The SAE J581 Aux High Beam Thread

I'll answer some of your questions based on personal experience with SS5 Pros. As I've mentioned before, I originally ordered selective yellow fogs and clear driving lenses. Swapping lenses from selective yellow to clear gives you a 4000k color temperature - which I prefer to the "bluer" higher color temperatures. I liked the color, but the driving pattern was still a bit too wide for me, so I switched to spot lenses which have a bit more reach and a slightly narrower pattern.

Here's what the results look like on an unlit country road near our house. The road falls away and turn 90 degrees right just over a half mile down the road. As you'll see, the pattern is pretty darn nice. Please note that this pic does include my upgraded high beams, but the vast majority of the effect is the awesome SS5's.



I will add that I have the SS5's wired to come on every time I hit the high beams - and that's just the way I like it. I had the option of adding an enable / disable switch, but when I want distance lighting, I want distance lighting. Do the SS5's provide too much light? You be the judge.

 

The SS5 Sports will not melt snow, you’ll need the power of the Pros for that. I do have some yellow covers for the DD lights, though I haven’t tested them. They are darker than the 4000k emitter yellow optics used on their lamps, so you’ll have lower output than using the yellow optic, plus a secondary lens will incur additional losses over a single lens. The yellow cover is also going to create an insulating air pocket between the housing and outer cover lens, making them highly unlikely to melt snow.

I’d certainly tie the driving lights into the high beam circuit. Using the high beam stalk to get high beam plus the driving lights is a no brainer for use simplicity. Only reasons I’d think of not to is state inspections (if that applies) and flashing high beams for communication, where maybe you wouldn’t want to sear the retinas of those your trying to communicate with.

 

Excellent point about the difference between Sports vs Pros, & native-color vs add-on lenses for heat output & snow-melting capability. For that reason alone I will be sure to always go for Pros, in the appropriate native color (clear or amber) when adding more DD lights to my truck.

 

Like all have mentioned, the SS5 Pro would be the way to go if you want them to melt snow. I would choose the Pro Yellow Spot option for less glare in the snow and based off data/photos I have seen. Since the Pro's have a larger LED chip that will spread the light output more than the Sport ones, that would probably be the best option for max distance and good light spread.

But I do see one downfall to the SS5 as an auxiliary high beam for use in snowy conditions compared to Halogen Daylighters. That is snow build-up. While the SS5's do create enough heat, they have to be on for an extended period of time to heat the lens up enough to melt the snow. Whereas the Daylighters will start melting the snow instantly with a Halogen. So if the driving conditions require them to be swithced on and off somewhat frequently, you may be better off with the Daylighters.

 

Thank you all for answering my questions and enabling me to fill @memario1214's pockets

Do you find yourself blind for any amount of time after you switch the high beams (and SS5s) off? That's my only concern regarding too much light.

I see what you're getting at, especially with the reflection occurring due to the secondary optic, my only question would be whether the yellow covers themselves would be getting hotter than a yellow lens, as more loss occurs in the cover than would in the yellow lens (as it's darker) and the majority of the loss (and therefore heat generated) would be in the yellow covers, not in the lens.

No state inspections apply here, and if they do in the future, it's easy enough to unplug/modify things. And I'd think flashing my SS3 Pro fogs would transmit the same message as high beams.

Do you expect the 3000K yellow to blend at all with 5000K high beams, or would they be discrete colors?

That makes a lot of sense, we'll definitely consider that. My only experience with driving in snow with aux high beams was with horrible 6500K bulbs in my high beams (I didn't know better at the time) so I got the instant warp speed effect. What I wonder is how good is the 3000K yellow or 4000K white at punching through heavy snow? Is there a time when snow could be falling heavily enough that I'm concerned about build up on my lights, but light enough that the lights are still useful and aren't just illuminating the snow?

 

No, I do not.

 

I like the way the Selective Yellow blends with OEM LED headlihghts, this is going off my experience with SS3 Fog lights anyways. Most OEM LED headlights are closer to 6000K. You could always wire them separately to a switch if you don't care for how they blend with highbeam color as well.

