Fog lamps without fog

DieselFan · 6th March 2009, 22:34

I think we should stop having unnecessary debates/ oneupmanship in this forum. This forum is for sharing knowledge on automobiles and not to just debate for egoistic reasons.

greenhorn · 6th March 2009, 23:13

I don't think the debate was for egoistic reasons at all. I believe both sides felt their POV was justified , and in the end the law proved one of them right.I don't see any other aspect to this discussion

dushmish · 7th March 2009, 14:35

Someone else had also proposed a poll at the begining of the thread and I almost thought the idea to be good. Then I realised that it is not about democracy but it is about lawful and technically correct. I have done so much research on fog lamps in the past few days. Have contacted manufacturers of cars (Honda) to know what exactly a fog lamp does. What is the technical specification and how are the bulbs different. None could give a satisfactory reply.Hadn't checked the law though. I realise it is unlawful, thanks SS and Mathur Saheb ( ever noticed, some surnames have a suffix as saheb while others have ji. And a Mathur always has saheb. Maybe we can have thread on this - which suffix suits which surname. Off topic!). Now that we have agreed it is unlawful to use foglamps sans fog, how can we influence people on roads to stop doing so. Can we start with ourselves?By the way, till I joined TBHP and read a lot of threads, I didn't know there are so many of us who want to follow the rules and be righteous. I somewhere used to think I was the only one waiting silly on a signal for it to turn green. Good to see good people around.

tsk1979 · 7th March 2009, 21:44

I think you are confused between Fog lamps(actual fog lamps), and the small lights in the bumper which manufacturers call fog lamps.
The latter are not really fog lamps, and illuminate maybe 5 meters of road in front of car.
The fog lamps you are talking about are extra after market lights which can be fitted. Hella etc., make these.
Apart from that another type of fog lamps which people use often, and are very irritating are rear fog lamps. People switch them on, and if you are following such a guy, eye watering is guaranteed, because they are so bright!

Surprise · 7th March 2009, 23:22

I have not went into this thread in detail, just going by title iam letting my comment into here

I have observed that mostly its the Swift car owners who always leave their fog lamps on irrespective of whether there is fog or not.

And my guess is that most of the swift owners are learners & they practice with driving with these fog lamps always on & feel bit uncomfortable during nights without these fog lamps.

am I right with these observations?

anupmathur · 8th March 2009, 08:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Surprise

I have observed that mostly its the Swift car owners who always leave their fog lamps on irrespective of whether there is fog or not.

That is a sweeping generalization!
Does not even merit being given some thought!

Surprise · 8th March 2009, 10:48

Have been noticing this for quiet some time, its always the Swift with fog lamps on, during nights that my eye catches

Quote:

Originally Posted by anupmathur

That is a sweeping generalization!
Does not even merit being given some thought!

Thank you, Sir. Let me work on it

ramkris · 9th March 2009, 16:31

I too see a lot of swifts being driven with the fogs on, all the time. Major reason being that the swift oem lights get overpowered by the usual upgraded 100/90 s used by most people now a days and also the design of the light enclosure/reflectors in the swift could also be a culprit.

I drive a M800 5 speed as well as a swift Vdi and the low beam lighting on my M800 is far better than the standard Swift's.

Generally there are 2 factors to be considered when we speak about blinding the drivers coming in the opposite direction.

1. Brightness/Intensity of the light
- When people go for high wattage powerful lights (as seen on the lighting thread), it is obviously blinding compared to the manufacturer recommended 65 watts bulbs. Even when you are on low beams, the intensity of the light obviously is blinding and is a severe hazard.

2. Sources of the light
- Eyes are sensitive to the sources of light as well as the intensity, so even if the light is not focused high enough, the additional sources of the light causes glaring too. In this case, when you have the low beams on, there are 2 sources and with the additional fogs, that will be 4. The reason for the above being, the way eyes work in that, the eyes generally adjust to lighting based on the source of light.

