I think "fog lamp" is a bit of a misnomer. While they were originally designed
for foggy conditions,
I use them mostly as a "cornering light." There are three types of patterns you
can get in accessory
lights: spot (or "pencil"), driving and fog. A spot puts all its light straight
ahead and works
great if you are rallying and need to see about a half-mile down the road. For
normal road driving
they're useless unless you live in Montana or similar environs. A driving light
puts most of the
light directly down the road but also spreads out some to the sides and has
moderate range. A fog
usually has a 160-degree pattern and very short range.
When I first started working PRO Rallyes (in my Stanza, NOT the roadster!), I
mounted two 100w
driving lights in addition to the 55/60w halogen headlights. What I found was
that there wasn't
enough light thrown to the sides to see clearly around tight turns. I wound up
running a driving
light on the left side to give light down the center of the road and a fog
light with a 160-degree
pattern on the right to give light off to the sides. This was a great
combination. I had the extra
lights wired through a rocker switch and the high-beam circuit so they would
turn off when I dimmed
my lights. That way I didn't have to fumble for another switch when I was
already cornering and
hitting the dimmer.
Marc Tyler wrote:
> Foglamps are used with low-beams. High-beams in fog is at best
> pointless, at worst dangerous.
--
Gordon Glasgow
http://www.gordon-glasgow.org
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