That is something that will take experimenting and will be personal preference. I don't have experience with aux high beams while the snow is flying, but I would say Selective Yellow would be the best chance at combating that effect over 4000k white or even Halogen. They UV wavelengths are what causes that effect with the blue/indigo/violet reflecting off the moisture in the air, which is what causes rainbows. Since DD's yellow lens effectively filters those wavelengths, it would offer the best chance of putting light down range with the least amount of glare back.

 

Maybe I could offer some advice on aux high beams and snow. After all, I've lived in the heart of the snow / rust belt for my entire life. First, you should never use high beams (or aux high beams for that matter) when it's snowing. All you're going to do is blind yourself - and others. The more powerful the light, the blinder you will get.

Second, color temperature is not going to help / hurt you in the snow with an aux high beam as much as running any kind of driving / spot beam will. In snow, you want a fog beam pattern. Why? Because you're not going to be able to see very far down the road because - hopefully - you've slowed down. Having slowed down, you want to be able to see the sides of the road to make sure you're still on the pavement.

Getting back to color temperature, you want to run selective yellow fogs in the snow and rain. Here's why:

Daniel Stern Lighting Consultancy and Supply

Hope that helps!

 

Agree with this post 100%. The linked PDF provides interesting historical context, and at the end makes some useful suggestions for converting clear lenses to the correct shade of yellow w/ certain kinds of spray paint, and/or a single layer of Kapton® tape.

Separately: For all the talk on Youtube about white/clear vs yellow fogs, it's hard to find many videos that show actual comparisons in snow conditions. Here's one. Starting at 0:20s, the driver periodically switches on main headlight beams now and then to illustrate the difference btn driving lights vs. fogs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5jjZbcWGGM&t=20s

 

Thank you guys, especially @Too Stroked, that's what I suspected. While it might be nice that a particular aux high beam light melts snow, it's hard to imagine a scenario where that's a make or break, unlike fogs.

The 4Runner does have yellow SS3 Pros, which have been great so far.

 

Am I the only one who watched that video and thought, "Man, this guy drives way too fast for those conditions." Never mind the color temperature of his lighting. And passing that semi on the right ...

 

Same. Could be the perspective of the camera making it seem faster than it was, but it felt like he was way over-driving his vision, reaction times, and stopping distances.

Also it's funny to see everyone in the comments absolutely convincing themselves to buy yellow lights, as though the primary usefulness is the result of the color rather than the pattern.

 

Haha you havent seen the idiots here in colorado then. Tailgating and acting like the roads are dry

 

If you read the article linked in @Too Stroked 's post earlier in this thread (today) --- it's clear that while beam pattern, throw angles, and cut-off are more important than color, color also plays a role and yellow is indeed "easier to see" and/or "easier on the eyes" in foggy/rainy/snowy conditions. The relevant quote from the article, about halfway through it:

"Selective yellow light can improve a driver's ability to see in fog or rain or snow, but not because it 'penetrates fog better' or 'reflects less off droplets'. In fact it's because of the way the human eye processes different colours of light."

All people, but older people w/ weaker vision especially, can instantly see the difference in glare between blue/bluish-white light, and yellow light, in dim or nighttime lighting conditions. Even in broad daylight cutting out the blue portion of the spectrum improves visual clarity and contrast. That's why shooters' glasses are frequently the same yellow/amber color.

 

I have SSc3 tied to my high beam but also on a 3-way switch so they can be off with the high beam on or on independent of the high beams.

I'll turn them off when driving around our rural town at night because the stock high beams are sufficient at low speeds with occasional street lights. I also don't need to dim my lights as soon as I would with aux high beams. The same with following. I can reach a safe following distance to put my high beams on and not be as far back as I would need to be with the high beams and aux high beams.

Secondary highways at night is where the aux high beams are most suited and makes it similar to driving at twilight.

 

That's a really good call, these days I'm rarely driving at night and I forgot that I tend to use just the high beams at times. I very well may add a switch to untie them from the high beams so I have that option.

 

Anytime Back up camera sells the 3 way switches that fit our consoles.

 

Something coming Thursday idk

 

I really hope they make an auxiliary low beam option for custom vehicle applications. But I doubt it. It's probably the official release of the Laser pods.

 

Never mind it's stuff for SxS