This is the reason, offices go for indirect lighting wherein the source of the light(filament atleast) is not visible. This is more comfortable for the eyes on the longer haul as we are spending atleast 40 hrs a week in offices.

In either of the 2 cases, by blinding the driver ahead we are endangering ourselves also, as he might drive into us too being blinded.

On an additional note, the source of the light is especially more of an issue, when the person ahead has some sort of astigmatism(cylindrical power), when the people might notice haloes/rings of light/shadows from the sources of light
This was the case for me initially when I switched to contact lenses for my eyes, but now has improved a lot. I limited driving to daytime and avoided night driving during that phase to be on the safer side.

So it is always recommended to stick to stock lights and to avoid using fog lights in non fog situations.

Also, if you find more glare in low light situations than you used to, it is vital to test your eyes with an opthamologist at the earliest.

Just my thoughts.

MX6 · 5th January 2012, 12:51

Planning to go for fog lamps for my ikon. hella with those projector stuff. The bumper needs to be cut a bit to fit the lights in with dedicated wiring and relays et al. The person is quoting 5K for the work (original hellas).

Here are my questions.
1. There's no fog in Mumbai. I'm going for this to be used rarely when on ghat sections/ heavy rains/ occasional fog if that happens in the sahyadris. Now how good is fog lamps in heavy rains?
2. Is 5K a good price (all inc) for what the guy states? He says it would be original hellas.
3. How do I find out the Hellas are original?

I've managed driving the last 60,000 kms without any auxilliary lights. However, there's a strong craving now for fog lamps as I like the looks of the ikon with the fog lamps as I saw in some photos! Am sure this is more of a cosmetic change for me as I feel the only use of the lamps would come when I plan my drives to north in winter.

But will the fog lamps make visibility worse in heavy rains as the western ghats are known for some heavy downpour and most of my trips to coastal karnataka and konkan happen during the monsoons. Will the fog lamps help me in such a case? Is 5000 bucks a decent amount to pay for the fog lamps?

6th March 2009, 22:34	#106
DieselFan Senior - BHPian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 1,584 Thanked: 259 Times	I think we should stop having unnecessary debates/ oneupmanship in this forum. This forum is for sharing knowledge on automobiles and not to just debate for egoistic reasons.
	() Thanks

6th March 2009, 23:13	#107
greenhorn Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: KL-01 Posts: 7,745 Thanked: 4,401 Times View My Garage	I don't think the debate was for egoistic reasons at all. I believe both sides felt their POV was justified , and in the end the law proved one of them right.I don't see any other aspect to this discussion Last edited by greenhorn : 6th March 2009 at 23:16.
	() Thanks

7th March 2009, 14:35	#108
dushmish BHPian Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Mumbai Posts: 418 Thanked: 82 Times View My Garage	Someone else had also proposed a poll at the begining of the thread and I almost thought the idea to be good. Then I realised that it is not about democracy but it is about lawful and technically correct. I have done so much research on fog lamps in the past few days. Have contacted manufacturers of cars (Honda) to know what exactly a fog lamp does. What is the technical specification and how are the bulbs different. None could give a satisfactory reply.Hadn't checked the law though. I realise it is unlawful, thanks SS and Mathur Saheb ( ever noticed, some surnames have a suffix as saheb while others have ji. And a Mathur always has saheb. Maybe we can have thread on this - which suffix suits which surname. Off topic!). Now that we have agreed it is unlawful to use foglamps sans fog, how can we influence people on roads to stop doing so. Can we start with ourselves?By the way, till I joined TBHP and read a lot of threads, I didn't know there are so many of us who want to follow the rules and be righteous. I somewhere used to think I was the only one waiting silly on a signal for it to turn green. Good to see good people around.
	() Thanks

7th March 2009, 21:44	#109
tsk1979 Team-BHP Support Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 23,717 Thanked: 22,825 Times View My Garage	I think you are confused between Fog lamps(actual fog lamps), and the small lights in the bumper which manufacturers call fog lamps. The latter are not really fog lamps, and illuminate maybe 5 meters of road in front of car. The fog lamps you are talking about are extra after market lights which can be fitted. Hella etc., make these. Apart from that another type of fog lamps which people use often, and are very irritating are rear fog lamps. People switch them on, and if you are following such a guy, eye watering is guaranteed, because they are so bright!
	() Thanks

