PIAA light discussion

[chiefiji]

In particular, I'm interested in comparing the 510 ion crystal and 510 superwhites.

I have the ion crystal fogs. I'm still a bit up in the air as to whether or not I like them. On one hand, I think they're really cool looking in the day. On the other, I haven't really seen them work their magic in foggy conditions, and I'm not sure when I'll have the oppurtunity to do so since it hardly ever gets foggy around LA (minus the smog). When they're turned on at night, they fill out the area right in front of the truck just much like the stock fogs. It's just too bright in LA to really see how effective the ion crystals are in darker/foggier conditions.

If I had done the research beforehand, I probably would have gotten the 510 superwhites. Looking at the beam pattern, the superwhites throws a narrower beam further down the road which would probably enhance the stock lowbeams. I think this is more suitable for the daily driving I do 95% of the time. I'd be interested in hearing what those with the superwhites have to say.

PIAA 510 Specs (http://www.piaa.com/Lamps/Lamp-pages/510.html?PHPSESSID=c493f5c5232beae8399adcd1cb1272d 1)

[Mikestang]

If I had done the research beforehand, I probably would have gotten the 510 superwhites. Looking at the beam pattern, the superwhites throws a narrower beam further down the road which would probably enhance the stock lowbeams.

That is exactly why I got the superwhites. In the 16 years I've been driving I've only been in nastly fog maybe 3 or 4 times, so a dedicated fog light didn't seem as useful to me here in So. Cal. I've only done a rough align of my superwhites, and I can say they appear brighter than the factory fogs, even with the 85w bulbs I used to have in them. I attribute this to the narrow 15* spread of the lights, so they project out further than the stock lights. Right now I have them pointed down too much, so with the low beams on they basically fill in all the dark area in front of me. I plan on aiming them up a bit more so they just overlap with the bottom of the low beam. I'll take some pictures at night once I do that.

[expat]

That is exactly why I got the superwhites. In the 16 years I've been driving I've only been in nastly fog maybe 3 or 4 times, so a dedicated fog light didn't seem as useful to me here in So. Cal. I've only done a rough align of my superwhites, and I can say they appear brighter than the factory fogs, even with the 85w bulbs I used to have in them. I attribute this to the narrow 15* spread of the lights, so they project out further than the stock lights. Right now I have them pointed down too much, so with the low beams on they basically fill in all the dark area in front of me. I plan on aiming them up a bit more so they just overlap with the bottom of the low beam. I'll take some pictures at night once I do that.

X2.

Fog lights seem a little redundant in LA and most places I'll drive. To make fog lights work correctly you need them very low to get under the fog. In those cases I'd prefer to mount small yellow fogs down around the skid plate area for the occasional trip where fog could be a major encounter.

[ksneubec]

I had very foggy conditions last night, and the Ion yellow Fogs frankly didn't work that well. I think the old factory fogs were better. I checked the alignment and I think its okay. I have them aimed just below the headlights.

[AlexJet]

I had very foggy conditions last night, and the Ion yellow Fogs frankly didn't work that well. I think the old factory fogs were better. I checked the alignment and I think its okay. I have them aimed just below the headlights.

Hmmm, I used to have PIAA 510 Ion Crystal fogs on my previous truck and I have PIAA 540 Ion Crystal on my 4Runner now. I never had an issue lighting up the road and we do have a lots of foggy and heavy rain/snow conditions here in Canada. I do remember that I wasn't happy with 510 at first, but as soon as I aimed them properly (as of my preferences, not as they recommend in the manual), I was amazed of the lights performance. They do light up the shoulders and also fill the gap between Low and High beams.
I'll try to find a picture I took last fall while was driving through the heavy fog. With my stock Low beam and stock fogs on I was able to see ~70-80ft. After switching to High beams my visibility comes down to 30-40ft (too much reflection from high beams. The other set of driving lights I had at that time was PIAA 520 driving, they were giving me the a little bit less then stock Low + stock fogs. Driving lights are not good for fog, heavy rain/snow condition, because they give narrow bright light which reflects from water drops. As soon as I switched to parking light and PIAA 540 Ion fogs, my visibility range becomes ~200-250ft. I was so impressed of the improvement.
I'd say it depend on the lights itself and aiming. PIAA is very good quality lights. May be you need to play with aiming. I'd suggest you to try different aiming on the dark empty parking lot. Find the best one suitable for you needs.

