5 Must-Have Features in a halogen fog lamp

Driving in foggy, rainy, or snowy conditions can be challenging and even hazardous without the right lighting. Fog lights are essential for enhancing visibility during adverse weather, helping drivers stay safe on the road. In , advancements in technology have brought energy-efficient and high-performing fog light options to the market. But with so many choices, how do you select the best fog light bulbs for your car? This comprehensive fog light buying guide will walk you through everything you need to know. 

Carri contains other products and information you need, so please check it out.

Why Fog Lights Are Essential

Fog lights are designed to provide better illumination close to the ground, cutting through fog, mist, and snow without reflecting light back into your eyes. Unlike standard headlights, fog lights offer a wide, low beam pattern to enhance visibility in poor weather conditions. Investing in high-quality fog light bulbs can make a significant difference in your driving experience, offering safety and peace of mind. 

Types of Fog Light Bulbs

When it comes to fog light upgrades in , you’ll find several types of bulbs available. Let’s take a closer look at the options: 

1. LED Fog Light Bulbs

LED fog lights for cars are the top choice in due to their energy efficiency, long lifespan, and superior brightness. They consume less power compared to traditional halogen bulbs while providing better illumination. Many LED fog lights also offer customizable colors and beam patterns, making them versatile for different driving conditions. 

2. Halogen Fog Light Bulbs

Halogen bulbs are a budget-friendly option, widely available and easy to replace. While they’re less energy-efficient than LED bulbs, they provide sufficient illumination for occasional use. However, their shorter lifespan and lower brightness levels may make them less appealing to some drivers. 

3. HID (High-Intensity Discharge) Fog Light Bulbs

HID bulbs use xenon gas to produce intense, bright light. They’re a step up from halogen bulbs in terms of brightness and longevity but may not be as energy efficient as LED options. HID fog lights are suitable for drivers seeking enhanced performance without switching to LEDs. 

Key Features to Consider When Buying Fog Light Bulbs

To choose the best fog light bulbs for your car, consider these essential features: 

1. Brightness and Beam Pattern

Look for fog lights with a wide and focused beam pattern that illuminates the road without causing glare. LED fog light bulbs are known for their superior brightness, making them ideal for driving in heavy fog or snow. 

2. Color Temperature

Measured in Kelvin (K), color temperature affects visibility in different conditions. For fog lights, a temperature range of K to K is ideal, as it offers better contrast in foggy or rainy weather. 

3. Energy Efficiency

Energy-efficient fog lights, such as LED or laser bulbs, consume less power while providing excellent illumination. This is especially important for electric and hybrid vehicles. 

4. Durability and Lifespan

5. Compatibility

6. Ease of Installation

Fog Light Comparison: LED vs. Halogen vs. HID

Feature 

LED Fog Lights 

Halogen Fog Lights 

HID Fog Lights 

Brightness 

High 

Moderate 

Very High 

Energy Efficiency 

Excellent 

Poor 

Moderate 

Lifespan 

Up to 50,000 hours 

Around 2,000 hours 

3,000-5,000 hours 

Cost 

Moderate to High 

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Low 

High 

Installation 

Easy 

Easy 

Requires Ballast 

If you’re looking for the perfect combination of brightness, efficiency, and longevity, LED fog lights for cars are the clear winner. 

Benefits of LED Fog Lights for Cars in

LED fog light bulbs are the go-to choice for many drivers in due to their numerous benefits: 

1. Superior Brightness: LEDs provide better visibility in low-light and foggy conditions. 

2. Energy Efficiency: They consume less power, reducing strain on your car’s battery.

3. Long Lifespan: Most LED bulbs last up to 50,000 hours, minimizing the need for replacements. 

4. Durability: LED lights are resistant to vibrations and harsh weather, making them ideal for all driving conditions. 

5. Customizable Options: Many LED fog lights come with adjustable beam patterns and color temperatures.

Fog Light Upgrades in : What’s New?

Technology continues to evolve, bringing exciting innovations to fog light designs. Here are some trends for fog light upgrades in : 

1. Smart Fog Lights: Integration with smart car systems allows for adaptive lighting, automatically adjusting beam patterns based on weather and road conditions.

2. Laser Technology: Laser fog lights offer unparalleled brightness and efficiency, setting a new standard for performance. 

3. Eco-Friendly Options: Manufacturers are focusing on sustainable materials and energy-efficient designs to reduce environmental impact. 

4. Improved Durability: Advanced materials and coatings make fog lights more resistant to wear and tear. 

How to Install Fog Light Bulbs

Installing fog light bulbs can be a simple process if you follow these steps: 

1. Check Compatibility: Ensure the new bulbs are compatible with your vehicle. 

2. Gather Tools: You may need a screwdriver, gloves, and a socket wrench.

3. Access the Fog Light Housing: Refer to your car’s manual to locate the fog light assembly. 

4. Remove the Old Bulb: Carefully disconnect the old bulb from its connector. 

5. Install the New Bulb: Insert the new bulb, ensuring it’s securely in place. 

6. Test the Lights: Turn on your fog lights to verify proper installation. 

For complex installations, consider seeking professional assistance.  

