Street legal LED fogs?
 

I'm trying to find some replacements for my factory fog lights and I want to go LED. I want to install them and not have to replace anything down the road. I also want to be able to use them on the street without blinding oncoming traffic. Rigid Industries, Inspired Engineering, and Vision X all seem to be good choices, but my concern is whether they'll be too obnoxious to other drivers. I plan on replacing my headlights with the new KC LED 7" headlights, but I'd still like to be able to supplement these just in case I need a little more light, even though they probably don't need supplementing.

I was concerned before about DOT approval on these lights, but I emailed a rep at Vision X asking if their lights were "DOT approved". They promptly responded, saying that there are no Federal regulations for auxiliary lighting and that state law would regulate auxiliary lighting. Just to be sure, I turned to Google.

Sure enough, the standards set by the Code of Federal Regulations can be found HERE. Just run a search for "auxiliary" to skip through the 100s of pages in this .PDF document. There are no regulations as far as brightness or beam pattern. It mainly just regulates mounting locations and stuff like that.

Here in Texas, the Texas Transportation Code only sets the following standard:

§ 547.305. RESTRICTIONS ON USE OF LIGHTS. (a) A motor
vehicle lamp or illuminating device, other than a headlamp,
spotlamp, auxiliary lamp, turn signal lamp, or emergency vehicle or
school bus warning lamp, that projects a beam with an intensity
brighter than 300 candlepower shall be directed so that no part of
the high-intensity portion of the beam strikes the roadway at a
distance of more than 75 feet from the vehicle.


So with this information, what kind of light would I be better off with as far as aiming the lights downward to keep the high intensity portion within 75 feet? Rigid Spots, floods, driving lights? Vision X 10, 20, or 60 degree light patterns?

Like I said, I just don't want to blind oncoming drivers and/or piss off the cops!

I just got the JW Speaker 6145 LED fog lights and I am very satisfied with them (minus having to ship one back bc it didn't work). Even with one fog light it is still a HUGE difference from the factory fogs, can't wait to have both on. New should come in tomorrow or Saturday.

I just might go that route since they are certified DOT approved which tells me they comply with all that Federal Regulation jargon. I saw a video on YouTube about them and they had a really funky color spectrum to them. It's like the beam was red around the edges or something like that.

Have you noticed any kind of non-uniformity to the beam pattern or beam color?

I swapped my factory fogs with LEDs and they are too bright when there's ACTUAL fog you have to drive through & makes things worse. If you just want them for more visibility in normal conditions, then I'd recommend getting them or trying just a bulb swap like found on eBay, otherwise it's not worth it IMO.

http://bit.ly/U59kjw

We never used to get fog here in D/FW but it's been foggy more and more lately. The weather here is nuts. Might look into some PIAA fogs or something.

I've heard mixed reviews on LEDs in the factory housings, how do you like those ones? What is the color like?

I went with the plug n play LED fogs from inspired-engineering you can see some still shots here (post 289)

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/spon...8/#post3803566

and a night dashcam video here: (post 300)

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/spon...8/#post3805226


.

I got these bulbs too, and a set of Amber ones too for the winter...love them

Check out this item I found on eBay: http://pages.ebay.com/motors/link/?n...d=271006845159

Sent from my obama monitoring device

It was actually your video that put Inspired Engineering on my list! Awesome price with the forum discount! Ugh... decisions, decisions...

So far I haven't noticed anything like that, seem fine to me but like said I only have one in, I will install the new one tomm and try and post pics. I haven't a chance to use it driving through dense fog only because fog hasn't been bad here lately.

Mine are GREAT. From High Beam Lighting on Facebook. They are made specifically for the JK since the twist on the housing just isn't right. http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/03/y4a5etez.jpg

I seen you mentioned the Rigid Spots as a option, heres my take . I have them mounted in a PSC Brawler lite front bumper. They for the most part cannot be adjusted or aimed much . Although they are super bright & i love em ! I get high beamed all the time, so i would rule these off your list :)

I'm also interested in an LED option for the OEM Fog location. I use my fogs in normal street driving so they can't blind oncoming traffic. I'd prefer a yellow/amber LED, and am considering just a bulb swap. I've heard the Truck-Lite fog replacement is a step down in performance over the OEM fog lights, so there's no way I'm spending that kind of money for a downgrade in performance. There are the JW Speakers, but for the price, I don't want to have to deal with flickering. Does anyone make something like the Inspired/Rigid cube fog light replacement kit, just in a full round LED? I just don't like the look of the cube in a round housing, I'd prefer it match the shape of the headlights.

