Fog Light Color: Solved?

[Exage03040]

This has raged on forever. Below is a rather impressive test of a few different bulbs across the color spectrum. I like the jig for the longevity tests.

If you don't want to watch the video. Yellow degrades less lux in fog but color bulbs via filter tend to be weaker. A LED light fails the vibration test before one of the halogens.

[Just Jeepin']

Watching, but they don’t measure scatter back the driver, which is a big deal in the fog.

[Just Jeepin']

@just-jeepin said in Fog Light Color: Solved?:

Watching, but they don’t measure scatter back the driver, which is a big deal in the fog.

I suppose the amount lost is a reasonable proxy, though.

[Just Jeepin']

...and they discuss the impact on the driver later, so nm.

[monkeepuzzle]

@exage03040 PUNCH IT CHEWIE

[SamV8]

@just-jeepin said in Fog Light Color: Solved?:

Watching, but they don’t measure scatter back the driver, which is a big deal in the fog.

yellow is the best legal headlight colour for fog/heavy rain as the long wavelengths can pierce through it whereas the shorter wavelength of blue which is more susceptible to scattering/reflecting back at the driver

[Just Jeepin']

@samv8 They tackle that in the video and claim that’s not particularly accurate. I agree yellow is better for fog, but that’s apparently not why.

[Exage03040]

@just-jeepin said in Fog Light Color: Solved?:

They tackle that in the video and claim that’s not particularly accurate. I agree yellow is better for fog, but that’s apparently not why.

I'd say it's better to go warmer for forward projection.

With scattering (both back at the driver and to those involved in the projection) the warmer more yellow causes less eye fatigue. As long as they're not heavily compromised by the filter the output seems decent.

I wouldn't mind seeing some more tests though as you mentioned with scatter, scatter back and how lux drops based on visible ranges.

Also, my front fog lights are basically lane marker lights rather than driving lights and forward projection. It might be better to still run a cooler light as they are low cut-off and short range, so cooler could be brighter and provide better definition?

[Just Jeepin']

@exage03040 clearly the answer is to drive around like this, but every light is a different color and you can control them all individually.

[WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAthenGTInowA4]

I'm of the opinion that foglights should match the color of the headlights.
No exceptions.

[ItalianJobR53]

@wasgtithengtothennovanowbacktogti said in Fog Light Color: Solved?:

I'm of the opinion that foglights should match the color of the headlights.
No exceptions.

WRONG

[WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAthenGTInowA4]

@italianjobr53 Well yes, but no.

[SamV8]

@wasgtithengtothennovanowbacktogti

white headlights for daytime visibility, yellow for better vision in heavy rain/foggy

(I haven't watched that particular video but experienced that yellow is better in those conditions for me)

[WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAthenGTInowA4]

@samv8 I mean, if you're in a race, I guess it would matter, but for every day driving, wouldn't you just slow down to a point where you can safely see where you're going?

I'm no expert, so I could be wrong, but would a light color or warmth really make that much of a difference in that scenerio?

[sn4cktimes]

@samv8 said in Fog Light Color: Solved?:

@just-jeepin said in Fog Light Color: Solved?:

Watching, but they don’t measure scatter back the driver, which is a big deal in the fog.

yellow is the best legal headlight colour for fog/heavy rain as the long wavelengths can pierce through it whereas the shorter wavelength of blue which is more susceptible to scattering/reflecting back at the driver

I know that red on the front would be highly illegal, but I suppose with that logic SHOULD work better than yellow. So if you could go a little less bright yellow and more toward orange-ish that would be as good as one could get?

[ItalianJobR53]

@wasgtithengtothennovanowbacktogti said in Fog Light Color: Solved?:

@italianjobr53 Well yes, but no.

Yes but yes

[SamV8]

@sn4cktimes the tricky bit would be how close to orange could you get before it'd be deemed illegal

[Just Jeepin']

@wasgtithengtothennovanowbacktogti said in Fog Light Color: Solved?:

but for every day driving, wouldn't you just slow down to a point where you can safely see where you're going?

I’ve driven through fog so thick that I had to turn my headlights off to not be blinded. I left my parking lights on and that got me through.

[sn4cktimes]

@samv8 could try and claim them as daytime running lights, or marker lights perhaps...

[RallyDarkstrike]

@Exage03040 We get a lot of fog here in Nova Scotia, and I've got Selective Yellow Sylvania halogen bulbs in my fog lights (normal Philips halogens in my reflector headlights)....they really do make a big difference if I have my lights on low beam and the fogs on in bad fog, I can actually see the beam go 'under' the light from headlights and reach out a little farther.

They work great in snowstorms too...