Final Thoughts

Choosing the best fog light bulbs in doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By understanding the types of fog lights, key features, and top brands, you can make an informed decision that suits your driving needs and budget. Whether you opt for energy-efficient LED fog light bulbs, high-performing laser options, or budget-friendly halogen bulbs, upgrading your fog lights is a step toward safer and more enjoyable driving. 

Remember, the best fog light bulbs are those that provide optimal visibility, durability, and compatibility with your vehicle. So, take the time to research and invest in quality products that will keep you safe on the road, no matter the weather conditions. 

Upgrade your visibility with Underground Lighting!

Discover the best fog light bulbs of and elevate your driving experience with Underground Lighting’s premium selection ofLED Fog Light Bulbs. If you're looking for LED fog lights for cars, we've got you covered. Compare options, explore energy-efficient fog lights, and invest in fog light upgrades for superior performance. Don’t let fog slow you down—shop now from Underground Lighting and drive safer today! 

For more universal fog lamp for carinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.

For those that have not read my headlight thread the build goal is the same, but relates to fog lights instead: Drastically increase the light output from the stock lights without sacrificing quality, durability or the OEM lighting optics.

NOTE: THIS THREAD HAS BEEN DEPRECATED
For street use with higher intensity output and better glare control see the SAE fog thread: SAE J583 Fog Pod and Fog Light Review.
Many excellent LED fogs now exist. When this thread was created LED fog options were minimal and poor performing, that is no longer the case.

Version 1.0
The recipe is the same. Turn up the power up to 11, drop the resistance to increase effective voltage to the bulb resulting in greater light output and use superior quality halogen bulbs and components, while maintaining stock beam cut offs and fullness of the beam pattern.

This upgrade results in a measured 2x improvement over stock.

Ultimate left, stock right (with headlights disabled, fogs only. Additional output pics later in post)


Compare to the leading Morimoto XB LED Tacoma fog conversion. Output is advertised as lumens, but if you read it closely you will see it is raw lumens a side, or about 600-700 actual lumens per side. This upgrade results in a 100% improvement over stock, or + lumens per side, + lumens combined.

Projection angle
A major difference between OEM H11 fogs and aftermarket fogs is that the OEM H11 fogs are 'wide angle' meaning they project at a measured side angle of 75 degrees, whereas aftermarket fogs are typically around 45 degrees. The wide angle ones then give much more side area coverage,

The Details:
The H11 55w bulb used in the Tacoma - fogs is a less than ideal bulb option, terrible for aftermarket support compared to the H4. So finding quality high output alternatives was challenging.

Bulbs:
Many people will say to just use an H9 bulb for the fog. However the H9 is a high beam bulb with no end caps or low beam shields and will emit glare as it is not designed to have a controlled beam pattern like a fog or low beam. I will also not use coated bulbs to 'appear white' for cosmetics at the cost of performance or quality.

Looking for the highest output non-coated quality H11 bulbs led me down one path by process of elimination, German made Flösser 90w H11s. These looked to outperform every other H11 bulb on the market, with only one catch. They are not imported into the USA. However, our capitalistic friends at eBay have some vendors that gladly bring these German bulbs into the USA, making them available to us when no-one else does.

Stock left, Ultimate right






The harness:
Searching everywhere I could also not find a robust H11 harness sufficient to what I wanted to run on my truck. On my truck quality is indisputable king. I contacted my friends at Rallylights and they also had no such harness available. When pressed to source the parts for the harness I wanted to build to my specs, they checked with their suppliers but could not get the H11 male connectors from their supplier for a complete plug and play solution. Only wanting a complete plug and play option, I drop shipped a handful of H11 male connectors to Rallylights and contracted them to build the ultimate 12 gauge Hella foglight harness as a complete custom order. What I received in return was the best, made in the USA, H11 harness money could buy. Robust 12 gauge wiring to minimize voltage drop and increase light output, Hella relay, ceramic connectors. I did drop ship several extra male H11 connectors to Rallylights, so for the first few custom H11 harness orders to rallylights from TW, I've got the connectors covered for you. Later orders will have to provide their own.



Since my headlight harness ran across the upper core support rail, I ran the fog harness down along the lower impact frame rail, using zip ties to hold it in place. Entire install took about an hour.


Testing Output:
Wanting quantitative data for light output increase, I invested in a lux meter to measure light output. For the actual measured light output between bulbs:
Stock fog lux: 237
Ultimate fog lux: 475. 2x improvement over stock.
The LEDs do not even come close, not to mention the 'whiter' light is a less than ideal color temp for fog use.

Stock lux reading 237 using a ~12" paint stir stick as a standard distance for measurement:


Ultimate lux reading 475 using a ~12" paint stir stick as a standard distance for measurement:


Heat:
Heat is always a concern in the high powered halogen game. I tested the output side by side after idling for 15 minutes to ensure max temp, with an IR heat gun:
Stock: 185 degrees
Ultimate: 239 degrees
Ambient temp: 75 degrees.
For reference: Polycarbonate softening point (fog lens): 293 degrees

Yes I am pushing the envelope but I do not anticipate using my fogs when it is over 105 degrees where softening point could start to become an issue. Especially when factoring moving to have a cooling airflow over the lens.