[Dealmaker]

Any feedback on how the PIAA 510 Crystal Ion fog lights are working? I was going to exchange mine for thr clear driving lights but at this point I just want to finish things up and may just keep the ion fogs if the feedback is good. Personally, it seems that the truck sits up too high and the light is too recessed for the ion fogs to be very effectinve, which is why I was considering the pencil-beam driving lights.

[Tucson T4R]

Any feedback on how the PIAA 510 Crystal Ion fog lights are working? I was going to exchange mine for thr clear driving lights but at this point I just want to finish things up and may just keep the ion fogs if the feedback is good. Personally, it seems that the truck sits up too high and the light is too recessed for the ion fogs to be very effectinve, which is why I was considering the pencil-beam driving lights.

I have the Ion Crystal fogs (and driving lights). From the testing I have done, the fogs have a surprisingly wide pattern even though they are set back in the bumper quite a bit. For me, they light up both the right shoulder and across the oncoming lane to the left and they have plenty of adjustment for both up and down and spread. Some folks might prefer the white light but for me, the yellow is more subtle and will do a better job in fog and heavy rain.

[bulldog]

I tested my 510 fogs the other night (no fog yet) and they did a really good job of lighting of the road and the side. I was surprised at how bright they are. They are brigther than my low beams. I will have to see how they do on fog, but they do have a pretty good wide spread adn do light up nicely ahead on the road. I had to adjust mine slightly as they were too high though, which will make them useless in fiog. I guess Iw ill only be able to give more feedback once I run them in fog. SO far they are far superior to the stock ones in terms of light output and gives pretty much the same spread out wide (but brighter on the road edges).

I agree with the concerns about their height for foggy conditions though. Time will tell I guess, but I think it is well worthwhile to spend some time adjusting them properly.

[expat]

Pierre,

I'm still not decided on the fogs vs the driving light in the "fog light position."

Currently I don't feel the driving light (510 Super Brights) are that good. For a really good offroad light, I think a much larger top mounted light is necessary.

On that basis. it seems to be kinda wasted to have the driving lights instead of the fogs.

I'm am thinking that maybe it is better to have the fogs for that rare occasion in LA where you might need them, and buy big driving light for on top of the bullbar.

I will reserve my final comments until I get into a dark location to really test out the usefulness of the Super Brights.

Cheers
Mark

[Dealmaker]

Thanks for the input, guys. I'm gonna stick with what I have, the fogs, and hokk 'em up tomorow. I want to finish this up, too many half-finished projects around the house!

Pierre,

I'm still not decided on the fogs vs the driving light in the "fog light position."

Currently I don't feel the driving light (510 Super Brights) are that good. For a really good offroad light, I think a much larger top mounted light is necessary.

On that basis. it seems to be kinda wasted to have the driving lights instead of the fogs.

I'm am thinking that maybe it is better to have the fogs for that rare occasion in LA where you might need them, and buy big driving light for on top of the bullbar.

I will reserve my final comments until I get into a dark location to really test out the usefulness of the Super Brights.

Cheers
Mark

[Mikestang]

I'm still not decided on the fogs vs the driving light in the "fog light position."

I spent some time last night in the alley behind my house that's very dark adjusting the aim on my 510 superwhites. I've pretty much overlapped them with the very bottom of the low beam; I think they compliment the lo's very well. They're basically as bright as my low beams. It might be nice to try out a higher wattage yellow H3 bulb in these things to see how a fog bulb in a driving light shell performs.

I'm plan on doing the little wiring trick that enables me to run them w/the hi-beams from the factory switch. I'll probably try out the 580s for on top of the bumper some time in the near future.

