Propickup Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/150744
When fog, snow, rain or dust causes visibility problems behind the wheel, turn on the fog lights to ease the drive by Peter D. DuPre & Bruce W. Smith O ne truth about both the landscaping and contracting businesses is owners are firing up their pickups in the pre-dawn hours to go to work and often arriving back home well after sunset. We accept the long hours as the nature of the business. But unfortunately those pre-dawn and late-evening commutes often mean dealing with hazards such as rain, snow, dust or fog. Dealing with adverse driving conditions like these at any time is a hassle, but light levels at their worst add an element of danger most of us could do without. So what do you do when Mother Nature is trying her hardest to make driving miserable? The typical driver switches on the factory fog lights – if their pickup is so equipped – thinking they will provide proper illumination for safe driving. But as anyone who has flipped on those fog lights knows, most simply aren't up to the job; they are more ornamental than functional. (Apparently pickup designers often think more about style and cost cutting than they do about safety and practicality.) Aftermarket fog lights are a different story. LIGHTS: FOG LIGHT TYPES The differences between light throw and spread are clearly illustrated in this drawing. Note that fog lights throw short and wide to light the roadway close to the vehicle. (Illustration by P.DuPre/AutoWord) Aftermarket (AM) fog lights are available in a variety of sizes, with different lens designs, bulb types, and housings. One typically gets what they pay for when it comes to functionality and durability. The cheapest of these are often packaged in thin metal buckets or plastic housings and use a sealed-beam filament headlamp bulb for illumination. They'll last about 200 hours, or so, of continuous use. If your pickup is your rolling office or primary work truck, don't waste the time or money on them. Such old-style lights don't deliver adequate beam spread or brightness for serious use. Further up the fog-light performance (and cost) ladder are those with quartz-halogen bulbs, which are usually packaged in ABS plastic or Lexan-type housings. Halogen lights deliver a quality beam pattern with sufficient brightness for fog-light use. While these deliver a much hotter and brighter light than that of a standard filament bulb and last up to 400 hours or so of continuous use, they are prone to filament breakage from vibration. Continued use in rough terrain or over rock and gravel roads can shorten that bulb life considerably. Near the top of fog-light performance for both longevity and light output are the high-intensity-discharge (HID) lights. Unlike filament bulbs, HID lights do not have a filament. Instead, an internal or external ballast builds up the power to create light when an arc jumps between two electrodes, stimulating a special mixture of Xenon 70 PROPICKUP Big Book 2013 ProPickup_2013BB_Lights Fog.indd 70 8/6/13 10:16 AM