Stock:


Ultimate:


I also researched other aftermarket fog housings like the Spyder projector fogs. Beam pattern and quality never seemed equivalent to OEM and resulted in poorer lighting performance, and seals failing resulting in water inside in the lens, meaning it is an inferior product.

I will report long term durability back to this thread as I have not used these bulbs before (as I had my headlight upgrade).

If you want to repeat this mod:
Contact Ray at Rallylights by using the contact form: http://www.rallylights.com/contacts
Select "Electrical" in the drop down and mention you want the Tacoma H11 Fog harness. If you are one of the first few that get my connectors, it should come out to about $69 shipped.
Update:
Or call Rally Lights at (610)944- ask for Ray and tell him you would like the HL282H11 Wire harness.
Update: Ray has since retired, but the harness is still available through Ralleylights.

Relay upgrade - Update 11/25/18
The Rallylights harness uses German brand Hella relays made in China. I'm always skeptical of made in China part quality and do my best to avoid those parts. @Norton had his Hella relay fail after a couple years and did some leg work to find a high quality alternative. You can see his post with photos here.

The recommended replacement is the Bosch Relay, made in Portugal.





Image above is from Nortons post. For the $7 it is a worthwhile preemptive upgrade IMO. I've purchase one to replace my working Chinese Hella relay. It is worth noting that Headlight Services, who builds headlight harnesses used in the headlight upgrade thread strives to use only the highest quality components, and they use the same European made Bosch relays.

Why not LED retrofit:
LEDs and HIDs in halogen reflector fog threads have become a popular mod. This results in glare everywhere and is dangerous to oncoming drivers. If you are unfamiliar with why this is a bad practice, read this thread to see why, and how a halogen upgrade compares to an LED one:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/why-leds-should-not-be-run-in-halogen-reflectors./

If wanting to do an LED conversion the entire assembly needs to be replaced with one designed for an LED light source, see this thread for nearly all available options:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/the-led-sae-j583-fog-pod-fog-light-review./



Output of headlight upgrade + foglight upgrade:
The problem with wall pics is that the light output always seems to wash out the camera, using an iPhone 6s, which is supposed to take billboard quality photos. Keep in mind I am running my headlight upgrade as well.

The ultimate headlight upgrade plus the ultimate foglight upgrade, pushing near lumens in combined output. Note the full saturation of the beam pattern:


When I mentioned that the output is not as useful as the headlight upgrade, it is because the significant benefits seem to be in the peripheral illumination. But I am also running significantly more powerful headlights than stock.

45 degrees out the driver side, Ultimate headlight upgrade only:


45 degrees out the driver side, Ultimate headlight upgrade plus ultimate foglight upgrade:


Update with some more output pics on dark roads:




Other bulbs
GE H11 Megalight +130 is by far the best performing stock wattage H11 bulb I have tested. See this post. They even outperform H9s in the 3rd gen headlight assembly. I still need to test these in the fog assembly, they may replace Volsa H9s as the recommended bulb.

I'm often asked for bulb recommendations for "whiter" high power bulbs. I recommend non-coated bulbs, but for those looking for a whiter bulb there is Optilux 80w H11. Not Recommended. See my experience with Optilux.

Nokya also makes a 75w H11 k 'stage 2' bulb.

3rd Gen Headlight Note:
This H11 foglight upgrade also works for 3rd Gen H11 low beam headlights. You can see 3rd gens results posted later in this thread, here and here. Also see the dedicated spin off 3rd Gen headlight thread.
Update: While this was used in the past for 3rd Gen headlight upgrades, see the newer 3rd Gen headlight thread.

Version 2.0 - Subaru Fogs
I am working on a major update to this mod to make it better in hopefully almost every measurable way. I should have published results and thread updates in mid-late Feb . You can see info and testing with updates starting in post #378 here.
Ultimately after further testing, while providing significantly better glare control I was not happy with the pattern of the Subaru solution and have moved to SAE options covered here: SAE J583 Fog Pod and Fog Light Review.

Other lighting upgrades
If you found this interesting you may be interested in my other lighting threads.

Fog light upgrades:
The LED SAE J583 Fog Pod & Fog Light Review
The H10 to HIR Foglight upgrade (better than LED)

Other lighting upgrades:
3rd Gen HID vs LED vs Halogen H11 projector headlights
The ultimate headlight upgrade H4 (not LED or HID)
Gy6.35 HIR 921 reverse light upgrade (vs high power LEDs)
The 921 LED Reverse Light Bulb Study

Rock Lights:
The Rock Light Showdown

More information on automotive lighting:
Automotive Lighting 101
Why LEDs should not be run in Halogen reflectors

Home lighting upgrades:
High quality efficient home lighting using LEDs, HIRs and Halogens

I am always happy to help anyone on their truck project. Please do not hesitate to PM me with your questions or post them here.