The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

Installed some SS3 Sport SAE Fogs in a local clients 4Runner

Got a BUNCH more SS3s here and on the way. Let me know if you want to snag a pair

 

Not a full review yet. Going to try and resolve test equipment issues this evening and hoping I don’t brick an iOS device in doing so.

Adding to the backlog, the revised Baja SAE kit showed up today.

 

Hmmm, might make an interesting back to back (or in this case side to side) comparison. Just saying ...

 

Planning on it.

 

Received mine today from lightwerkz. Now I’m waiting for my h10 to deutsche connector.

 

I put a light bar on my son’s powerwheel UTV. (I know, why? right...go mod my truck right? Lol)
I did it so cars would see him better out beyond the driveway.

Anyways, the light is only 18watt, the power wire to the stock wimpy LEDs is 24awg, and the wire off the light bar was 16awg. I tapped directly into the power switch. For a 2-yr old he’s pretty stoked.

 

I think the intensity of the DD SS3's can be a bit shocking for oncoming traffic, leading to getting flashed out of panic, rather than the light actually being out of aim and glaring in people's eyes. My Pro selective yellow fogs are pretty...intense...I don't know what else to call it. They probably look like they shouldn't be used on public roads to a lot of the public who don't know better. I've only been flashed once, and it's shocking to me that it hasn't been more. The stock fogs would get flashed all the time on the 2 lane highway.

 

I get flashed all the time driving my '18 Camry with factory LED headlights.

 

dangit. The bolt is to big for the hole

 

Smaller bolt and bigger washer?

 

Drill it bigger?

 

Obvious. Just mean I have to take a trip to the hardware store.



I swapped one of the foglight out so I can aim it the same as the old light. The DD SS3 overpowers my cheap old lights, I couldn’t see where to aim them.

 

if you add a switch and don’t replace the headlight stalk, and you’re pre-wired, it’s basically plug and play easy.

if you’re not pre-wired, I would just run them off a new circuit and leave the stock wiring alone.

 

I think it's important to note that Hayrider has Driving Beam pattern SS3's here. Although they're SAE compliant, just like your high beams, you can't run them when anybody else is coming at you. That, more than aiming, is probably the reason for him getting flashed.

 

As you know, we have already discussed this at length via private message. While I would prefer not to, I suppose I need to rehash it here for everyone.

Our bracket was modeled after a lamp that was designed for 2012-2019 fitment, as I clearly said in the post you quoted. My engineering manager and myself personally installed the kit on a 2012 with no issues.

To answer your last question, as I already said twice via private message: we will review the fitment on the 2nd gen again when the opportunity arises. I personally did not have any problem aiming the lamps with the brackets as designed. To be clear, we take fitment and quality of our products seriously. If there is indeed some kind of problem, we will take steps to correct it. We make about a dozen improvements to various products every month based on customer feedback, based on quality management software we have specifically implemented for that purpose.

However, as Too Stroked said, it is important to mention that you are attempting to aim SAE Driving lamps down, and you have modified the brackets to attempt to correct the perceived issue. The SAE Driving is not a fog lamp, and should not be used as a fog lamp. It is a great upgrade to supplement factory high beams, but they are not designed to be used in traffic like fog lights, even though it seems you are trying to use them in that way. I apologize for any confusion regarding the beam patterns and intended use, and we will be updating our descriptions to try and prevent that mistake in the future.

The SAE Driving has a slight vertical spread, and are designed to shine straight forward as high beams. This is probably why you are unable to aim them down "enough." I am not even sure what "enough" aiming is in this case. The SAE Driving is not designed to be angled down. They are much too concentrated and intense for fog lights, way brighter than the maximum allowed. The SAE Fog pattern is designed for that.

We did not rush any part of the development of the SS3. They were designed and validated over the course of nearly three years. We tested the Tacoma brackets over a dozen times in a 3rd gen, in a design process that took over 6 months. At the mere suggestion that the 2nd Gen may have different fitment, we stopped selling that model. We found a local 2nd gen, and I installed it personally on that truck to confirm fitment.

Again, as I said via PM, we will send you a return label for a full refund. I apologize for any confusion, but the SS3 Driving lights cannot and should not be used as fog lights, so I don't believe this solution is a good fit.

Thanks,
Paul

 

The differences between 2nd and 3rd Gen fog mounts I was referring to would cause the beam to not sit level left to right, it would not affect vertical aiming. SAE driving is a high beam pattern, meaning there is vertical spread in the pattern, aka the beam has an upward sloped horizon. (Note driving pattern does not actually have a true cut off horizon). Even with the lights aimed down you are fighting an upward pattern with that optic, without a clean cut off gradient needed to prevent blinding oncoming traffic. The pattern is designed to be run near the low beam cut off, not below it, as an auxiliary high beam. To get the lights aimed down below you need the fog optic, which does not have a vertical spread in the beam so the pattern cut off follows the tilt of the lamp and can be aimed below the headlight pattern, with a clean cut off to not blind oncoming traffic.

 

@Hayrider , you're ignored.

 

Yeah pretty much.

I don't know what this means. Anyone else want to take a whack at it?

They're pretty easy to adjust, but the method is not as precise as a factory click knob. They're still very adjustable and stay in place once adjusted, presuming they're tightened correctly.

It sounds like the bolt/tab pattern might be slightly different from the 2nd to 3rd gen, making the screws slightly out of center. This is why you may need to check to make sure your beam patterns are level LEFT TO RIGHT, not UP AND DOWN.

That won't really change the fact that you can't use high-beams as fog lights.

Using offroad flood lights as fog lights is even worse.

You're right. There's no amount of adjustability that will turn a high beam auxiliary light into a fog light with a proper beam pattern and cutoff.

Yeah but blinding other people isn't the solution either.

I wish you all the luck in the world, but maybe you should try fog lights before you pull things apart.

Asking questions is fine, but you're not listening to the answers.

 

I just got a set of the fog lights. The mounts still won't be out for a month or two it sounds like......which I thought is what they said a month or two ago...

 

Last update from Rigid last week was the mounts are in house and ready to go, but they had a website issue on the launch date. They said they postponed the release one week, so they should be releasing them this week.