The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

I didn't know they upped the performance.

 

This is the most recent email I’ve received from them. Interested to see if they are truly an upgrade over the original SS3 Maxes.

 

Just trying to keep one step ahead of the competition. Not a bad thing.

 

I wonder how much "significant" is. I thought they were limited by heatsoak.

 

And there's that little thing about being SAE compliant ...

 

Yes. Though I'm a little behind at the moment.

Heat soak is only limiting by however you have the thermal rollback programmed. If you want more power, you just need to increase the point the thermal regulation kicks in. More power with higher thermal regulation point, will mean hotter pods. Of course in an SAE compliant product, it still needs to meet SAE compliant standards as well.

 

I'm all for waiting for these to get some internal longevity testing before they release, but we were past that point already.

I don't want to make bad assumptions but my hunch is they ran into some quality control issues and possibly had to dial back the output to still fall between their "I can actually warranty this and not lose my ass" threshold. Which would require a new round of tests.. and a few more weeks.

But, either way - this is to be expected and I am glad they would rather do this then peddle something that will just tarnish their name. From what we all know from the multitude of reviews that exist - these are still worth waiting for above all the rest of the competition.

IT JUST SUCKS MAN. IT SUCKS REAL BAD.

 

The backlight circuit created the need for a 4-layer PCB, which had impact on thermal performance of the circuit board itself when it came to the production-spec circuit boards. The result is that initial output testing was lower than we wanted, because the board was heating up a little too much. This did not apply to the Pro and Sport because we don't push those quite as hard... so those went straight into production. For the Max, we could have shipped them with that lower power level. But we took a hard look at things, changed out various components such as the thermal transfer material, and we were able to push the output quite a bit higher.

Unfortunately, especially these days, each small change can cause delays. We are really trying to balance the number of changes with overall goals for performance, it does really suck to keep pushing out the ship date. But as you mentioned, we don't want to put something out there that won't live up to our brand's standards.

Thanks!
Paul

 

I have no doubt these will be worth the wait. Appreciate the update.

 

Paul, any word on when new specs will be available online?

 

Also, how about a subscription program where we trade in our older stuff every time you come out with something better

 

Talk about feeding our addictions. I’m in!

 

SS3 Max Backlit is in production and will begin shipping next week!

As you can see, there's quite a bit packed on these boards.

Output specs coming soon

 

First off, thanks to @crashnburn80 for being passionate about educating and informing us about proper lighting and putting together such thorough and technically sound reviews on all these lights. I'm the type of person that researches everything to death before making a purchase, so this entire post was exactly what I was looking for. Having literally read all 291 pages of this post, I have a much better understanding of the science/engineering that goes into producing high-quality lighting and I feel like I'll be able much more informed decisions on future lighting decisions.

Somewhere around the 200 page mark I made up my mind and pulled the trigger on a set of DD SS3 Pros from @memario1214 (the current sale definitely helped). Stoked for those to show up and check out the @Diode Dynamics badassery in person.

For the install, I've got a '22 TRD OR with the factory TRD lift (we can discuss the pros and cons of that decision elsewhere), and as part of the dealer install they removed the factory fogs and replaced the fog trim with the non-fog trim. It looks like I'll have to get a set of fog light trim pieces which I think are part nos. 81481E and 81482C, and I wanted to confirm that I've got the right parts (https://parts.toyota.com/a/Toyota_2...47/FRONT-BUMPER--BUMPER-STAY/674470-5252.html). Alternatively, has anyone come across an aftermarket fog mount for the OEM bumper that still looks mostly stock? I found a mount from Apogee Racing (https://www.apogeeoffroad.com/shop/p/toyota-tacoma-oem-fog-light-mount-gen3), but I'm not really a fan of the look.

 

Hmm I think I remember reading that but didn't think about it much. Interesting that Toyota elects to remove the fogs entirely instead of re-aiming them like they would the headlights.

Is there a regulation for maximum fog lamp height that they would violate by keeping them in place?

 

I dug into a bit more (aka searched TW) and yep, looks like it's a regulatory thing for most states (#16 here). Page 27 of the installation instructions show that.

I'm in CO and the law here is that fog lights can't be more than 30" above the ground (https://law.justia.com/codes/colora...nd-traffic/article-4/part-2/section-42-4-212/). I just went and measured and the top of the fogs will sit at 32".

 

Generally lamp heights are measured by the center of the lens, not the top of the lamp itself. Does it say anything about where the measurement is taken from anywhere else?

PA is very special. You can have fogs between 12"(or heigh of the lowest part of the chassis) and 42" above the ground, to the center of the lens. However, "special" also means "special," because both fog lamps and Aux. Driving lights have to be aimed the same way.

 

The CO rules don't say where the measurement is to be taken from, so taking the center of the lens measurement puts mine close to the max 30" height. From the CO rules:

(2) Any motor vehicle may be equipped with not more than two fog lamps mounted on the front at a height of not less than twelve inches nor more than thirty inches above the level surface upon which the vehicle stands and so aimed that, when the vehicle is not loaded, none of the high-intensity portion of the light to the left of the center of the vehicle shall at a distance of twenty-five feet ahead project higher than a level of four inches below the level of the center of the lamp from which it comes. Lighted fog lamps meeting the requirements of this subsection (2) may be used with lower head-lamp beams as specified in section 42-4-216 (1) (b)
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I'm not too worried about it though. I doubt I'd ever get called out for it considering the number of jackasses around here with their massively lifted F-350s running every light BD makes.

 

Man, I’d be upset if I paid for an addition add on and a standard option was removed.