7th March 2009, 23:22	#110
Surprise Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Chennai Posts: 2,523 Thanked: 454 Times	I have not went into this thread in detail, just going by title iam letting my comment into here I have observed that mostly its the Swift car owners who always leave their fog lamps on irrespective of whether there is fog or not. And my guess is that most of the swift owners are learners & they practice with driving with these fog lamps always on & feel bit uncomfortable during nights without these fog lamps. am I right with these observations?
	() Thanks

9th March 2009, 16:31	#113
ramkris BHPian Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 122 Thanked: 20 Times	I too see a lot of swifts being driven with the fogs on, all the time. Major reason being that the swift oem lights get overpowered by the usual upgraded 100/90 s used by most people now a days and also the design of the light enclosure/reflectors in the swift could also be a culprit. I drive a M800 5 speed as well as a swift Vdi and the low beam lighting on my M800 is far better than the standard Swift's. Generally there are 2 factors to be considered when we speak about blinding the drivers coming in the opposite direction. 1. Brightness/Intensity of the light - When people go for high wattage powerful lights (as seen on the lighting thread), it is obviously blinding compared to the manufacturer recommended 65 watts bulbs. Even when you are on low beams, the intensity of the light obviously is blinding and is a severe hazard. 2. Sources of the light - Eyes are sensitive to the sources of light as well as the intensity, so even if the light is not focused high enough, the additional sources of the light causes glaring too. In this case, when you have the low beams on, there are 2 sources and with the additional fogs, that will be 4. The reason for the above being, the way eyes work in that, the eyes generally adjust to lighting based on the source of light. This is the reason, offices go for indirect lighting wherein the source of the light(filament atleast) is not visible. This is more comfortable for the eyes on the longer haul as we are spending atleast 40 hrs a week in offices. In either of the 2 cases, by blinding the driver ahead we are endangering ourselves also, as he might drive into us too being blinded. On an additional note, the source of the light is especially more of an issue, when the person ahead has some sort of astigmatism(cylindrical power), when the people might notice haloes/rings of light/shadows from the sources of light This was the case for me initially when I switched to contact lenses for my eyes, but now has improved a lot. I limited driving to daytime and avoided night driving during that phase to be on the safer side. So it is always recommended to stick to stock lights and to avoid using fog lights in non fog situations. Also, if you find more glare in low light situations than you used to, it is vital to test your eyes with an opthamologist at the earliest. Just my thoughts.
	() Thanks

5th January 2012, 12:51	#114
MX6 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: City of seven islands. Posts: 2,877 Thanked: 231 Times	Re: Fog lamps without fog Planning to go for fog lamps for my ikon. hella with those projector stuff. The bumper needs to be cut a bit to fit the lights in with dedicated wiring and relays et al. The person is quoting 5K for the work (original hellas). Here are my questions. 1. There's no fog in Mumbai. I'm going for this to be used rarely when on ghat sections/ heavy rains/ occasional fog if that happens in the sahyadris. Now how good is fog lamps in heavy rains? 2. Is 5K a good price (all inc) for what the guy states? He says it would be original hellas. 3. How do I find out the Hellas are original? I've managed driving the last 60,000 kms without any auxilliary lights. However, there's a strong craving now for fog lamps as I like the looks of the ikon with the fog lamps as I saw in some photos! Am sure this is more of a cosmetic change for me as I feel the only use of the lamps would come when I plan my drives to north in winter. But will the fog lamps make visibility worse in heavy rains as the western ghats are known for some heavy downpour and most of my trips to coastal karnataka and konkan happen during the monsoons. Will the fog lamps help me in such a case? Is 5000 bucks a decent amount to pay for the fog lamps?
	() Thanks