Lamin-x yellow on Hella 500s

[Superu]

Just completed a simple winter lighting mod that has proven very effective on the Suburban.

I run a pair of Hella 500s with clear covers on the push bar as auxiliary high beams most of the year. What I find challenging is getting proper light for the snowy conditions we get up here in VT.

Solution step 1: applied Lamin-x yellow films to the clear covers on the Hellas and adjusted the aim to move down and out a bit. I may flip the mount to hang them below the center of the push bar to get them a bit lower.

Solution step 2: replaced high beam bulbs with 65w yellows.

As luck would have it, I had a chance to drive through a snow squall the day after the mod and was very pleased with the results. Light reflection off the snow was dramatically reduced, long range visibility was still very good and overall this works much better than I expected!

Essentially, this is a relatively low cost, reversible mod that addresses the specific lighting needs of this driver. It may not be the best for everyone, but it works for me so I thought I'd share it.

Will get some pics up soon.

 

[Hilldweller]

It's always fun to play with lights.
Careful though; it's additive.

I did a yellow tint job on my offroad HID lights a few years ago using a trick from Dan Stern's website. Worked great to reduce some glare in nasty weather.
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/lights/light_color/light_color.html

If you really want to learn more about automotive lighting, take a look around in this forum. It's the best place I know to study the subject outside of a university or auto plant.

 

[SSF556]

I may be doing the yellow paint trick on my Bosch 100 compact fogs over Christmas.....just to do it....

 

[Allof75]

I put on yellow Lamin-X covers over my factory fogs, primarily for looks, but I'm pleased with the performance. Allows me some excellent visibility in rain, sandstorms etc, while visually breaking up the light pattern of my Rigid Duallys and factory 'boosted' headlights.

 

[Co-opski]

I put on yellow Lamin-X covers over my factory fogs, primarily for looks, but I'm pleased with the performance. Allows me some excellent visibility in rain, sandstorms etc, while visually breaking up the light pattern of my Rigid Duallys and factory 'boosted' headlights.

On your rig it looks very factory like the Qx4s that is a good thing in my book.

 

[BuffaloFunk]

Can I ask what the deal is with yellow lights and snow/fog? I've heard people in the past it has to do with the longer wavelength of yellow being able to "cut" better through snow/fog. I have a hard time believing that due to the huge difference in order of magnitude of the light wavelength and snow flake size and even fog particle size. Also, most yellow lights (most, not all) are simply covers over what is considered "white" light. By doing that, you are just decreasing your light output.

Is there something I'm missing with the yellow?

 

[Lajning]

A very short wiki-article about the subject, but it explains the basics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_yellow

 

[Hilldweller]

Can I ask what the deal is with yellow lights and snow/fog? I've heard people in the past it has to do with the longer wavelength of yellow being able to "cut" better through snow/fog. I have a hard time believing that due to the huge difference in order of magnitude of the light wavelength and snow flake size and even fog particle size. Also, most yellow lights (most, not all) are simply covers over what is considered "white" light. By doing that, you are just decreasing your light output.

Is there something I'm missing with the yellow?

Selective yellow can help reduce perceived glare which can help acuity.
Using a filter will always reduce the total amount of light being produced though ---- and tests have shown that even clear Lamin-x type products reduce light by 15-20%... ...so the yellow will be more.
Using the spray-tint method works better but still reduces light output. So you have to really like the yellow to want to do it.

I'm sensitive to glare; I like yellow.

BTW, there aren't any good yellow bulbs. Some are better than others but none of them compare to a good tinted lens and a good white bulb behind it.

Read this.

 

[BuffaloFunk]

Read this.

Two of the studies quoted in that read concentrated on the glaring for other drivers, not the driver of the car with the yellow lamps. I'm no scientists, but I would say that the glare perceived from a source pointing at you is wildly different than a reflected source. I would also question the ability for one of the studies to make any claims based off of just two subjects.

One of the studies concentrated on the driver of the car with the yellow/blue/white/whatever lamps. That one found "yellow-filtered headlamps do not differ enough from conventional halogen headlamps for this effect to be significant in practical situations". It does go on to say that it is possible it could be a different story when it comes to on-coming headlamps and the glare resulting from that.

So if anything, it seems that selective yellow helps other drivers.

 

[Hilldweller]

...

So if anything, it seems that selective yellow helps other drivers.

Mostly.

Like I said, I'm very glare sensitive and the bounce-back from over-amped retinaburners kills me. As do the light-shaped toys that people are running (illegally) these days.
I don't have any yellow lenses right now but I tinted and ran yellow HIDs on my Jeep for a year or so. Softened it enough that it didn't hurt my brain.

I don't know if any really comprehensive tests have been done in blizzard-like conditions but I can tell you from a completely SUBJECTIVE point of view that yellow light is great in snow.
Best advice though, aim it low and drive slow when the weather is rotten.

 

[Cabrito]

I think I did something similar to the OP.

On my FJ I have Hella 500's with clear plastic covers that are removable. I found some Yellow self adheisive covers to put on them. These items were all found on Amaz@n. I put the skinz that would normally go onto the light on the clear covers.


http://www.amazon.com/Hella-500-Series-Clear-Cover/dp/B000GKAZMM
http://www.amazon.com/HELLA-H879884...Laminate/dp/B002MFXQIE/ref=pd_sim_sbs_auto_12

I can go white or Yellow whenever I want.

 

[amaes]

Something you can use thats cheap and easy to tint lights is Stained glass spray paint. You can buy it at the craft store for about $10. I think I have done around 6 lights and still had spray left. Here are my lights and this after 2 years in the sun everyday.

 

[jeffjeeptj]

When i snow skied during the day i used dark lenses. After dark, i used yellow lensed goggles. Made a big difference especially the snow making machines were on. Also, notice headlight colors on cars in France. Yellow

 

[762X39]

I run a pair of yellow "Fog" lights on my Mog. During blowing snow, I have found that turning off the headlights is an absolute must or I can't see a damn thing. The yellow "Fogs" cut glare by an order of magnitude.I am also a shooter with a set of Raybans that have my prescription and yellow lenses.At night in almost any conditions, I see better. Works for me.

 

[ert01]

Last winter I decided to do a test and see if there was any truth to the yellow light hype.

I bought and carried two sets of bulbs for my Hella 500`s. One set was 100W white and one set was 100W yellow. I was out in the bush one evening getting firewood and it started to snow quite heavily. Perfect chance to test these bulbs out. I drove for a few miles using the white bulbs, then pulled over and switched them out for the yellows...

I was astounded at the difference it made. I truly didnt think that I would notice anything other than dimmer light, but I felt I could see a LOT better.

With the white bulbs in, I really seemed blinded by the light hitting the snowflakes. It seemed to obscure the road and all I could see is snow. With the yellow bulbs in, The snow was much less noticeable and allowed me to concentrate on the road better. Or so I felt. It`s not a scientific test by any standards, but it was enough to convince me to keep em yellow.



I was using low beams on my jeeps headlights during both tests. No HID`s or anything fancy. Standard H4 bulbs. Hella 500s were mounted at the same height as the headlights. Driving pattern lense. Not spot lights.