The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

Agreed. My 5000K Samsung 351d LEDs have a distinct green tint, whereas my Osram flat white LEDs are pretty neutral even though they are a colder 6000K. I personally prefer the CREE XPL HI in 4000K, much better color rendering, a slightly rosy hue, but you get great output and solid distance projection, while also running pretty thermally efficient. My Osrams and Nichia LEDs get hot much more quickly than the XPL HI at comparable output levels

 

You might be able to get it piecemeal at a hardware store like Ace/True Value. I get stainless security Torx bolts from McMaster-Carr. You'll obviously need an appropriate key tool for each size as well.

Is all this for the factory fog locations? I wouldn't worry too much about those, as they would really have to dig into the fender liners for that. If you really want, just get the single mounting bolt to the bumper. It would be a royal pain in the ass to get the lights out using the 10-32 bolts. The inner one isn't even that accessible.

 

Getting excited to see numbers.

 

I assume it's for ditch light brackets but I may well be assuming wrong on that.

 

I’ve had good luck finding Torx security bolts on Amazon.

 

My contribution

DD right BD left (yes they are on, you can kinda see the yellow around the tire print) You can see the sharpie marks on the wall around the BD beam


DD is aimed a little lower, and has much tighter pattern.

 

Ended up leaving town for the weekend, Max yellow results delayed till Sun/Mon.

 

Just kiddin, have a good weekend!

 

Max's at about 15-18'

 

Bet you leave ‘em on too.

 

Diode Dynamics SS3 Max Selective Yellow

This post is imperfect, which I will explain later in the post.

The selective yellow Max uses 6000k emitters vs the industry best optimized selective yellow Sport/Pro using 4000k emitters with a lighter filtration optic, meaning that the Max will require a darker optic for greater color correction and incur greater losses than the Sport/Pro.

Sport/Pro (left) vs Max (right)


Again the Max output has a tighter pattern with better cut offs than the Pros while also providing higher intensity output.


Correcting a high color temp lamp (6000k) to selective yellow tends to have a more green hue than correcting a low color temp lamp (4000k). Pictured below is the SS3 Sport (top) in selective yellow vs the Max selective yellow (bottom). It is a little difficult to tell in the photo, but the Max has just slightly more green hue. I was actually anticipating more green given the 6000k emitters, so while the color isn't as rich of a yellow as the Sport/Pro, it still exceeded my expectations and came reasonably close to the Sport/Pros.


The spectrum comparison chart shows the yellow optic eliminates all short wavelength light.


Comparing the selective yellow Max output values to the white Max, by my numbers the selective yellow Max optic incurs a loss of about 19.7%. This is significantly higher than the ~8% loss of the Sport/Pro selective yellow. To be fair Diode Dynamics has optimized their selective yellow lamps with the Sport/Pro far more than any other company in the industry by using lower color temp emitters paired with lighter filtration optics to provide highly efficient lamps with low losses. So higher losses are expected on the Max with 6000k emitters.


Selective Yellow Max CCT Plot



SS3 Max Selective Yellow Chromaticity window plot. With the 6000k emitters it still falls in the legal selective yellow chromaticity window.



Vs SS3 Pro Selective Yellow Chromaticity Box



The Max runs scorching hot, which will excel in snow/icing environments. These selective yellow lamps have the hottest lenses recorded yet, meaning they will be best able to combat icing compared to all other LED fogs. As someone who semi-regularly dives across remote mountain passes at night in the snow, this feature is of significant importance to me. Having your lamps ice over in the conditions for which they are intended to perform is unacceptable, which will not be a problem for the Max selective yellows. Keep in mind the lamps are intended to run at these temps, so there is no cause for alarm.


How do the numbers compare to the Pros?


Based on my numbers the Max comes in at about 22% higher output intensity than the Pros with much sharper cut offs, which is better in every regard but maybe not as appealing as the white version.

But here is where things go a little sideways and why I mention earlier that the data is imperfect. 15-20 minutes had been adequate to get the LED fogs to stable operating output in the past. However, Diode Dynamics Max fogs are so much more powerful that I believe the previously used stabilization period is inadequate, and in retrospect likely applies to the Pro fogs as well. If you were paying close attention, the peak amplitude in the spectrum comparison chart between 500-600nm comparing the Max white and Max selective yellow should likely have been identical, but it is not. So I do believe the Max and possibly Pro stable values are a few percentage points off vs what I have logged. It shouldn't make a difference in the big picture, but as a data driven individual it bothers me.

The selective yellow Max is the highest performing selective yellow lamp on the market, with better cut offs and higher output intensity than anything else available. However the 6000k white Max offers performance advantages in output intensity over the higher filtration losses experienced by the selective yellow Max.

 

tldr; MAX is pretty neat

Max white = 697 lux
Max Yellow = 560 lux

High filtration loss but its still crazy!

 

Nothing else on the market comes close.

 

I thought I saw somewhere in Diode's literature that the SS3 pro fogs were near the intensity limit for SAE compliance. If this is so, how does the max fog exceed the pros without being non-compliant?

 

Thanks Crash

You've got me tempted to throw on a set of clear lens on the SS3 MAX's for the warmer seasons...

 

Can you do this with the fog lights (if you are using them as fog lights) in place? If I have to re/re them, just forget about it!

 

I think he’s asking if the lenses can be replaced while mounted to the vehicle, or if you need to remove/reinstall the entire assembly when changing lenses.