Lighting Question...

[MrElussive]

Hey,

The other night, I changed the fog lights of my car to these 60W/55W 4800K Halogen bulbs. Since they run at the same rating as the factory fog lights, they produced the same amount of light on the road, but at a 4800K rating, they are much more blue/white and match my Xenon headlights much better. These lights were only $7 + shipping off of eBay. Unfortunately, I am still not satisfied with the lighting produced by my car's standard 4000K Xenon headlights and my 4800K aftermarket fog lights. So I am going to buy a new pair of Halogen fog lights, but this time 100W/90W fog lights. I know you are not supposed to run over the recommended rating as it risks melting your wiring harness, but I honestly don't care and I don't think anything will happen. Now this time I think I am going to go with 5500K light bulbs, for an even more blue appearance. Also, I am going to purchase a set of 6000K Xenon HID headlight bulbs to replace my factory 4000K Xenons. So basically, my Xenon headlights and my fog lights are going to have a more blue appearance, since they are both going to have a higher temperature rating than factory (and the fog lights are going to have a higher wattage rating than factory). Now there is a theory that the higher the temperature rating you go, the less light is put out onto the road. Does anybody agree with this or no? At the very least, I am definitely going to invest in those 5500K 100W/90W fog light bulbs because that is obviously going to be brighter than my current 60W/55W bulbs, but what about the 6000K Xenon upgrade? Does anybody think I am only making things worse by going with 6000K bulbs instead of sticking with the stock 4000k Xenon bulbs?
Any help is appreciated, thanks !!

P.S. http://www.amirsaleh.com/G35/Fogs.jpg -- That is a picture of my G35C with the aftermarket fog lights installed. The top lights are the Xenon HID headlights that came with the car, and the bottom lights are the aftermarket 4800K fog lights. As you can see, the fog lights match the Xenon headlights very well.

 

[Bear6360]

I'm not an authority on fog lights, but I think you should stick with the factory specs. I mean, they're fog lights dude. They're not supposed to be super bright. ...that's what your high beams are for.

I guess I'd stick with the factory spec ones mainly because I don't know how much parts for an Infiniti cost. I would wanna F up my car.

 

[Tom]

I believe anything above 6000k will actually reduce visibility. I've seen a few Audis with 6000k bulbs and it looked more purplish than blue. I would just keep your stock bulbs and upgrade your fogs to HID, but the choice is up to you.

 

[ooo000HITMAN000ooo]

didnt you take drivers ed??

I liked the way the lights look stock on the g35s

6000k.. i would stay with the factory ones if you ever want to be able to drive in the rain if they are to bright the rain is going to reflect back the light.

I would stay with the factory bulbs.

its your car feel free do to what you want.

 

[MrElussive]

I was thinking about upgrading the fogs to HID. But it's like $300 - $400 for an HID kit on eBay and I don't know how to install it, so I would have to pay $$$ again for installation. Plus I have already contacted a company that can custom-fabricate Projector Bi-Xenons for me for $900. If I wana spend lots of money on upgrading the lights, I will do that. But fog light bulbs are $7 off of eBay and new Xenon HID bulbs are only $100.
bear, I know it seems stupid to spend so much time thinking about fog lights, but the stock fog lights are quite powerful and they really help the Xenon headlights illuminate the road. So I figure that if I get 100W/90W fog light bulbs they will help even more, and it's only $7 + shipping out of my pocket.
Tom, do you think there will be a decrease in lighting performance going from 4000K to 6000K HID bulbs? I have the feeling that if anything, the lighting will be more blue and will light up the road brighter.

 

[ooo000HITMAN000ooo]

if you do some more research about bulbs you will find out more power isnt allways better

 

[epj3]

didnt you take drivers ed??

I liked the way the lights look stock on the g35s

6000k.. i would stay with the factory ones if you ever want to be able to drive in the rain if they are to bright the rain is going to reflect back the light.

I would stay with the factory bulbs.

its your car feel free do to what you want.