[Dealmaker]

well I drove my truck at night for the first time since hooking up the lights last weekend. IMO the fogs seem useless for lighting. I can barely tell when they're on as compared to the factory driving lights. I will try to turn them outward a bit more for any improvement.

[r0cky]

well I drove my truck at night for the first time since hooking up the lights last weekend. IMO the fogs seem useless for lighting. I can barely tell when they're on as compared to the factory driving lights. I will try to turn them outward a bit more for any improvement.

I agree. I mentioned this to Jim after my trip down there, and he suggested experimenting with aiming them ... still, no matter how I aim them, I don't get any use out of them (other than the fact that if someone is coming at you head-on they will see them).

Not sure how a few of you guys are finding them useful ... they're just positioned soooo far back there and don't provide any additional road illumination ...

[my034runner]

:iagree I agree, but the driving lights are just as disappointing. :mecry: They aren't any brighter than my headlights. I wonder what can be done to make them brighter, could it be as easy as just changing the bulbs out, or is there more to it? :confused: :confused:

[r0cky]

:iagree I agree, but the driving lights are just as disappointing. :mecry: They aren't any brighter than my headlights. I wonder what can be done to make them brighter, could it be as easy as just changing the bulbs out, or is there more to it? :confused: :confused:

I think it has more to do with being set so far back / recessed ...

:mecry:

[my034runner]

I think it has more to do with being set so far back / recessed ...

:mecry:


Yeah, on the fog lights, but what about the driving lights? They just aren't as bright as I would have liked. I thought that they'd be at least a little bit brighter than my headlights! :(

[Tucson T4R]

Are you talking about 6" driving lights monted on top of the bumper or the smaller ones mounted in the bumper? I have the 6" ion crystal diving lights (yellowish light). If they are aimed inside the stock high beam spread they are not very noticable. Once I aimed them slightly above my high beams then they reached far beyond the stock lights and made a clear difference. Try adjusting their aim to reach beyond the stock beams and see what you think.

[Dealmaker]

I am talking about the 510 crystal ion fog lights mounted inside the bumper. I never expected either the fog or white/driving lights to be brighter than the factory headlights, but I did expect a noticable difference when they are turned on, just as with the factory driving lights. The factory driving lights seemed to fill the void below the lowbeam headlights and to fill outwards rather well. I was hoping the PIAA's would at least do the same, but now I can barely tell when the fogs are turned on! I will try turning them outward a bit more, but am hoping they don't have to be turned too far outward to be effective. I guess at this point I should review the PIAA paperwork and their website to see what their specs are for aiming the lights.

[Mikestang]

My driving lights are at least as bright as my low beams. I've aimed them high so they overlap the lows about 50% and I'm very happy with them.

Somewhere back in this thread I posted up a pict of the 95* fog beam spread vs. the 15* driving beam spread and mentioned that the recessed light housing would have a negative effect of the fog lights.

[my034runner]

For me, I'm talking about the driving lights mounted on top of the bumper, under the hoops. They aren't very bright. I guess I'll wait until next weekend, we can all adjust them together. :rockon:

[AlexJet]

Size doesn't make huge difference. I had (5 years ago) a set of Hella Micro FF driving lights and remember how bright they were. Now I'm running Hella Rallye 4000 and they give me as much light as those Micro FF, the only difference is that they light more area, because they much bigger, 9" diameter compare to 2"x3" for Micro FF. My truck is big and I like BIG lights.
So putting higher wattage bulbs wouldn't help much, plus you'll most likely have heating issue. I'd say aiming is a keyword. I have set of PIAA 540 Ion Crystal fog and I can feel the difference when I have my stock headlights on and when I'm adding 540. My personal opinion is forget about aiming into the wall, do it on empty dark mall parking and you'll feel the difference.

[r0cky]

For me, I'm talking about the driving lights mounted on top of the bumper, under the hoops. They aren't very bright. I guess I'll wait until next weekend, we can all adjust them together. :rockon:

curse the globe!

