michalik_piotr

i think i allready have my answer so this is more just doing additional research and getting opinions.

i think ideally i need to run two or three sets of aux lights, driveing, long dist (pencil beam) and fog but thats just too many lights for my taste, too much money and don't feel like dealing wth the wireing to do it right (ie: alt, diff gauge wires, relays, fuses, etc). so, i decided to only run one set. a pair of hella 500's. i pretty much decided on fog as i think thats what i'll need the most..... gets foggy frequently in north seattle/everett and definately on oregon coast that i frequent often.

so i'm thinking of the fog pattern amber ones mounted on the brush guard/bumper. can i run them in traffic? on the freway? how would they be as far as just using them as an additional driveing lamp?

what about the clear driveing ones? if i used them as fog would they do a good job?

i think basically i want to find out which one, the amber fog or clear driveing would be the better lamp to get to use for both driveing and fog.


would the amber fog be better for driveing then the clear driveing for fog?

for my main lights i'm using clear lense/multi faced reflector "projector" replacements running reg 55/60 h4 bulbs and don't plan on buying $40 silverstars, etc.

thanks

Godzilla

this thread should be placed in https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f131/

well, for fogs you have to mount them low to be effective, so near the lowest part of the bumper. also when mounting fogs on a brush guard the placement is important to ensure that they are not recessed which could limit the spread fog pattern. I had a pair of hella yellow 550's mounted low and i thought they did a great job in fog, rain, snow, and during normal nights. good light overall. Check your laws for what you can run. In my area you cannot exceed 4 forward lights on at a time and they must be the appropriate lumens. most factory fogs are 55w H3 bulbs so the hellas would be fine if mounted and aimed properly. but once again check your local laws. you never really have a problem with the fogs as the light is dispersed to the sides and not straight on.

ORS

For fog, rain and snow the yellow will be better than the white. The yellow does not have as much "Glare back" and should penetrate through the conditions better. For just driving around in the woods you would be better off with a white driving or pencil beam.

michalik_piotr

what about putting in a yellow bulb into the driveing pattern lensed housings?

michalik_piotr

and, maybe putting yellow contact paper over the lense too? like the stuff from rockblocker or expell?

CyMoN

I have a old pair of hell 500 and the rectangle hell fogs I like them both but this morning one got tore off when I drove through some brush and I plan on getting some elcheapo fogs to replace them something smaller too.

as for the 500s they are great after I replaced the 55watt bulbs with 100watt ones.

michalik_piotr

wouldn't upping the wattage on the bulb melt wires? you need a diff relay? bigger fuse? tighten your alt belt or rewind your alt for higher wattage?

DaveInDenver

I run a set of Hella 500 fog lamps on my truck. I have them mounted on my ARB on the top of the flat spot, the standard ARB locations. They are white fogs. They have a nice, flat fog beam that is pretty well focused.

I have them aimed about as well as you can do with high mounted fogs, not ideal but worked out OK. Basically, I followed Daniel Stern's aiming procedure except that I focused the two beams so that they are stacked, one lower than the other.

http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/aim/aim.html

Amber would be much better than white, no doubt about that. We don't get a lot of fog here, like you might, but we do get some. I mostly use them for snow, work awesome for that. Anyway, even a white fog will work better than a brighter headlight. But I also use them as a sort of low beam. My headlights are Hella Vision Plus that use the 9003/H4 type bulbs. They have really good focus and so if I want a brighter forward light beam I'll use the high beams on the headlights and the fogs as low beams. This gives me a combination of a longer beam and a fill right in front.

GrillmasterP

The driving lights are basically like using your high beams except they project brighter/further

Elton

i have the driving ones with piaa bulbs they work awesome for being cheap

Brad.

I definetly need to upgrade on the lighting i was thinking about getting some Hella 500's mounted just inside my headlights like many people have and use them as an additional brighter driving light.
And then if possible mount either Hella 450's or 550's with the amber on each side of my license plate for fog and especailly snow storms and stuff.
would this be a good setup for Colorado driving or is there a better solutuion??
should i get 450's or 550's?

Godzilla

I had this setup on my 92. I had a jaos lamp stay and on the top I had the hella 500 drivings. on the bottom of the bar i had the 550 fogs with the yellow lens...a very good setup in my experience.

Brad.

Thanks for the reply.. would you suggest getting a light bar or is it easy enough to mount stuff to the bumper and lower valence??

Godzilla

well you can mount the 500's on your bumper and in sure you could add to the valence (not sure as i sold the 92) but i really like the light bar choice.

Brad.

well i was going to mount the 500's to the top side of the bumber like Elton has done a few posts up there^^

Greg_Canada

Dont get the silverstars, they may look cool, but the blue-ish tinge is terrible when youre actually driving. My new (used) truck has some in it and they hate them. i prefer the standard hella bulbs myself, theyre cheap as the local big-rig store is about 5 bucks a piece, and there are many wattage ratings (100w's look great and i can see without blinding people)
With the silverstars i have to turn on the driving lights on streets to see anything other than blue/glare.

shaeff

i have white hella 550's mounted on the stock brush guard. very low, very wide beam. in wicked heavy fog, rain, snow, i sometimes turn off my headlights because i can't see- and the hella's do an excellent job of lighting my way.

(it's not often that it happens like that, but i just wanted to throw that out there.)

i'll be mounting a set of hella 500 driving lights between my headlights to come on with my high beams- but only for off-road, as i have HID's, and they're PLENTY bright/focused for on-road driving.

-shaeff