The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

Great review of everything, appreciate the time you spent putting this together.

 

So got my Cali raised adaptra harnesses today to hook up the rigid fog pods I got from @crashnburn80 . They are pretty nice. One beef is the DS was pinned incorrectly so I had to repin it. No biggie on the deusch connector side. I was too lazy to repin the truck side so now power is blk and neg is red on that side doesn't really matter. Might take the truck out tonight to aim them since I'm running an aftermarket bumper.

 

saved for future me.

 

Hi All,

This is my first post to Tacoma World and I wanted to shout out to @crashnburn80. I’ve been trying to figure out what I want to do for lighting and I’ve probably read most of your threads by now.

I’ve got a few questions for the fog lights.

I read your post about how you shouldn’t run LEDs in reflector housings meant for halogen like the 3rd gen fogs. Any thoughts on Diode Dynamics Fog Light LED? Supposedly made for fog light applications and comes in white or yellow. My guess is, it still causes glare but it’s just not as bright.

I’m assuming for the replacement lights, if they go out you have to replace the whole fixture right? No bulb changing.

I really like the color of the Baja Design’s pods but like you mentioned I want to run a street legal fog. (I think I posted an example picture.) Do y’all think the Rigid and the KC fogs are similar in color? When I think amber I think orange not yellow. Is it just the same thing?

Lastly, you mentioned about possibly comparing the amber KC fog to the rigid with amber cover. Anything in the works for that? I’m super curious to see how they match up.

Again Crash great right up and thank you for all the information!

 

Welcome to TW! It does look like Diode Dynamics came out with a fog light assembly similar to the Morimotos. Their full replacement assembly shouldn’t produce glare, it is the drop in bulbs to the halogen housing where that becomes an issue. They do mention in the listing it isn’t any brighter than stock though, I’d anticipate them being similar to the Morimotos in performance. I didn’t see an amber version on their website.

KC has generously agreed to supply their amber G4s for this thread. However they are on backorder till November, I’ll include them once I receive them. Based on specs and my measurements of the Rigids with amber covers, I think the Rigids are going to be a bit lighter yellow whereas KC specs their wavelength at 580nm which is right at the transition from yellow to amber. ‘Amber’ isn’t orange for automotive lighting, is is more of a darker yellow. I’m not sure what the color temp/wavelength of the BD lights are for comparison.

A quality assembly should last the life of the vehicle, they are typically rated at 40k-50k hours. If it was on the lower end of that spectrum and you ran them 4 hours a day, every day, they’d last over 27 years.

Normally I’m quicker to respond, but I’ve been out on vacation.

 

We ain't got time for you to be on vacation we need our questions answered now!

Awesome of KC to step up like that. Got to use my Rigids thanks to Hurricane Flo. worked well thanks bud!

 

someone knows if there are bases to mount LED fog lights in tacoma 1generacion 2004, I have been searching online and can

 

Hope you made it through the storm and flooding safely.

The pods come with a universal base mount, which you can use to improvise a mount. There is no kit that I am aware of specifically for the 1st gen to mount them though as the first gens did not have fog lights. There are a handful of products that use the license plate mount to create a sort of shelf above the license plate to mount lights.

 

Are you going to be selling off the amber G4 when you are done? I have been looking at those for my '17 offroad. Otherwise Rago is currently running a 15% off sale.

 

I’ll shoot you a PM.

 

Hey all,

Just want to be totally clear and transparent here! As @crashnburn80 mentioned, we are providing some amber G4s for this testing. That said, we absolutely want him to be unbiased and want the data to speak for themselves. Whatever the results of the test are, we are just stoked that someone is going through all of this effort for such a valuable comparison! That's why we wanted to support this, because we want to support this kind of unbiased, transparent product testing and comparisons.

This is why I love TW, so much good shit and so many good people on here.

 

Good on you! Also I am impressed with the handling of a warranty claim from a fellow members. It speaks really highly of KC as a company.

 

We did yes our place at the beach weathered the storm well too. Some fellow members are a little worse for wear though.

 

Thanks! We're really trying to be our absolute best but there's always room for improvement and we are constantly striving to improve every aspect of our customer service.

 

I love that KC is an AZ company, I like supporting home town businesses whenever I can!

 

Same here! That's why I really wanted to be a part of the KC team in the first place haha. To be transparent though, we now have offices in both AZ (our main Williams location still!) and in CA for more business stuff, but we also build our Pro6s there too.

 

I try to always let the data do the talking, it’s easier and more objective that way. I do again appreciate KC’s willingness to contribute the amber G4s to the thread.

Also, you can always tell when someone has studied engineering/science when they refer to data in plural.

 

If it's ok with KC, and if you have the time, any chance you can do the freezer test on the G4 fogs? It gets cold up here in Alaska after all, and since my SR didn't come with fog lights to start I'd need to get adapters or factory bezels regardless, so I'm torn between the G4's and the Rigid's SAE pods.

 

The KC G4s will not preventing icing. Their strength is the highly efficient reflector based design, which allows them to utilize very low power. In a reflector design, a larger reflector is more efficient and more performant than a smaller one. If you look at the lens surface area the pods are approximately 9 sq/in while the G4s are over 12.5 sq/in. So the G4s have over 30% more surface area and less than 50% the power draw. Power draw is what generates the heat. Also keep in mind the heat is generated in the rear of the LED lights, and must radiate though the housing to the front. In short the KC G4 design is too efficient to generate enough heat needed to melt snow.

Rigid SAE pods would be the only ones I would suggest in a regular snow environment, and not with amber covers. For excellent snow performance including a better color temperature for use in snow conditions, I would look at a halogen upgrade, which will provide more than enough IR (heat) to melt ice and clear the lens. This is what I run, as I cross windy 2 lane mountain pass highways in the winter, in the snow after dark more often than I would like.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-ultimate-foglight-upgrade-h11-not-led-or-hid.435419/