If it's raining that hard that the rain reflects the light that you cant drive, a good suggestion would be to pull over.

Brighter lights wont change it except that you'll be able to see the road even further ahead which will indeed let you see MORE rain but it'll be out further -- no different than normal.

 

[Kirby]

A couple of observations (long post but I think it will help your descision):

1. Your question about the lamp temperature does have some bearing, but I can't say how much. The higher the temperature, the shorter the wavelength, the bluer the light. Our eyes do not perceive all color intensities the same, and of course we can't see UltraViolet light, which is the direction you are heading. So it is possible that VISIBLE light intensity will fall off with higher temperature because our eyes are not 'optimized' for that wavelength. And certainly visible light intensity is what matters.

2. Increasing the wattage does not necessarily mean you will get more light. Wattage is nothing more that electrical power. The real question is HOW MUCH of that power is converted into visible light. Think of it this way - a 1500 watt electrical space heater glows dull red. Most of the watts are converted to heat, so more watts doesn't guarantee more light. The real measure is footcandles, lux or lumens. Look for one of these rating for both bulbs. The difference in this rating is what we perceive as useful light. I doubt that the 100 watters will be 40% brighter than the 60s.

3. When you double the distance, you get 1/4 of the amount of light. Light intensity is inversely proportional to the square of the distance. What does this mean in practice? In the clear, you'll see farther. But as someone else said, in the rain/snow/fog, you'll effectively wind up with a much brighter wall of precipitation in front of you, actually reducing the usefulness.....

4. If you go with the higher wattage bulbs, and you blow a fuse, I highly recommend against the temptation to put in a bigger fuse. The wiring is probably rated 25% - 50% oversize for current. You are looking at about 60% more current for the larger bulbs. There's a real good chance the wiring or switch isn't heavy enough.

You might try a bigger fuse and it will work, with no apparent heating of the wires. But when a lamp starts to fail, the voltage regulator puts out a higher voltage due to heavier load, etc, etc, - that's when the bad stuff happens!

 

[MrElussive]

Thanks for the advice, Kirby. It definitely seems obvious that upgrading from 4000K to 6000K Xenon bulbs isn't going to help much, and upgrading the fogs from 60/55W to 100/90W does not guarantee brighter light. But I have been doing a lot of research and I have these few things going for me:
1.) When I had my Jetta, it came with 65/55W Halogen headlight bulbs that were absolutely horrible. I purchased 100W/90W bulbs (xenon imitation style) and they really did significantly improve the quality of lighting. Not only that, I had absolutely no reliability issues...the bulbs ran perfectly fine, even for hours at a time.
2.) Even if these new fog lights don't work so well, I don't have much to lose. The bulbs are only between $7 and $20 off of eBay + shipping. Worst-case scenario, the bulbs don't light up or they don't light up properly, I still have my 60W/55W fog light bulbs that I am running now, to fall back on.
3.) I spoke with Pushakov, and he made the upgrade from 4000K to 6000K Xenon bulbs and he is very happy with them. He said that the more blue color of light made it illuminate the road brighter. So I think I am going to get these 6000K Xenon HID bulbs for $100 off of eBay.
In the end, I really feel that I just have to try this setup. I feel there is no point in playing it safe and not being happy with my current lighting setup. Worst-case scenario, if the 6000K Xenons and 100W/90W Fog light bulbs do not work out, at least I'll know that there isn't anything better out there.

 

[Kirby]

Let us know how it works out!

 

[MrElussive]

I moved into my dorm today...I did some great highway driving at night. The Xenons were actually very sufficient and I was happy with them. So now I am having second thoughs about upgrading the Xenon bulbs and the fog lights bulbs....

 

[PuShAkOv]

6000K is not much dimmer at all... I haven't seen any visible difference.

It definitely seems obvious that upgrading from 4000K to 6000K Xenon bulbs isn't going to help much

I dissagree. If you have Philips Ballasts, you only would need to upgrade bulbs to 6000K. Atleast that works for BMWs, but it should work with any other car.