Bought a pair of these yesterday

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Here's the link:

http://www.harborfreight.com/automotive-...ghts-37349.html

Originally $9.99, but got them for $7.99 with a coupon code, plus $5.99 shipping. Yes, they are very cheap (almost too cheap to trust). But I reaearched these online, and evidently they are quite popular. Reviewers have said that these are brighter than their factory fog lamps... obviously that will vary by application. Technically, these aren't specifically fog or driving lamps. They're kind of just generic halogen lamps that put out a good amount of light according to reviewers, and based on a night-time picture I saw.

Unlike most dirt cheap lights, these lights actually have light "diffusers" built into the lens. Most cheap lights have a smooth reflector (not free-form) and a smooth lens, so they just spray light everywhere and give you no useable light. These, however, look like they will do a decent job.

I found some scrap 2"x2"x1/4" thick angle-iron. I'll cut it to 1' long, and drill holes in it to mount it to the front license plate holes. Just FYI, the license plate mounting holes are 7" apart, and I'm gapping the actual holes for the lamps themselves at 8" apart (saw another example of this done, and it looked good). I'll post back with my impressions after I do the install. The nice thing about the angle-iron mounting bar is that if I ever want to remove it, I can, and it won't leave any holes or scratches behind. Plus, I could also upgrade to Hella 500's or something similar in the future, using the same holes I did for these lights
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Looks good. Just make sure they have good upward control of light, so you don't end up blinding others. It's hard to estimate the beam pattern of a lamp housing by looking at it, unfortunately.

I'm interested to hear what you think about them!
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
Looks good. Just make sure they have good upward control of light, so you don't end up blinding others. It's hard to estimate the beam pattern of a lamp housing by looking at it, unfortunately.

I'm interested to hear what you think about them!


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The only thing that the reviewers suggested was running a bead of silicone around the lens, since it does not come "sealed". I'll make sure to do this, so they never leak. They are also vertically aimable, so I'll make sure they don't blind others!
 
Also, I dont have DupliColor paint to match my car's paint, but since it's silver, I was thinking of just coating the angle-iron in primer, then clear-coating (I have plenty of both of those). It won't match perfectly , but it'll look a whole lot better than bare steel, and you won't see it much anyhow. I'm hoping the lights don't look too silly, or too much like utility or tractor lights. Of course, if I was truly concerned about having an awesome looking car, I wouldn't be driving an '07 Focus... not that I don't love it to death
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but I think it should look decent. And, most importantly, it'll be functional.
 
I also noticed that these lights have an "e13" marking on the bottom left hand corner of the lens. You can see this in the picture. From my research, this evidently means that they have some sort of ECE of E-code European certification. Hmm...
 
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Many lamps have ECE certification. Even some tires do. The Goodyear Integrity in 215/70R15 size have E13 on them. I guess so Dodge could sell the Grand Caravan with those tires in Europe?

The fog lamps on our Acura also have an ECE certification. I think it may be E13, but I'm not sure. 13 is the country code for Luxembourg.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Forum_for_Harmonization_of_Vehicle_Regulations

If you look close, your lamps should have an R code on them as well, signifying their type. Possibly R1 or R113.
 
Got it. I guess what I'm getting at is: does the e13 mark on the lamps mean that the beam pattern will be better? I know that ECE headlamps are subject to different requirements than DOT lamps, and subsequently have a better beam pattern because of more focused light and less stray light.
 
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Oh well, I can hope it does
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FWIW, I'm not going to wire these up with a relay. My whole purpose installing these was because they were so dirt cheap. I'm just going to wire it up with stuff I already have on hand... dual 16-gauge wires, instead of a single 12 or 14 gauge wire. Combined, this "dual 16" setup falls right in between the equivalent cross-sectional area of a 12 and 14 guage wire, so it should be sufficient to give both bulbs good power with minimal voltage drop. My mounting bracket is done, by the way. Can't wait to get these things installed. But the expected delivery date is next wednesday
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Originally Posted By: sciphi
I hope you're at least splurging on a fuse! I'd hate to hear your Focus burned because they shorted out.


Don't worry, the lights come with a fuse! I'd never add any additional electrical circuits to my car without also adding a fuse. Cheap, easy insurance.
 
You can tell they're going to be "high beam" from the pictures-- they don't have opaque stuff covering the tip of the bulb. If you can see the filament from outside the lamp, it will cause glare that's not focused by the reflector. Just FWIW.

