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Fog Lamps Are Useless

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Technical Discussion' started by Grzldvt, Nov 29, 2022.

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  1. Grzldvt

    Grzldvt Junior Member

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    Long story short I was gifted a 2007. In order to pass a CA Light Inspection I had to replace the Fog Lamps due to cracked lenses. The adjusters on the new lenses matched the old. When I turn on the fog lamps I see a very, very subtle side light, and I mean barely noticeable. With a 9006 bulb they should do a nice job of lighting up the road very low.
    Do I need to raise them up or are these lamps pretty much useless?
     
  2. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Pull up to a garage door and stay what like 15 ft away or until you can see the beam pattern of your headlights pretty good on the door you can see the left from the right the bottom from the uppers etc and then you can measure and see if you need to go up or down or whether they'll come in side to side I'm not sure what you got but generally speaking yeah I would say they're not so cool maybe you could try a set of nice yellow LED 50 watt bulbs and see what that does how did the reflectors look when you replace them they nice and shiny are all faded and dull or I can't see from here I don't have the factory fogs on any of my prii.
     
  3. Albert Barbuto

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    Yes, the fog lamp assembly/design IS useless. I've never seen such a pitiful amount of light coming from an assembly. I replaced the entire light housing with "Siemid Led fog". Package states "German lighting expert".
     
  4. Isaac Zachary

    Isaac Zachary Senior Member

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    Sounds like my Avalon. I hate the fog lamp design. Like you said, their only benefit is seeing a bit better to the sides.

    For starters you can't turn off the head lights and use just the fog lights on the Avalon, which means the headlights are still up high and hitting the snow or fog up where it reflects back sooner making seeing farther impossible.
     
  5. mr_guy_mann

    mr_guy_mann Senior Member

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    Useless. I could turn them on or off and didn't see any noticeable difference.

    I got some 9006 LED replacement bulbs and now I can tell when they are on by the slight change in the light pattern on the road.

    Still useless, as mentioned above you can only have them on when the headlights are on, so the HID low beams still produce too much "diffusion glare".

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
    #5 mr_guy_mann, Nov 29, 2022
    Last edited: Nov 29, 2022
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  6. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Back in the eighties I ride-shared to night school with a young guy with a Supra. The fog lights on that were very effective.

    our 2010 CDN Touring has stock fog lights: theyā€™re useless, you can hardly tell if theyā€™re on or off. Never use them. They look nice.
     
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  7. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Factory, or aftermarket?
    I put aftermarket fog lights on my '86 Accord to make up for the hideously poor beam pattern of those old-era single-lamp rectangular seal-beam headlights, the worst of the four legal choices that U.S.-market cars were required to use back then. These aftermarket fogs, actually a Honda-supplied kit of Bosch Pilots, were very effective. Then I added a different kit of the same basic light model to my older vehicle, and they were effective on that one too.

    My next car had factory fogs. Useless. And very carefully designed so that any user adjustment could push the pattern only down, not up.

    Later, I learned that most factory "fog" lights were just decorations, built to be 50-state legal. True effective fog lights were just 48-state legal, which precluded factory installation on mass market vehicles.

    I don't know today's legal situation. But the old era advice probably still applies: if you want real, effective fog lights, you must install them yourself. The factory units are just pretty decorations.
     
  8. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Iā€™m pretty sure factory (fog lights). We talked about them some, and he never mentioned swapping them out. This was in ā€˜83, so maybe ā€˜81~82 vintage.

    our daughter had a 2010 Pilot; the fogs on it were excellent too, ie: they made a big difference in low and peripheral illumination.
     
  9. Grzldvt

    Grzldvt Junior Member

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    Ok, I thought it was just me. All my other cars had an effect and lit up the road very close these do absolutely zero.
    Thanks
     
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  10. Grzldvt

    Grzldvt Junior Member

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    I missed this one the fog lamps are brand new so the reflectors are perfect.
    What I discovered is they are aimed to low coming from the factory. I was sitting in an elevated driveway where the front of the car was elevated up a bit. It was very dark and with the front end up a bit I flipped them on and got a nice amount of light. Now being fog lamps you do not want them too high but I am going to raise them a few turns and see if there is an improvement.
     
  11. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Yeah that would be the thing to do That's what you're using the garage door for so you can see where they touch on the garage door you can put a tiny little mark with a pencil raise or lower is needed and then get back to the mark if you need to or however garage wall any of that stuff will work
     
  12. sorka

    sorka Active Member

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    I couldn't find a single Siemid Led fog product for the 2nd gen Prius. Do you have a link?
     
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  13. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Yes you can im looking at them they're not made specifically for the Prius but not much in this world is It's the diameter that you're concerned with It's going to fit in the hole where your fog lights are now there are several that could work if you're willing to enlarge the whole in the bumper cover You could use quite a few if you're going to stay the same size which is recommended there's a couple of that range too and then they're going to wire to the factory wiring personally I think the fog lights are reasonable when mine are on I can see them better than the HID headlights which are old I'm going to make my fogs which I put some 6,000k LEDs and I'm not sure what brand I'm using but they're very bright and they work well they actually outshine my low beam HIDs which now has been replaced with HID to LED conversion for the Prius and when it's really dark the fog lights do well shining very low to the ground and if I could turn them on without the headlights it would be even better that'll be rectified and short order then I would use them as running lights and predominantly almost never use my headlights where I live.
     
  14. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    You could use the Citroen c3.5 in New style. 63 bux . I could fit these in an hour or so it looks like No problem at all but I like mine just fine I don't spend enough time on the road at night to warrant $120 worth it new fog lights.
     
  15. sylvaing

    sylvaing Active Member

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    Fog lights that needs the main headlights to be on, yeah, worthless. When there is fog, there is no point to light it up, you'll see even less. That's why the fog lights are always at the bottom of the bumper. They light up the road, not the fog!
     
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  16. sorka

    sorka Active Member

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    Can you post a link to the ones you used? I'm fine with modifications, designing, and 3d printing adapters etc. But would like to start with a product that has already been proven in the 2nd gen prius.
     
    #16 sorka, Jan 14, 2024
    Last edited: Jan 14, 2024
  17. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Yes why I wired control to use independently from other lights.perfect.
     
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  18. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Hold on I try n put link.
     
  19. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Maybe put some 6K bulbs in yours and wire them so you can put them on as running lights or real fog lights You can even get yellow LEDs instead of the 6K
     
  20. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    New Generation Led Fog Lights Lamp Retrofit and Upgraded For Citroen C3 C4 C5 C6 C-Crosser Xsara Picasso 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015







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