Amber fog lights vs. white - Pics?

[IllianaXJ]

I understand your want for better lights. My better half has a 96 jimmy. the first time i drove it i couldn't believe how terrible the lights were. What i did for her was get a set of $20 walmart driving lights. they made a huge difference. i mounted them in the grill area. also i have them slightly angled out so she can see the edge of the road better. she uses them on a daily basis and she doesn't get flashed by other drivers. It's an easy cheap solution to those lousy oem lights.

I have a 2000 ZR-2 blazer for wifes DD...
The 1500's fit in the tow hook hole by flipping the hooks over so they angle down slightly and making a little plate sandwiched between hooks and frame to mount lights to.

You guys have any pics? Thanks for the input. Budget is limited, so I may start with some walmart or ebay lights and upgrade from there eventually.

 

[4Rescue]

I belive the white light will refract more causing it to not "cut through" the water particles in the the air that cause fog. Therefore you're seeing reflections in the fog ahead of you that make it impossible to see. The amber light however, cut's through the fog and lights the surfaces and objects in front of the truck better, meaning you see the road and trees not the fog.

They call the white line on the outside of the road the "fog line" for a reason because fog lights and low beam headlights, when aimed corectly, will light it up and show you an outline of the road ahead.

Beam patern will also play a big part in visibility, a long pencil beam will have to be aimed slightly higher and therefore reflect/shine back more making it less effective in the fog. However the lower distance, broader beam patern of the fog lamp will light up more of the road and while it may not reach as far you'll see better because it can be aimed lower than the spot/pencil beam.

that's my understanding, but I'll bet I'm wrong and there are others here who know better

Cheers

Dave

 

[DaveInDenver]

that's my understanding, but I'll bet I'm wrong and there are others here who know better

Nope, you have it about right. True amber and yellow light has less blue and so it scatters less, so it also tends to reflect less. The shorter the wavelength the more something scatters (see 'colloids' in your old physics textbooks). Also our eyes are naturally more sensitive to middle wavelength light, i.e. green and yellow. So the intensity of amber fog lights can be lower than light with more blue for example and still achieve the same apparent brightness. Lowering the intensity of the light also reduces scatter. So between less scatter and less intensity, the focus of the light itself is less critical for seeing. More white (i.e., light with more blue) can work OK as long as the focus doesn't favor reflection. Headlights are designed to put light out more or less evenly, so they will also tend to make fog act more like a mirror. The pattern of a fog light focuses the band of light sharply and so the range of reflected light will also be narrow. A mis-aimed fog could easily put that reflected band of light right in your eyes, though. You could achieve some of the same effect by making your headlights into black-out lights like military vehicles, by putting a mask over the headlights to bound the light into a little box. It won't work as well, but it can help.

 

[IllianaXJ]

Thanks for all the info. I ended up finding a pair of stock TJ fogs for pretty cheap, so I'm going to go with those. I'll be sure to post pics once they're on.