The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay the color of fog lights

does it matter what color the fog lights are? I see some that are Yellow and then some that are clear. With all the fog we have been having lately I need to install some on my 54 chevy. at this moment I don't care what color or shape they are in just as long as they make it eaiser to see. thanks

They were yellow (amber), originally. It does not really matter.

get clear

Bill

The only fog lights we ever had that really did any good were the round Per-Lux. We mounted them under the bumper and they had louvers to keep the the light under the fog. Almost every truck had them in from the mid 60's until probably the 90's. I quit buying them because replacing them got too expensive and they broke every time we hit a deer. http://www.kcautomotive.com/grote_fog_driving_lights.htm

then your suppose to quite hitting the deer.

we do have a few deer around here but i havn't hit to many.

There is a story about the origin of yellow fog lights, possibly apochryphal, but entertaining, anyway. It's rumored that a Le Mans racer back in the 1920's was having problems with fog, and pasted newspaper over his headlights to cut down on the glare. The French newspapers at the time were printed on yellow paper (the origin of the term "yellow journalism") and apparently, the yellow light cut the fog effectively. The real reason was probably the refraction of the light as it went through the paper, but who knows for sure? This story apparently influenced headlight manufacturers to begin selling yellow-lens lights for fog driving.
Jerry

certainly apochryphal - the term yellow journalism originated in the US in the late 1800's - French govt requirement of yellow [i]head[/i]lights from the 30's until the 90's, primarily for identification purposes, is more likely why some thought yellow would be better than clear [and some might think it started at LeMans] - nowadays it's accepted the yellow fog lights are just for the retro look, what counts in fog is the lights be mounted low, as cren mentioned

Bill

I always thought that fog lights were yellow and driving lights were clear!

then your suppose to quite hitting the deer.

Its not that simple. Here in the Texas Hill country the deer graze the long pasture. When the bucks have does on their mind, they run right out in front of a truck. About 2 years ago, my trucks hit 7 deer in one week. Although it cost some aluminum bumpers and fiberglass hoods, I commended my drivers for not trying to dodge a deer and laying a rig over.

I think fog light location has more bearing than the colour,we've had some 'pea soup' fog here the past couple of days and Mrs Jocks car has very low clear ones.
They've been great.
Well, they do say love is blind!

I agree with the comment about dodging them though,the consequences of swerving are way more serious!
The problem I've had here is cyclists with no lights in the fog rather than deer,I wonder if I should just hit them too!

Hey Jock, ya get more points for them. Although it's not fog related but we lived 40 miles from our jobs and had to drive the last 20 out in the country, or what used to be country. I never got one, I'm much to good of a driver, but my "big old wife" nailed two of them over the years and totaled the front end of her Chrysler and a Buick.
I'd never heard of the lights with the louvers Ken but that makes complete sense. It's the light reflecting of the dew drops that bounce back at you and make driving in the fog difficult, so if you can keep the light down below and reduce it right in front of you then you could see a lot further. That may or may not have been the logic behind the after market hoods that you sometimes see on the headlights. I always thought it was just more junk that the squirrels were hanging on their cars, like hood ornaments, coon tails or mud flaps. But unbeknownst to the there may just have been something to it. I see there are still some of those guys around, every once in a while I see someone that has to have every accessory that GM ever came out with hanging on their otherwise clean fully restored ’48 car or truck.

Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

The location of fog lamps is important, but then I've not seen many that are mounted high and if they were the owner would soon learn thats not the correct placement for fog lamps.
Aside from that the MOST important aspect of a true fog lamp is the beam pattern.
A true fog lamp has a very wide pattern but with very little vertical spread.
Projecting the fog lamp to the side of a building one should only see a flat, very wide beam pattern which is why it stays low under the fog and lets you see whats to the sides.(like those lurking deer)
I say this because over the years with dealing with lighting I have seen some lights sold as fog but lacked the beam pattern to work properly - "want to be fog lamps"
Even the modern day fogs on new vehicles, like my new dodge, lack what a good true fog lamp can provide.
They're not a bad lamp, but they need to be better.
As far as the color, I've used both and can't decide if one is better, but light projected thru a colored lens will reduce the amount of light available.
I know it's not always possible to get the specs on the fog lamp before you purchase it, so save the receipt, hook the light to a battery and test it out before you mount it to your vehicle.

Dan