Help an LED newbie: Amber lights?

This is a view from my Bronco on Tin Cup Pass at around 4-5am. The front amber bar really illuminates nicely.

It depends on what kind of conditions you are going to be in. Amber is better for dust, snow and dirt, but makes things seem a bit weird to my eyes. White looks more like human vision, but fogs in the dust easier.

For what its worth, I am going to run Amber combo beams, Amber spots, and a set of white combo beams on the bumper.
The KC technology series on their website https://www.kchilites.com/technology does a good job of breaking all this down if you need some more data points.

RagnarKon

So... planning some lighting upgrades for my Bronco and I need help. Specifically looking for some bad-weather fog/combo lights. I've had off-road lights before on several vehicles, but they've always been the traditional filament/halogen lights. Nowadays LEDs seem to be the way to go, and I know nothing about them.

As I'm sure most of you know, halogen lights have a bit of an orange glow to them, and aren't truly "white". Now that I have a Bronco with the LED signature package with actual white lights... I'm wondering if I should be getting a pair of amber LED lights for bad weather purposes. I've read that amber lights help increase the contrast of the surroundings, but I've never actually used amber lights or LED lights before, so I have no personal experience with it.

Do they make combo white/amber LED lights? Should I get one pair of whites white and one amber? Or just one amber? Do amber lights actually help in bad weather??

If you're a member of Bronco Nation you get a nice discount (shop gear tab) for Heretic. From all I've seen, Heretic is the best option. Amber for foul weather, fog, rain, snow, dust. White for normal optimal driving conditions.

If you have a modular bumper look at Diode Dynamics pod lights. You can get the fogs in amber or white. They look good and should be an easy install.
I have a set of amber on order to help my view in rain, snow and fog.

cristian

If you're a member of Bronco Nation you get a nice discount (shop gear tab) for Heretic. From all I've seen, Heretic is the best option. Amber for foul weather, fog, rain, snow, dust. White for normal optimal driving conditions.

Great point. That is what I am running on my Bronco.

Badlands or Bust

If you have a modular bumper look at Diode Dynamics pod lights. You can get the fogs in amber or white. They look good and should be an easy install.
I have a set of amber on order to help my view in rain, snow and fog.

This is what I use myself, just if you want to leave them running, doe SAE Fog and avoid max... Unless you wanna be a dick and blind people, then Max power all the way!

RagnarKon

So... planning some lighting upgrades for my Bronco and I need help. Specifically looking for some bad-weather fog/combo lights. I've had off-road lights before on several vehicles, but they've always been the traditional filament/halogen lights. Nowadays LEDs seem to be the way to go, and I know nothing about them.

As I'm sure most of you know, halogen lights have a bit of an orange glow to them, and aren't truly "white". Now that I have a Bronco with the LED signature package with actual white lights... I'm wondering if I should be getting a pair of amber LED lights for bad weather purposes. I've read that amber lights help increase the contrast of the surroundings, but I've never actually used amber lights or LED lights before, so I have no personal experience with it.

Do they make combo white/amber LED lights? Should I get one pair of whites white and one amber? Or just one amber? Do amber lights actually help in bad weather??

Hear a pics of my Heretic bumper combo at night. Really amazing light coverage.

Great thread! Following. This is certainly near the top of my list of upgrades. Appreciate everyone's input. It's been very educational for me. My experience with supplemental lighting is very limited: white road lamps on sedans and SUVs. They are useless in foggy conditions. Learning about the benefits of amber lighting has been illuminating. Get it? :geek:

Well... I haven't seen anyone say that amber lights are snake oil... and based on what I've seen from the pics @LR48 posted and the YouTube videos, it does seem amber helps a little bit with contrast. So I'll probably do street legal fogs in white. Then I'll add ambers in fog with some combo ditch lights in white. Or maybe I'll just do the ambers in combo and skip the ditch lights altogether. Not sure yet.

Does anyone know if LED lights have standard sizing / mounting mechanisms??

I have the capable bumper--switched my order in early 2022MY since HD modular was constrained for a long time, and I figured having factory fog light wiring would be handy. I have been waiting around for an aftermarket bumper I liked or the HD moduler bumper to be available standalone... but I think I'll try to be nice to my wallet just take the capable bumper as far as I can take it. Ideally I'd like the use the capable bumper brackets from 4x4TruckLEDs and match them with the Heretic lights. But if every brand of light is has slightly different mounting mechanisms then it's going to be annoying.

RagnarKon

Well... I haven't seen anyone say that amber lights are snake oil... and based on what I've seen from the pics @LR48 posted and the YouTube videos, it does seem amber helps a little bit with contrast. So I'll probably do street legal fogs in white. Then I'll add ambers in fog with some combo ditch lights in white. Or maybe I'll just do the ambers in combo and skip the ditch lights altogether. Not sure yet.

Does anyone know if LED lights have standard sizing / mounting mechanisms??

I have the capable bumper--switched my order in early 2022MY since HD modular was constrained for a long time, and I figured having factory fog light wiring would be handy. I have been waiting around for an aftermarket bumper I liked or the HD moduler bumper to be available standalone... but I think I'll try to be nice to my wallet just take the capable bumper as far as I can take it. Ideally I'd like the use the capable bumper brackets from 4x4TruckLEDs and match them with the Heretic lights. But if every brand of light is has slightly different mounting mechanisms then it's going to be annoying.

I can see your conundrum, since I have the heavy duty bumper it was pretty easy to find the complete setup, but I have seen capable bumpers with upgraded lights in them. The folks at Heretic are really helpful and you should give them a call and see what they can do for you, it might be good opportunity for them to develop an additional product for the market place.

Don't know if this is off topic or not . . .

My wife noticed the Oracle Roof Bar that is Amber and White and mounts on the roof. She said this might be on her Christmas list this year. Does anyone have one? Do you like it? Is it good quality? Is it loud when driving?

Thank you!

Mal
It depends on what kind of conditions you are going to be in. Amber is better for dust, snow and dirt, but makes things seem a bit weird to my eyes. White looks more like human vision, but fogs in the dust easier.

For what its worth, I am going to run Amber combo beams, Amber spots, and a set of white combo beams on the bumper.
The KC technology series on their website https://www.kchilites.com/technology does a good job of breaking all this down if you need some more data points.

To get into the physics, the shorter the wavelength, the more light tends to scatter with any dust or fog or other crap in the air. Longer wavelengths scatter less.

If you're stopped at a stoplight, on a foggy night, pay attention to the amount of glare from it, and to the degree of sharpness. When the light turns green, you will see that there is noticeably more glare, and the light doesn't look as sharp. That's because green light has a shorter wavelength than red light, so it scatters more in the fog.

It's also why oncoming headlights are much more glaring and annoying if they are white or even blueish, than if they are more yellowish as traditional incandescent lights tend to be.

And, of course, it's why fog lights are usually yellow—They are intentionally longer wavelength, so that they scatter less in the fog.