LED Light pods in the fog lights? Thoughts, Opinions?

[Colibri]

^^^^i second this! I've had ridgid, visionX, and baja designs. There is no comparison. They all make great lights but BD is a whole other level. Their lights are user serviceable with the ability to change beam pattern and are hands down brighter and better built. I have a 50" ridgid e series I bought a few years ago and my 30" BD onx6 throws more light has a better beam pattern and spread and outclasses it in every way. Also replaced a ridgid 20" e series on my wrangler with a pair of squadrons that blew it away.

[OffroadTreks]

Well, watch for my build thread. I'll update it when I finish the lighting upgrade project.

[Reloaderguy]

I went cheap on my cubes. I am going to change bumpers next year and the cubes may no longer fit. When I do the bumper I will buy high quality fogs. With that said, even cheap cubes are a huge improvement over the OE fogs.

[stamm20]

Looks good!!!! has anyone swapped out the 3rd gen fog lights for leds on the stock bumper?

[OffroadTreks]

I went cheap on my cubes. I am going to change bumpers next year and the cubes may no longer fit. When I do the bumper I will buy high quality fogs. With that said, even cheap cubes are a huge improvement over the OE fogs.

I'm curious to know the real difference between these products. I have been researching specs trying to figure it out.

And I'm considering buying a set of dually's and a set of Auxbeam which are $18 bucks on Amazon and comparing.

When upgrading the lights on my Airstream to LED, I found folks spending $14 per puck. But I did a bunch of research and discovered the G2 puck disks that were $14 each came from the same supplier in China and could be had on ebay for a 20 pack for like $30. LED's themselves are all made in China.

So the real difference is going to be the electronics boards, build material and assembly.

I know the Baja designs are user serviceable. So that's a plus for theirs, but none of these products seem to be American-made, they're outsourcing their manufacturing.

So again, the build has to be superior. And the thing about American companies outsourcing their stuff in China, is invariably the Chinese steal and resell the designs, sometimes with the same materials, sometimes cheaper, at reduced cost.

Which sometimes can be a boost for the consumer. What I learned about the RV led lighting was that the American resellers were making about $7 dollars per LED they sold. While the Chinese ebay'ers were making around a dollar per LED.

[Reloaderguy]

The actual diode is the same. Everything else is where you're spending your money. From the housing to the screws to the circuit boards will be better. RV LED bulbs are no different; I've seen hand soldered RV LED bulbs.

[OffroadTreks]

Well, guess I'll find out here shortly. Starting this project.

[04Ram2500Hemi]

Well, guess I'll find out here shortly. Starting this project.

This looks interesting!

[TruckBoatTruck]

Well, guess I'll find out here shortly. Starting this project.

I have been pondering over this install also. for sure gonna be following your build. Thats going to throw some serious light.

[Will]

LEDs get dimmer with age. Just about any "new" one will be brighter than one that's a few years old, even the exact same light...

[Colibri]

True that, they "burn in" so to speak. They do plateau pretty quickly and stay around the same output for quite some time though if it's a quality product.

Also not every manufacturer uses the same LEDs in wattage or color temperature, ridgid favors smaller wattage and more bulbs with relatively whiter light and drives them at less than their rated output to keep heat in check and BD runs fewer higher wattage chips with a closer to daylight color and drives them at 100% using a thick copper heat sink internally. VisionX I have less experience with but their design philosophy seems akin to ridgid however they seem to drive them closer to rated output and are brighter for a giver size than ridgid.

Can't go wrong with any of the big three, and some of the better Chinese knockoffs will put out a tremendous amount of light, but I've yet to see a knock off that has the quality of reflector and optics of the American versions. Chinese bars so far don't throw focused light the distance domestic ones do but the knock offs are plenty of light for most people.

As far as I know BD ridgid and visionX are all assembled in the USA from foreign and domestic parts but do manufacture the lions share of what goes into their products. Housing extrusions optics and circuit boards. Also the Chinese lights are throw aways, you will not get parts or service with a San Mak or eBay special the way you will with a good American light.

[Stickman]

What about Black Knight? I've seen them used quite a few places, good prices too.
http://www.blackknightlighting.com/#!lights/c1yc2

[OffroadTreks]

Alright, these are going in some time this week!

[Will]

If those are the D2 driving, you're going to love them, I had them on my boat when scouting for gators.

[OffroadTreks]

[gone2]

I just put 35watt HID bulbs in the OEM fog light housing. They are bright enough to where the headlights don't even look like they are on. The beams are about 180deg from the front of the truck so the ditches and everything to the sides are also lit up.

I've had them for a while and tried to make them work with the factory fog light switch but they always strobed. I finally wired them with their own switch and relay this weekend and I'm so pleased, but mad I waited so long to do it. I also rubberized the pack that come with the bulbs because of their low location in the bumper to help keep water out.