Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 10:52:43 -0800
Reply-To: Mark Sheflo <skjeflo@ATTBI.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Mark Sheflo <skjeflo@ATTBI.COM>
Subject: Re: WARNING: SOUTH AFRICAN QUAD LIGHT GRILLES INCITE ROAD RAGE...
In-Reply-To: <1ab.c8bc921.2b13a254@aol.com>
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Chris,
Sorry but this is just wrong....
Most of the under bumper lights you see are FOG lights being used
incorrectly as additional headlights. True driving lights are meant to be
an addition to the high beam system, throwing light further down the road
than even the high beams.
Location is only a part of the issue. Anyone remember the first generation
Pontiac 6000? Had the factory FOG lights mounted inboard of the high beam
lights. People driving them with the FOG lights on all the time complained
that others were constantly flashing them as they thought the high beams
were on as well. This supports your idea very well. But the police never
bothered them because they were legal for use. If a driving light was used
in the same location it would be illegal to have them on with the low beams.
With the current designs of auxiliary lighting the lens design can not be
used to judge what the lights intended use is. Most of the small add-on
lights are of a projector design, meaning all of the dispersion and light
control is done by the reflector and bulb design, not the clear lens. In
this case a driving light would look just like fog light at a casual glance,
and maybe even a closer look unless one knew exactly what they were looking
for.
FOG lights.....for use with the low beam lights in the fog.
DRIVING LIGHTS......for additional light when the high beams are in use.
Mark
82 Westy
-----Original Message-----
no - theyre driving lights. the high beams are the stock outer 7" round
high
beam. the inner lights are just driving lights. seems most listers have
them
wired so they come on w/ their high beams - , but how often do you use your
high beams? do whats really the point of this grille then? to look cool?
(like i've never bought anything to look cool :<) Anyway, driving lights
should be able to be used all the time. the Jetts/golf GLX/GTI's have
"under
the bumper" driving lights that you can run all the time...and nobody has a
problem w/ them.. its the location of the inner SA driving lights next to
the
stock headlights in the grille that makes people think theyre high beams.
the difference between a fog" light and a "driving" light is the lens.
foglights have a fluted lens to displace light to the sides of the road and
directly in front of you, driving lights have a clear lens and project light
in a beam down the road in front of you like headlights. the jettas/golfs
have DRIVING lights. people have a problem with it because of the
psychological aspect of it because of their location directly horizontal in
line w/ the headlights. when i flip the high beams on with the SA driving
lights on there is SIGNIFICANTLY more light than running the SA driving
lights on w/ the low beams on. so its not the light output that pisses
people
off, its the location of the light source.. like i said before, if these
SAME SA driving lights were located below the bumper, then nobody would have
a problem at all running them with the low beams on.
Purely psychological. people are trained that 2 light on at the same time
horizontally inline w/ eachother are high beams...wheather the wattage of
the
inner lights is 10 or 100. they aren't getting pissed because of the
wattage
output, they are getting pissed because the location. 4 lights in a row
means
high beams to most people.
chris Freud, Phd Psch. :<)
