Re: the post above - HID are not designed to shine 'blue' per see, the best project clear bright white light which illumintes the best. Some HIDs look blue and that is more of a cosmetic thing, but overall they are not designed to "project blue for better visibility".

The fact that a light is HID won't mean it works any worse in the fog or whatnot, it all depends on how the lamp projects light (narrow or wide dispersal) and the placement (high focus is bad in the fog and reflects on it, why the high beams are not good, and low wide projection works best).

 

I have seen yellow fog lights in the past. I didn't know that anyone made a yellow bulb for factory fogs. And thanks for the tip on the high beem bulbs. I will have to get a set of those to keep the HID look of my low beams!

 

okey dokey I was just out in the garage looking at the lighting setup for the front lights. The lights highlighted in the attachment are the ones I'm talking about. For the turn signal part I plan on getting ones from MossMINI that flash amber but are clear when off. There is a second bulb in this complex (if facing drivers side "complex" it's in the far right corner of it) that is on constantly when you are going down the road, what kind of bulb is this, and where can I find a replacement that is more of the pure white I am looking for? Also how do you replace the front High beams?

Thanks
Mike

BTW I hope Rick Anderson didn't mind me using his car as an example, it was the only good frontal pic in my inventory that I could use.

 

Took at look at this after your post - the manual states that it is a 5 watt bulb and from what I can find online it appears that it is the standard 5 watt 'wedge' bulb used in BMWs interior lights, etc. I can't be sure though since I am unable to remove it from the rear of the lamp and cannot see it clearly through the lens. Unless I find out otherwise I think the best way to access it is by removing the bumper. There are aftermarket 5 wat wedge bulbs (I played around with them in the E46) but I don't think any put out a great amount of light as they are only little 5 watt bulbs, so I do not know how much of an overall difference it will make.

I agree with you though, I would much prefer the 'driving lights' to be brighter and whiter light.

 

yea i just mainly wanted, a whiter light. these bulbs from Moss though I think will make the car look alot neater. Have yet to install my HID Fogs that I got off ebay. They look freakin sick though so I can't wait!

 

Neat subject. Now for the silly question...how did you get the fogs to come on without the headlamps?

 

Run the relay to the parking light circuit rather than the low beam circuit.

 

First click with 'parking lights' on, the fogs will work

By the way, DrDiff - glad to help I'll see if I can take any better photos of the yellow light projected, its kinda hard to capture but it is obvious when you have them on at night

And just fyi ChiliCooperS, I peeked over at Moss and the turn signal bulbs there are the same as the Silvervisions (I had a link to above) and/or the BMW stock silver painted amber light bulbs. The cheapest option is probably the BMW bulbs but I am not sure if they need any modification, I *think* that I heard that the base has an extra little bump on it that needs to be filed down - not sure though. I've had Silvervisions last for years and years before (the set in the MCS is actually off the E46 and had been on there a loooong time and are still going strong) so I can speak for their quality.

The super white fogs are on the way, looking forward to comparing them

 

Oh, and just an on topic rant - it was raining and foggy and overcast yesterday and most people do not have any lights on I was driving along Waldo grade and there are dense patches of fog amist the rain, etc and you can't barely see all the seemingly grey cars as you approach or anything I was very thankful to have all the good lighting that I do have on the front and rear of the car - I knew they could see me at least!

 

Nice write-up! I'm shocked to see how bright my stock lighting is since I've been driving a Jetta and Tahoe!

 

Welp, we finally got around to replacing the Yellow Ions with the SPP Super White bulbs in the fogs. The weather was awful and we didn't drive around with them yet so I can't provide any impressions from the driver's seat, but in looking at the car the bulbs do indeed look brighter and "go" with the xenons

Took some pics of the light projection comparison between the bulbs and you can really tell the difference:

Both Yellow

One Yellow, one OEM

One Yellow, one Super White

Both Super White


So the Supreme Power Parts fog bulbs both clearly put out more light then the stock bulbs which I am very happy about. I love the yellow light that the Yellow Ions project, but cosmetically I prefer how the Super Whites look when looking at the car. After driving with them in the rain and fog I'll let you know how I like them compared with the yellows from that perspective

SPP also says they have the little bulbs to replace the driving lights and I'm considering that too (I hate those dim off color lights) but on the other hand I am inclined to just be rid of those and have those lamps as just turn signals....

 

Photo showing all of the bulbs themselves:

 

EXCELLENT pics

 

now i can make my next purchase!!!!

like i need anymore bulbs tho

 

nice

 

Without coming off as a lighting expert, which I am not...
HID lights really don't "project blue" but the 'temperature' of the light is higher. Higher temperature light is closer to the UV end of the light spectrum and our eyes perceive it blue-tinted. Light color can be expressed in the Kelvin temperature scale. Tungsten lighting [unfiltered] is around 3500K and xenon lighting is close to 5000K [noon daylight is about 5500 K]. I think the reason that [high end] automobiles are going to xenon lamps is due to the higher [wattage to light] efficiency of xenon lamps compared to tungsten, not because of the color.

If the air is clear [low humidity], then high-temperature lighting if fine. If there's fog/haze/particulates in the air, then lower temperature [yellow-ish] light penetrates better because is doesn't get scattered. You want fog lights to penetrate and bounce off something other than what's suspended in the air. However, there is a quantity over quality factor -- 200 watts of blue light will beat a 5 watt yellow bulb...

I guess we ski with what we like, but blue tint is the last thing I would choose for a goggle/sunglass. Perhaps there is confusion about tinting and reflection here -- you can reflect blue light, perhaps with a thin metallic film that gives the goggles/glasses a blue chrome appearance, or filter out [absorb] blue light, with brown/yellow tinting, to give the same visual results to the wearer.

Can we agree that the folks who drive with either sunglasses on or tinted headlight covers are not 'cool'...?

-B

 

http://danielsternlighting.com/tech/...fog_lamps.html

 

Thanks for the link -- a nice concise read. Now I know the correct reason why I prefer yellow fogs. Until reading the link below, I assumed it was due to less scattering, instead of the focusing and visual processing reasons given in the 'selective yellow' link.

However, running against the advice in the article, I have driven a few times where I felt that it would be beneficial to have both high beams and fogs on. Driving thru deer country on clear nights, it's nice to have a much light hitting the side of road as you can get.
And I've also driven [painfully slow] in heavy snows where the only way to safely see was to drive with [only] the parking lights on...
-B

 

good link, should be standard drivers ed matterial for new drivers.

 

Thanks for the compliments

Just ordered the wedge bulbs - update to follow :D

 

What would Daniel Stern think of this lighting (brightest Xenon ever )

http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/...ad.php?t=92396

 

that sheit is bright!! ......i thought it wuz one of those "star wars" wand i saw at the book store for a sec.
gotta post another pic.

 

 

And I thought my 10 million candlepower h4 powered floodlight was crazy

 

dave, can ya fix the links on post #1?

tx!