The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review

I had to do the same to one of mine. I think the KC adapter should be similar if not the same as the Cali Raised adapter.

 

Perfect! Yep this looks pretty similar, at least close enough to know I can open it with a small flathead and rearrange as needed. I think I had to do similar with my Baja Designs now that I think of it, except their connectors came unassembled so when I realized my polarity was wrong it was easy to go backwards since everything was still fresh in my mind. Thanks!

 

It takes all of ten minutes, until you find a rubber gasket in the driveway the next morning because you were working in the dark! Then it takes a total of 12 minutes!

 

Regarding the polarity...it's flipped for sure, and KC knows. I spoke with their warranty folks with Taylor's help, and they sent a new deutsch connector with proper polarity. Josh in warranty stated it was a production issue. I got my new connectors on Thursday...free of charge.

 

Hahahaha too true! Especially since I got driver side mounted up before discovering the wiring issue and was kind of in a hurry.. I wanted to knock it out before we left for work (night shifts) but now I’ll be able to tackle it when I get home with a clear head and full daylight! No missing pieces

 

Dang maybe I’ll wait.. I’ll see what I can accomplish when I’m off work!

 

For what it's worth, I flipped mine at install, and ran them for a week like that before the new connectors arrived. I wasn't 100% sure if they'd stay connected as the prong that holds the poles in place wouldn't bend back into place thus not preventing it backing out of the plug. Alls good now though, as I put the new connectors in place last night.

 

Ahhh okay good deal. I’ll see what Taylor can do when he gets my PM. Thanks again everyone for the help!

 

Yeah definitely not my style either. I currently have LED driving pods (which light up an entire canyon - what I want) flush mounted in my bumper. I would like to try and integrate the Rigids into the lower valence.

One other quick question: Is there a specific, or ideal, distance the two pods need to be mounted away from each other?

 

I responded to @dskakie in PM, but just so everyone knows - we definitely had a batch of the G4s that went out were the polarity was switched and that's what's causing issues. Luckily it's a super easy fix! We're trying to work hard to fix each one as it pops up ASAP, so if anyone reading this is having the same issue please just PM me! Even if you think you can fix it on your own (trust me - I'm the one to try and fix it myself, then end up breaking it and something else in the process), it really helps us to know about it and to log/record everything so we can narrow things down further.

 

Did you modify your stock bumper or have an aftermarket? Got any pictures of the bumper?

 

Thanks for the infomation follow up Taylor. My G4s worked as they should without needing the polarity reversed.

 

Modified the stock bumper. Not the greatest pics but you get the idea.

I'd like to add the fog lights to the lower valence on either side of the license plate. Just don't know if that's enough distance to space them apart from one another.

 

Ok so looking at either the G4 or the Rigids. @crashnburn80 looking at both manufacturers websites it looks as though Rigid is underestimating it's lux rating looking at your chart comparing the 2. Rigid says 106 lux @10m which in your chart it looks as though it's a little higher. Where KC claims 150 lux @10m which according to your chart is about right. Also the rigids on Amazon are ~$40 cheaper. I know we discussed the loss in intensity by adding the amber covers to the rigids and that you have not data to show the loss where you say the KCs are probably the best all around light based on the light temp. Do you think that adding the amber covers to the rigids would help them in the inclimate weather dept. or do you think those covers are more gimmicky?

 

i think the output with the amber covers looks legit. check the pic i posted
that’s the setup i’m going to be going with. will be sending some covers to @crashnburn80 for some testing.

 

My chart was just a measurement on both lights at 2 distances and a line plotted between them, I don't have any measurements at 10m to conclusively compare. Rigid claims a pretty low output loss using the covers, it really depends on how much area under the output spectrum curve is cut off by the covers to see how the overall output is affected, so every light is going to respond a bit different. While KC has relative stronger mid-spectrum output, Rigid has stronger mid-spectrum absolute output. So if the covers can remove just the blue light peak, while keeping the remaining part of the spectrum, they may be able to outperform the KCs. @Speedway Blue was going to send me some covers for a separate project soon and I'll be able to run a comparison with some more specific measurements on how output is affected and what the resulting color temperature will be.

Looking forward to trying them out!

 

Sub'd

 

The bulbs I use in my halogen upgrade are exceptionally high powered, 2100 actual lumens vs Rigid's 1760 raw lumens. Where things start to become a little more ambiguous is the projection technology. How efficient are the OEM fog light reflectors at harnessing those 2100 lumens and projecting them down road compared to a forward facing purpose built pod housing. There are a few differences here, which is in part why I did not include halogens in this thread, and instead used OEM TRD LED fogs.

But if you want some measured numbers, I disabled the headlights on my truck and measured the fog output at 18ft.

Rigid @18ft: 395.5 lux
Ultimate @18ft 485.0 lux

My fogs are 23% brighter than the brightest LED fogs on the market, measured in peak output. They are also a better color temperature for poor weather and will not freeze over in even the worst cold weather conditions. All reasons why my fogs remain high powered halogens. I should add though there is more variance in the halogen beam compared to the Rigid LED one, which is why I do not see them as directly comparable.

 

Rigid does make a driving light pattern in their D-series pods, and their Pro D-series are brighter than their SAE fog pods. However a ‘driving’ light beam pattern is a high beam pattern, even with a street legal SAE J581 (driving) compliant beam it is still a high beam, meaning it shouldn’t be used with oncoming traffic.

The Rigids do have a very nice hard cut off and tall beam area, if trying to use to supplement low beam performance they may be a better option than using upgraded factory fogs.

 

my $.02
I ran Rigid's very early release SAE fogs on my previous truck. They are fabulous in many aspects, and nearly serve as a supplemental low beam. Ran them for 2 years with Ford's factory OEM HIDs and the compliment was stellar. One complaint...TONS of foreground lighting. Great in the city, but definitely lead to some eye strain on long dark highway stretches. I often turned the Rigid SAEs off during highway use.

I've had my KC G4s on for a few weeks now and I'm very impressed with what they've done. The beam length isn't what you'll get from a Rigid SAE, but the even spread and ditch lighting capability is top notch. The foreground lighting isn't as severe either.