[bulldog]

I installed my 520 driving lights today and went out tonight to adjust both the driving lights and the 510 Ion fog lights.

Before I give feedback I just want to note that I have upgraded the headlights bulbs with 9005 adn 9006 PIAA extreme white bulbs, which gives a nice upgrade to the stock headlamps. So keep that in mind when you read below.

AFter adjusting the fogs lights, they do add quite bit of light additional to the low beams adn still give a pretty good spread. I think the spread on the stock fogs were better, however the PIAAs are much brighter than the stock fogs and have a nice yellow light. I will see how they do in fog though, but so far they look much better than the stock ones. They even ad a bit to the low beams for light.

The 520 SMR driving lights was a big disappointment. On a completely dark road they barely make any noticeable difference to the stock highbeams. Only after I blocked the stock higbeams cuold I actually see the beam pattern of the 520s. They have a flat and wide pattern, but I was amazed and how wide they spread the pattern vs the stock high beams which is pretty much a round pattern with some spread in all directions. I'm wondering if upgrading the H3 bulbs in the lamps to H3 PIAA extreme whites will make a good enough difference or whether I should shop for different driving lights. Maybe the 520s will work better for vehicles with inferior stock headlights as the 4R with the PIAA bulbs I have now is pretty damn good.

[AlexJet]

...
The 520 SMR driving lights was a big disappointment. On a completely dark road they barely make any noticeable difference to the stock highbeams. Only after I blocked the stock higbeams cuold I actually see the beam pattern of the 520s. They have a flat and wide pattern, but I was amazed and how wide they spread the pattern vs the stock high beams which is pretty much a round pattern with some spread in all directions. I'm wondering if upgrading the H3 bulbs in the lamps to H3 PIAA extreme whites will make a good enough difference or whether I should shop for different driving lights. Maybe the 520s will work better for vehicles with inferior stock headlights as the 4R with the PIAA bulbs I have now is pretty damn good.

This is one of the reason I don't like SMR. I had the same issue with PIAA 525 Dual Beam lights. They were SMR too and were suppose to give at least the same as my headlights with Silverstars. I did upgrade them with PIAA Xtream White, but they didn't give me much difference. My advise is - do not spend money on bulbs, it wouldn't help much. If you really need light power, shop for another set like PIAA 580 driving or Hella Rallye 3000; you can also take a look at KC Rally 800.

[bulldog]

What are the beam pattern like on the others?

[expat]

If you want serious light, you need to look for 100W. I wonder how good some 100W KC lights I saw in Pep Boys yesterday would work. They were small enough to fit inside our bumper.

Personally, I'll be looking for Cibie Super Oscars when i go back to Oz in December. I had these on two other trucks and they were awesome. They are pretty big. I think 9.5" or so.

I think I will mount them up on my antenna mounts and continue to use the magnetic mount antenna.

[AlexJet]

What are the beam pattern like on the others?

You can ask Karl, he has 580, but I think they are fog.
I have Hella 4000. They are huge and nearly double my headlight power.

[ksneubec]

Yeah, I have PIAA 580s but they are fog, so they are not ideal up on top of the bumper. They do still illuminate a good wide area in front of the truck, but obviously not very good for distance.

[Vegas Runner]

I have the PIAA 520 SMR and was concerned because it did not appear that there was a fuse in the wiring harness. I sent an email to PIAA and it turns out it is fused.

Quote from PIAA:

"The relay found in your wiring harness (bigger black box), does contain a 25-30 amp automotive bladed style fuse for additional protection that is replaceable. The top cover that reads PIAA is removable."

[AlexJet]

I have the PIAA 520 SMR and was concerned because it did not appear that there was a fuse in the wiring harness. I sent an email to PIAA and it turns out it is fused.

Quote from PIAA:

"The relay found in your wiring harness (bigger black box), does contain a 25-30 amp automotive bladed style fuse for additional protection that is replaceable. The top cover that reads PIAA is removable."

