I also live in Pasadena and run my fogs. There's lots of critters running around the residential street and plenty of potholes/shredded tires/ect and the occasional steel beam laying on the highway on my commute which the fogs help to light up at night.

 

As I said, we're going to have to agree to disagree. I'm more light sensitive than normal, and I've never had any problem with properly aimed fog lights. They don't bother me at all. Low beams cause far more burn-in to my retinas.

 

no worries koitus. One person's pet peeve is something that doesn't even register with another person. Was just trying to expand a bit on my statement for albedoa.

All this did make me try to figure out what angle the fogs are aimed at. On my stock 08 MCS, the middle of the fogs are about 14.5 inches from the ground. If they are aimed 40 feet out, I think that yields an angle of only about 1.7 degrees down from horizontal. I'm not sure how to figure out whether the human eye could distinguish that from absolute horizontal.

 

This thread went from useful to a waste pretty quick. At least it was kept civil.

I want my fogs on all the time. Because I want to shine them in your face and because it makes me feel more like a man.....and because it stops my dog from barking. Whatever the reason is I want my fogs always on.

Can this autosport thing be modified to work with the fogs?

Thanks!
-Gene

 

FES is working on somethign to make this happen you will just have to wiat and see what they come up with.

 

Light pattern / focus / dispersion has a lot to do with it, as well.

There's a BIG difference between aiming laser at your eye, vs. at your chin.

When it's aimed at your chin, would you say it is "aimed at" your eye?

While you can "see" the light coming out of the laser, the intensity of what you're seeing (reflections from the orifice of the laser unit, scatter of light from dust in the air, etc.) is a tiny fraction of the intensity at the point of aim.

Foglights are very similar. Certainly not as tightly concentrated as a laser... but the beams are very directional by design. If they weren't, they'd make visibility worse instead of better in the fog. They're not just "regular" lights with "regular" dispersion characteristics that happen to be aimed lower - at least "real" fog lights aren't. They are BOTH aimed low, and directional.

This is why I'm so surprised that this bugs you. Properly setup fogs should be MUCH less "dazzling" to oncoming motorists than the low beams are. So much less, that they should look like bright running/parking lights from the point of view of another driver.

That said... I see plenty of cars running around with aftermarket lights that are either NOT real fog lights or are NOT aimed properly, or both.

 

Love that signature pic Koitus! I drive in Pasadena sometimes and know what you are talking about. I have non projector headlights on my 09 JCW and the low beams project in a narrow band much like fog lights. They are mounted higher and are aimed further out. Because of the band effect the near field is pretty dark on our cars. It sends you reaching for your fogs to fill that gap in when the streetlights go away (a la Pasadena). This is illustrated in my gallery. So in our application (gen II) the fogs shine below the headlights. "Always on" does make sense for this application. If you have ever owned a BMW E36 before (basically 2 Mag-lights on narrow for low beams) that is another prime example where this is needed. My .02

 

Anyone get anywhere with this? I want my fog lights on all the time like my headlights. FYI......I already have a FES Auto Sportplus.

Hoopty

 

Just emailed Matt again to follow up. I'll post what I find out.

 

Perhaps rethink your approach.
I have those problems with the pesky critters myself.
Mostly deer and white pickup trucks.
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/c...Picture008.jpg

Those are hellas with a fog beam not the driving beam.
It's also the frosted glass not the clear glass.
I use them as DRLs primarily (thus the reference to the ubiquitous
white work truck zooming no looking on the phone) and have
cut my close calls by 90% (I actually did experiments over
6 months). But they also double as country lights (for lack of
a better description) they project out much less the distance forward
as my low beams, but illuminate the sides of the car by at least
30+ feet. Saved me from deer perched ready to jump out more than
once. And I did experiments on this too, when I saw them I
jumped on the brakes and turned the DRLs off. Could not see them
even though I was twice as close. Basically the light up the woods
when I'm driving. It's very handy. Although it would be easy to
over drive them I would say more than 50-60 would do that.

I tried many a combination with those factory foglights to get a similar
result and determined the following: they are for fog/rain/snow only.

Hope this helps some.

 

I have an override switch as I do for everything but as you can
see they come on when no other lights are on (come on with key
but has an override to turn off when I want them off), which is very handy as well. Particuarly when used as DRLs.

 

I am very sensitive to the fogs on as well but thankfully Germany has it in the law that fog lights are not to be used unless viability is less than 50 meters on the roadway. I am polite to other drivers and a quick toggle of the fog lights to the on coming driver usually works for the German drivers but most of the Americans trying to be cool will flash their high beams back at me, this is when they spend the rest of the encounter enjoying my BiXenons in high beam mode. The problem with the fog lights on wet or cobble stone roads is that they reflect as if there are 4 lights aimed at you which is quite annoying as well as blinding for my wife with problems in the dark as it is..