I need that full round!

I have had the Vision X LED fog lights for about 2 years and they are great,

Vision X Fog Light Kit | Jeep Parts and Accessories | Quadratec

I just found those which I believe is a new OEM fog light replacement kit. Anyone have any experience with these?

What lights are those from high beam lights?

Are you running the 10, 20, or 60 degree pattern?

I have a fog/DRL combination and love them!

https://vimeo.com/86832452

Any flicker from can bus using these? Are they brighter than factory?

I'm interested in the same thing as the OP... An LED replacement that is viable for onroad use without causing a problem for other drivers.

Logs of great full replacement options, but most seem so bright they'd likely cause issues.

Anyone had luck with just a bulb replacement?

I replaced my whole light with a pilot 4" round light. Then put in a h3 hid in it. It wasn't hard to do. I used the factory mount.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

+1 on the Pilot PL203W....fits in the factory fog opening and surprisingly bright!

I replaced my oem fog light bulbs with a LED bulb I found on eBay.

Left is LED, right is oem bulb
Attachment 547282


Both LED
Attachment 547286


No headlights - LED in oem fog housing
Attachment 547287


Oem headlights pale in comparison to the LED bulbs
Attachment 547288

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-PSX24W-25...item1c3be99035

I replaced my oem fog light bulbs with a LED bulb I found on eBay. Left is LED, right is oem bulb Attachment 547282 Both LED Attachment 547286 No headlights - LED in oem fog housing Attachment 547287 Oem headlights pale in comparison to the LED bulbs Attachment 547288

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-PSX24W-25...item1c3be99035

I went with the inspired engineering LED fogs in flood configuration. So far no issues, they are bright and almost match the light intensity and color of my JW Speaker headlights. I would however recommend to order in spot confit, because the flood pattern shoots the light really high and wide. If I would order again, I'd go with the spot pattern, but I liked these lights and we're really easy to install with the plugin play harness included

I think it's more how they're aimed. The spots will allow you to aim them more downward and could be used more like standard fog lights. The tighter beamwidth would mean you'd have a bit more control.

The floods would probably be harder to get all the light wrangled in. Would likely work well as a driving light, but would pose more of a challenge than well-aimed spots to other drivers.

After reading about the LED flicker thanks to our CANBUS....do these bulbs flicker and require a capacitor or resistor, or will they be 'plug-n-play'?

It's very likely that any CANBUS equipped Jeep will experience *some* flicker with any LED bulb not wired directly to the battery for power or using some form of capacitor. It may be so little that you don't even perceive it.

I have not noticed any flicker. They are plug and play. I will say that the clip of the wiring harness is solid but the bulb connection to the housing is not what I had hoped for. It seats fine but it does not click 100% onto tab on both sides - only one side. To overcome this I tied it into place using a 4" length of wire. A small zip tie would probably work too - I didn't have any at the time.
Since they only draw 15 watts I don't think the CANBUS has any issues with them. From what I've read anything over 35 watts may cause an issue.

Sent from my iPhone using JK-Forum

Im thinking about getting these
http://m.ebay.com/itm?itemId=131066449057
They fit in the factory housing.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

Inspired engineering just came out with their revolver series round led lights. Comes with a bracket to fit stock location. They have a thread right now if you search inspired engineering revolver

Cutoffs for LED
 

Hey,

I have two spot LED installed in my bumper and get flashed by other drivers all the time to the point that I rarely use them anymore. They are aligned as low as possible and was wondering if anyone has had a solution to this such as a cutoff mount or something similar to what is done in HID fabricated mounts.

Much thanks!
:beer:

Do you know if the lights are flood or spot?

A narrow spot could likely be aimed well enough to work. A flood type LED beam may put too much spread on the light to be used for on-road purposes.

Interesting. At this point I've all but decided against LEDs in the fogs altogether.

I'm all about being able to see better, but not at the expense of another driver's vision.

I wonder if the folks that are having problems are running lifted rigs, or rigs lifted somewhat higher?

What about the PIAA led kit? I run them as my driving lights (Canada) and they can be aimed downwards with the brackets in the kit.

Have u looked at lifetime led they seen to be made like the factory headlight bulb. The led is on the side instead of straightforward like the hid bulb is.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk