The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

The beam pattern doesn't "bow" on the edges from an optical perspective, and if you shine it on a wall you'll see that it is perfectly straight. However, there is slightly more intensity on the sides, which is what you may be perceiving.

This is very difficult to see in person at all, but it does show up on the beam pattern measurements we do, example attached. Please note the intensity scale on this measurement - to be clear, it is NOT a "hotspot" on the sides or anything we specifically intended, it is just a slight variance in the average intensity all the way across the pattern, as the result of our attempt to make the pattern as wide as possible. The "flutes" on the front of the fog lens require extremely precise geometry, and the molding process' ability to match the design intent down to 0.01mm.

 

This is probably the most dumbest question... So I've ordered the rigid sae fogs.. where does this Deutsch actually connect into the fog wiring harness?

 

Deutsch is a brand of universal connectors. Your fog harnesses are terminated in typical H11 connectors. The short adapter harnesses convert from H11 to Deutsch, so they go in between your lights and your existing truck wiring.

 

So where the harness connects to the bulb assembly I place the h11 to Deutsch and Deutsch to fog light? MY knowledge for lighting and wiring is horrible.. I blew so many fuses just trying to wire a back light on.. I ended up scraping the project and had to buy all new factory wiring to get it to work again.

 

The Rigid’s come with a stand-alone harness to wire to the battery on an independent switch as a universal product. The H11 to Deutsch connectors I linked are to plug the pods directly into the foglight electrical plug and not use the standalone harness. This allows them to be run off of the trucks OEM fog switch like stock. You cannot screw it up in a way to harm anything. The pods have a standard Deutsch connector on the back, you plug the adapter into the pod that converts Deutsch to H11. You then plug the H11 connector into the OEM fog connector as if it were stock.

 

Okay thank you!!

 

I know some people have been waiting - these are now available for shipment: https://www.diodedynamics.com/clear-lens-for-ss3-pod-lights.html

 

Hell yes!!!

 

4000k!



Edit:
Quantity listed as “in stock but not many left”

I bet the SAE patterns don’t last long.

 

Just ordered a set. Thanks for offering this @Diode Dynamics

 

Thanks @Diode Dynamics for offering the lenses! 4000k is going to be awesome!

Thanks @crashnburn80 for the extensive research and technical data that you've provided us with! I am truly grateful for all time and knowledge that you put in and are willing to share with us! I would've never guessed that the 4000k pro would actually edge out the 6000k pro in max lux!

 

Thanks so much for this. Many of my purchase decisions are very data driven, and this is exactly what I needed to see when looking for fog lights. DDS3 Selective yellow Pros it shall be!

 

Ah! I was this close to replacing my driving lights with yellows and doing the lens swap. But, I don't plan on driving with my high-beams on full time anyway. Plus the privilege costs +$60 so I'll keep the 6000K auxiliaries.

 

How close? The 4000k is so much nicer.

 

I haven't mounted them yet, only measured and mocked up. But I believe I'm past my 30 day return window now, so I think that's staying my hand more than anything.

 

Got a lot of products in today still waiting on my rigids

 

Good choice on headlight bulbs to balance improved output with bulb life.

 

I did a little research lol... I went diode dynamics in rear to hopefully improve backing up with tinted windows at night.. I'm wondering if I made the right choice on fog lights.. I bought the rigid sae d series..

 

Check out Crash's awesome work on reverse light options...
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...rade-vs-high-power-leds.474996/#post-14383876

 

In my SS3 review, I noted that I did not think the Sport selective yellow measurement was quiet accurate, as I should have seen greater losses with the selective yellow filter. I've since re-tested the lights, and updated the numbers and plots in that post with more accurate results. My initial measurement on the selective yellow Sports was 366 lux, and the updated measurement is 352 lux (about a 4% difference), along with a very minor shift in color temp.

I thought I would share some interesting info on that process.

Below is a non-normalized raw data reading of the Pro 4000k and the Pro selective yellow. They both have the same emitters, so the spectrum graph should be identical if run under the same conditions and not filtered. The selective yellow lens is a filter that removes short wave length light. You can see that at wavelengths less than 587nm or so, the filter starts to remove output intensity to shift the color temperature toward yellow. At greater than 587nm or so, the filter allows all the light through, as long wave length light isn't filtered by a yellow lens. The unfiltered light should have the same peak in the spectrum and you can see the unfiltered part of the spectrum is about a perfect match. The plot looks as expected.




The comparing the initial measurements of the Sport 4000k vs selective yellow looked like this:



Definitely not a perfect match. Relative intensity peak of 4.5 vs 4.8 and the unfiltered spectrum slope (right side) does not line up.

But they are the same LEDs, so why would the reading be different?
The output of an LED emitter reduces as it heats up. If you were to take a measurement immediately after turning an LED on, then wait 15 minutes and take another measurement, the second readings will be lower in intensity and likely a slightly different color temperature. The output stabilizes after an LED heats up to stable operating temperature. Even at stabilized operating temperature, measurements can have differences based on ambient temperature, as a colder environment will allow the LED to cool more efficiently and run at a lower temperature.

The above spectrum plot shows the filtered yellow light having higher relative output at 581nm of 4.8 vs the unfiltered 4.5. A filtered light should not have a higher peak than an unfiltered light, meaning the light was likely not at stable operating temperature. The other clue is the color temp is slightly shifted, as you can see by the unfiltered spectrum slope not matching. In testing I typically give the lights about 15 minutes to warm up before taking a measurement. Watching the power supply, the current draw will drop as the LED heats up and stabilized when the temperature has stabilized. I was going through a lot of light permutations, but I recognized the measurement didn't look right when I took it and retook it several times even giving the light additional run time.

I went back and re-tested the selective yellow lights, making sure they were at stable operating temperature and plotted the spectrum comparison below.

Re-test Sport 4000k vs Selective yellow



You can see that it isn't quiet perfect, but is a far better match. I have a peak relative intensity difference of about 2% (4.6 vs 4.5) and the unfiltered spectrum lines up far better, meaning more accurate data than the initial measurement.

Not much to do with the lights themselves, but I though some might find the effect of stabilized operating temp and the data interesting.