ATTN: Daniel Stern... Question...

What is the purpose/intention of fog lights. In other words, why were they
created and what purpose do they serve? When are they to be used if your
vehicle is so equipped? Thanks.

Cory

"Cory Dunkle" > wrote in message
...
> What is the purpose/intention of fog lights. In other words, why were they
> created and what purpose do they serve? When are they to be used if your
> vehicle is so equipped? Thanks.

C'mon Corey - your a regular here.

(I'll almost ignore CH's 'cool' comment, for many they are more than that).

"Cory Dunkle" > wrote in message
...
> What is the purpose/intention of fog lights. In other words, why were they
> created and what purpose do they serve? When are they to be used if your
> vehicle is so equipped? Thanks.

C'mon Corey - your a regular here.

(I'll almost ignore CH's 'cool' comment, for many they are more than that).

In article >, C.H. wrote:
>On Mon, 10 Jan 2005 16:54:11 -0500, Cory Dunkle wrote:
>
>> What is the purpose/intention of fog lights. In other words, why were they
>> created and what purpose do they serve? When are they to be used if your
>> vehicle is so equipped? Thanks.
>
>I am not Daniel, but I know the answer to that one.
>
>The original reasoning was, that the fog usually is less dense closest to
>the ground and thus the fog lights, which usually are mounted
>significantly below the headlights, were supposed to illuminate the road
>better that way.

The main reason for foglights placement is the angular dependence of
intensity of scattered light. It's the highest in the "back" direction:


_
|\
\
\
> a\
(lamp)> ->-------
>

i.e., the smaller the angle "a" is, the higher the intensity. Thus by
lowering the foglamps as much as possible you minimise the intensity of
the (useless, blinding) backscattered light.

>Today fog lights have no effect worth mentioning, other than to appear
>cool among the local rice crowd.

Up until two days ago I would have agreed with you. But I had the chance
to try out foglamps in a relatively dense fog and there was no question
that the road was more visible than without them. Obviously the
foglamps need to be well made. In two of my previous cars I also had
foglamps, but I never used them, because they made practically no
difference.

--
/"\ Jan Kalin (male, preferred languages: Slovene, English)
\ / http://charm.zag.si/eng/, email: "name dot surname AT zag dot si"
X ASCII ribbon campaign against HTML in mail and postings.
/ \ I'm a .signature virus. Copy me to help me spread.

In article >, C.H. wrote:
>On Mon, 10 Jan 2005 16:54:11 -0500, Cory Dunkle wrote:
>
>> What is the purpose/intention of fog lights. In other words, why were they
>> created and what purpose do they serve? When are they to be used if your
>> vehicle is so equipped? Thanks.
>
>I am not Daniel, but I know the answer to that one.
>
>The original reasoning was, that the fog usually is less dense closest to
>the ground and thus the fog lights, which usually are mounted
>significantly below the headlights, were supposed to illuminate the road
>better that way.

The main reason for foglights placement is the angular dependence of
intensity of scattered light. It's the highest in the "back" direction:


_
|\
\
\
> a\
(lamp)> ->-------
>

i.e., the smaller the angle "a" is, the higher the intensity. Thus by
lowering the foglamps as much as possible you minimise the intensity of
the (useless, blinding) backscattered light.

>Today fog lights have no effect worth mentioning, other than to appear
>cool among the local rice crowd.

Up until two days ago I would have agreed with you. But I had the chance
to try out foglamps in a relatively dense fog and there was no question
that the road was more visible than without them. Obviously the
foglamps need to be well made. In two of my previous cars I also had
foglamps, but I never used them, because they made practically no
difference.

--
/"\ Jan Kalin (male, preferred languages: Slovene, English)
\ / http://charm.zag.si/eng/, email: "name dot surname AT zag dot si"
X ASCII ribbon campaign against HTML in mail and postings.
/ \ I'm a .signature virus. Copy me to help me spread.

In article >, says...

>What is the purpose/intention of fog lights. In other words, why were they
>created and what purpose do they serve?

To provide better visibility during foggy conditions. Lights that work
well during a clear day do not work well during foggy conditions. So
someone figured out what type of light provides better visibility.

>When are they to be used if your
>vehicle is so equipped?

As their name implies, during foggy conditions.

What confuses many people is that they think lights that are yellow or mouned
below the bumper are fog ligthts. There is more to a fog lamp than the color
of the light and the mounting location.
-----------
Alex

In article >, says...

>What is the purpose/intention of fog lights. In other words, why were they
>created and what purpose do they serve?

To provide better visibility during foggy conditions. Lights that work
well during a clear day do not work well during foggy conditions. So
someone figured out what type of light provides better visibility.

>When are they to be used if your
>vehicle is so equipped?

As their name implies, during foggy conditions.

What confuses many people is that they think lights that are yellow or mouned
below the bumper are fog ligthts. There is more to a fog lamp than the color
of the light and the mounting location.
-----------
Alex

On Mon, 10 Jan 2005, Cory Dunkle wrote:

> What is the purpose/intention of fog lights. In other words, why were
> they created and what purpose do they serve? When are they to be used if
> your vehicle is so equipped? Thanks.

See
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...fog_lamps.html

It answers all your questions and more.

DS

On Mon, 10 Jan 2005, Cory Dunkle wrote:

> What is the purpose/intention of fog lights. In other words, why were
> they created and what purpose do they serve? When are they to be used if
> your vehicle is so equipped? Thanks.

See
http://www.danielsternlighting.com/t...fog_lamps.html

It answers all your questions and more.

DS

On Mon, 10 Jan 2005, C.H. wrote:

> The original reasoning was, that the fog usually is less dense closest
> to the ground and thus the fog lights, which usually are mounted
> significantly below the headlights, were supposed to illuminate the road
> better that way.

That is not correct.

-DS