still very low performance levels allowed under US law. Just came across it on youtube, and was surprised that it appeared to be capable of reaching its claimed performance level.

Thank you for the modeling, I wasn't trying to ask for any of that, but I do appreciate it. I hope it didn't take much of your time.

 

It's my regular optical design work out, I always experiment and design, earn experience by doing so Good to learn required size of heatsink and airflow, I was just guessing but simulation validated. Thank you for sharing that link. Interesting attempt, but hope those product get paired with adequate safety measure, especially with extremely high energy density laser.

 

There is a guy, not me, on ebay selling the discontinued KC G34 in SAE driving beams at what seems to be a very reasonable price. I bought a pair for each vehicle. I haven't installed yet but tested on my trolling motor battery and was pretty impressed. I'm doing an ARB bumper upgrade this spring so it will be getting a set. The other set will be on my impala to help with its atrocious lighting.

 

Those are cool lamps. Wonder why they're discontinued, maybe they just wanted to consolidate to the Gravity 6s? Any data for them?

 

I tried them in fog but not driving, I don’t have any independent data for the G34 driving. For fog, the G4 (rounds) performed better and had a smoother pattern than the G34 (rectangular).