Date:         Thu, 25 Sep 2003 13:45:39 -0700
Reply-To:     Mark Tuovinen <mst@AK.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mark Tuovinen <mst@AK.NET>
Subject:      Re: Extra Headlight Question + Driving Lights?
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Driving light are intended to supplement your high beams and work best when mounted on the same plane as the headlights. They are used to expand the width and length of the beam, they are NOT a narrow beam light.

Fog lights provide light close to the ground, underneath the fog, thus eliminating light reflecting back to the driver. They should be mounted at or below bumper height. Their beam pattern is low and flat.

Long range spot lights have a long narrow beam for and are only useful on very long straight stretches, they should not be used for on-highway use as their reach is much farther than you need and will bother oncoming drivers.

You can find examples of all of these by checking with your local vendors or online at the manufacturers websites (maybe). PIAA has a good explanation in their catalog, not sure about their website.

Mark in AK

Again, more good information. I hope you don't mind me sharing this with the
rest of the crowd on the list.

-Phil

-----Original Message-----
From: SStones [sstones@idirect.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2003 7:20 AM
To: Walker, Phil
Subject: Re: Extra Headlight Question + Driving Lights?


At 01:08 AM 9/25/03 -0400, you wrote:
>Offroad truck guys
>have lights mounted all over the place. Has anyone done this?

Yep.  I have a pair of driving lights and a pair of fog lights mounted on
the cross-bar between the upper and lower grilles, behind cut-outs in the
upper grille. They greatly improve my 85's lighting both at night and in
nasty weather.

>Another question: When people refer to driving lights are they talking
about
>the highs, the lows, or something different? I've heard this term but never
>really paid enough attention to the context to understand the meaning.
>Thanks

Driving lights are a narrow-beam light usually used in conjunction with the
headlights (Sometimes wired to automatically come on with the highs) mine
are aimed low enough that I run with them on at night even in traffic.

Fog lights are a wide beam light designed to provide a dimmer amount of
light over a much wider area to both make the vehicle much more visible to
other vehicles and light up the road ahead of the vehicle with a light that
isn't going to refract off of water droplets as sharply as the headlights
do.  Many fog-lights are amber, I much prefer amber foglights as that color
of light won't refract nearly as much as the colors in the bluer end of the
spectrum. Therefore it lights up solid objects around better without making
the fog/rain glow and obstruct your vision.