Yes, both Hella and PIAA now make integrated fuse/relay boxes for auxiliary lights. It's more convenient that you don't have to look for a location where you can put a fuse.

[bulldog]

SO I fitted PIAA 510 ION fogs adn 580 driving lights. The 520 SMR driving lights were pretty disappointing.

Pictures will probably work better than words.

Front view of the 4Runner with the 580 next to the 520 SMR. The 580 is a bit bigger, but a lot brighter and the beam pattern a lot more focussed. Difficult to see from the front.

http://www.ezdries.net/assets/images/db_images/db_520_and_5801.jpg

I took pictures on a somewhat remote strip tonight, unfortunately it was full moon and I only had my crappy little handheld camera. The lights are actually much brighter than the pics, but I think you get the difference in light output from the pics.

Low beams

http://www.ezdries.net/assets/images/db_images/db_low_beam1.jpg

Low beams with 510 fogs

http://www.ezdries.net/assets/images/db_images/db_low_beam___fog1.jpg

High beams

http://www.ezdries.net/assets/images/db_images/db_HI-Beam1.jpg

High beams with 580 driving lights

http://www.ezdries.net/assets/images/db_images/db_Hi-Beam___driving.jpg


So I'm pretty happy at the moemnt as the additional lights do help a lot. I honestly don't know if 580 pencil beams is worth it as the 580 driving lights are pretty focussed, but still give a very useful spread at distance.

Good call on the 580s Mark :bigok:

[Mikestang]

Have you done the mod in the steering column so that the low beams and fogs stay on when you click the hi beams on? I did it a few weeks ago and the difference is awesome. I'll have to grab some photos, too.

[bulldog]

Have you done the mod in the steering column so that the low beams and fogs stay on when you click the hi beams on? I did it a few weeks ago and the difference is awesome. I'll have to grab some photos, too.
The low beams stay on in my 4Runner when the highbeams are on, only the fogs turn off. Honestly with the driving lights I doubt I will even notice the fogs. The 580s are very bright as you can probably see from the pics.

[expat]

Good pictures Andries. Shows thge 580's in a good light (excuse the pun!)

[bulldog]

Good pictures Andries. Shows thge 580's in a good light (excuse the pun!)
Hehehehe, I'm just having a hard time aligning the lights. Tried it out at Pismo last night in the dunes and they do help a lot, but I kept on fiddling with them adn actually made the aligment worse.

I drove back last night from PIsmo and the lights made a huge difference. The one I thing though is that there is a lot of reflection from some signs on the highway when you turn them on. After some adjustement it seemed to work a lot better, but they are bright. I fount the best way to do the adjustment to be to point the front at a wall about 6-8 feet away. Tneh the stock highbeams and the PIAA make clear spots ont he wall. Just adjust the PIAA spots to be inside the highbeam spots at the same height, the distance in spacing between the stock highbeamd and the PIAAs should be pretty much the same as on the bumper itself. This seem to yied the best reulst for me.

If you line it up in a field and don't have solid objects that it hits at a distance you keep on guessing exactly what the height should be and also the laterral aim. I found it very frustrating to try and aim the lights in such a situation as they seem to be off every time.

[Mikestang]

I installed my 580 pencil beams last night and WOW, are those suckers bright! I'll get some photos up soon, but they really compliment the high beams well, have a really tight beam, and great distance.

[Joel]

I installed some 580's on my truck. They really should be the default choice for the SW bumper. Huge difference over the 520 SMRs.

[bulldog]

I installed some 580's on my truck. They really should be the default choice for the SW bumper. Huge difference over the 520 SMRs.
:iamwithst Oops I mean :iagree :jester:

If someone wants to try to get better bulbs for the 520s, they can try it out. I believe there are xtreme white PIAA bulbs that fit the 520s and are 55W.

[Joel]

I know, I know, go ahead and call me "Mr Me Too" hehe :flipoff:

[bulldog]

As long as it works. :moon:

I'm pretty happy with my light setup currently. The big problem is just to align the lights properly, but they really help the stock lights now.