If you wire it up to the "accessory" side of the fuse box, the lights will go out when you crank the starter, as well as when you remove the key. Cheap insurance, and an elegant install.
 
So, I got these in the mail yesterday, and I'm actually mildly impressed. Build quality is decent; about what I'd expect for a pair of lights that were originally $16. I can't tell if the lenses are glass or plastic though. When I knock on them, they make a 'tinking' sound, but I still can't tell for sure. Anyway, I put some sealer around the edges and then re-assembled the lens to the housing. It already comes seated into a rubber gasket, but the seal isn't perfect, from what I hear. I should be installing these this weekend, and I'll try to get some pics. The only thing I honestly don't like about them is that you have to remove the lens and reflector housing to access/replace the bulb. These things are a lot bigger than I expected too, but that's not a bad thing. I'm hoping they put out a lot of light. The box says "auxilliary driving lights", so I'm guessing the beam pattern and throw will be somewhere in between my high and low beams.
 
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They will definitely be closer to "high beam" lamps. As eljefino mentioned, the flutes on the front cover appear to be giving it a "high beam" pattern, and based on their description of "driving lights", these will need to be turned off with oncoming traffic around, just like a normal high beam.
 
Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
They will definitely be closer to "high beam" lamps. As eljefino mentioned, the flutes on the front cover appear to be giving it a "high beam" pattern, and based on their description of "driving lights", these will need to be turned off with oncoming traffic around, just like a normal high beam.


Unless I aim them a little lower, which I plan on doing. I'll have to play around with it a little bit.
 
You'd have an aim a high beam at the ground to eliminate the glare, making them not useful. You can aim the most intense part of the beam lower than traffic, but with the mostly uncontrolled optics of a "high beam" pattern, the glare will still be too much for oncomers.

It would be best if you can take a picture of these lights against a wall, so you can see the beam pattern visually.

If they look like this, you're good. There's little stray light above the upper cut-off, making them compatible with oncoming traffic.

IMG_13841.jpg


But I bet they look closer to this, and there'd be little you can do to make them compatible with oncoming traffic. There is an area of high intensity, but there's also a ton of stray light, so even if the area of highest intensity is aimed below the horizon, a lot of light still makes it to other drivers' eyes.

47660_1636120215879_1022922909_1778123_4378745_n.jpg


Like you said, you'll just have to look at them and see what kind of a pattern they give. Who knows, they might really impress!
 
Thank you for those pics, Hokiefyd. I really appreciate the honest, objective advise I get on this website, and not just some stupid response like "Just put in teh xenon HID bulbs yo, deys brite!" (like I'd get on other sites...). By the way, my mounting bracket for these lights bolts up perfectly. From what I can tell, it doesn't move or shake much even when I try to force it. Heck, I've got 2" wide, 1/4" thick, and 12" long steel angle-iron bolted flush onto a flat surface... it better not move! This thing is heavy too, but it's secured well. The 1/4" thick part was probably overkill, but it was a free piece of scrap, and free is good
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I decided to just prime it and clear coat it, and it matches my silver paint quite well, surpisingly. We'll see how it performs.
 
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UPDATE: So I got these installed on friday. I hid the switch in a very inconspicuous yet accessible place under the dash, and soldered good quality connections with thick wiring. All-in-all, the install went fast and I have a quality circuit (fused as well). As far as the lights go, they are quite bright. However, they are more of a pencil beam than anything else. There is also a good amount of upward stray light. Credit given to eljefino for predicting that. I'm still playing around with aiming them so as to not blind other people. I had them set kinda high at first, and was flashed by 2 people on my 25 minute drive home.

The verdict? I'm going to play around with the aiming for a couple more days to see if I can dial them in a little better. However, I'm not expecting a big improvement, since these lights are meant to be used as pencil/driving beams, so they WILL produce glare when aimed properly, which is not acceptable for my indented use of these lights. But hey, these lights came to $14.xx including tax and shipping, so I'm not out that much dough. At least I got a switch and twist-lock style fuse holder out of it
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Everything else, including the bracket, paint, and wiring was essentially free, since I just used stuff I had at home or had as scrap. Down the road, I'm thinking of getting some Hella 500's or similar (not the 500FF's) as these do a better job of acting as actual fog lights. I also like the Optilux 1100s. They are fog light projectors with a nice cutoff, but would look kind of tacky mounted out in the open. In any case, swapping out lights will be easy since the wiring is already there and is essentially plug-and-play, depending on connector types.
 
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