Yellow reflector vs yellow lens in regards to fog lights

I recently bought a set of new old stock yellow foglights on steep discount and much to my surprise when I opened the packaging to install them I found that it was not the lens that's yellow but the reflector insides that's yellow. The original packaging was missing so I don't have a lot of information about them except that they use H3 55W bulbs and have SAE F-88 on the lens, they look like they've been bouncing around from warehouse to store for a while and got repackaged into a plain brown box with a price tag somewhere along the way. I've never ran across lights with a colored reflector before, only colored lenses, I'm curious what the advantages and disadvantages of a yellow reflector is versus a yellow lens. For what it's worth they do at least have a proper fog pattern and the output seems OK considering their diminutive size.

At the lens, at the bulb (less easy to pull off, though), at a 'bubble' over the bulb, at the reflector, or even at your (properly-tinted) glasses, it doesn't matter where the light coloring takes place. Although it's not as common as tinting the lens or putting an extra 'bubble' over where the bulb inserts, it's a valid means of getting yellow light.

I was thinking you had an old set of Hella Comet 550s, but you said "diminutive" and those lamps are by no means diminutive.

Now, if they say "Blazer" on that same lens, well... those are decorative at best.

I'll see if I can get a photo of the output, they're certainly no Hella Comet but they're certainly better than most OEM "fog" lights these days, I have a single 550 salvaged off an older Mercedes but those things are too large to safely mount on my Mazda. These fit just right in the bumper opening where they'll be protected from curbs and speed bumps and being recessed hopefully protected from as much direct assault from stones.

The light from them is a wide horizontal band, not just an unfocused blob of light, they are probably mostly decorative but I'm accustomed to the appearance of the car with fog lights on the front and without them it just isn't my car anymore. They do not say Blazer, the only things I can make out clearly are HALOGEN SAE F-88 and TOP. MightSadly though I had to replace a burned out bulb and found one lens has some minor damage to the reflector and a couple spots of rust on the back side of the reflector, so who knows how long they'll last but at 1/2 price things like that are to be expected. Interestingly enough the lens is sealed with a rubber strip and held by a retainer, I've never ran across a fog with a lens that wasn't glued on, when the lens fell off into my hand I thought I'd broken it!

Bitter said:

I'll see if I can get a photo of the output

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Can you also give us the sound of the switch clicking? That will tell us just as much. Pictures of beams really can't tell us a whole lot.

the only things I can make out clearly are HALOGEN SAE F-88 and TOP.

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"Gee, Wally, how big is this TOP company? They sure make a lot of lights and reflectors! See, it's written right there at the top of this lens!") Strange that there's no obvious branding either in the lens itself or on the back of the bucket.

Sadly though I had to replace a burned out bulb and found one lens has some minor damage to the reflector and a couple spots of rust on the back side of the reflector, so who knows how long they'll last but at 1/2 price things like that are to be expected.

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That "minor damage", unfortunately, means the lamp is essentially toast. In an actual headlamp, it'd need to be replaced. With a fog lamp, they don't do much work/serve much purpose anyway so I wouldn't throw much more money at it.

Interestingly enough the lens is sealed with a rubber strip and held by a retainer, I've never ran across a fog with a lens that wasn't glued on, when the lens fell off into my hand I thought I'd broken it!

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It's not that uncommon on older lamps with glass lenses.

If only the reflector is colored, then only the focused spot will be yellow. The spill will still be white. This sounds like a desirable combination to me.

The spill is yellow too, there's a cap that shields any direct light from escaping.

Alaric Darconville said:

Can you also give us the sound of the switch clicking? That will tell us just as much. Pictures of beams really can't tell us a whole lot.


"Gee, Wally, how big is this TOP company? They sure make a lot of lights and reflectors! See, it's written right there at the top of this lens!") Strange that there's no obvious branding either in the lens itself or on the back of the bucket.


That "minor damage", unfortunately, means the lamp is essentially toast. In an actual headlamp, it'd need to be replaced. With a fog lamp, they don't do much work/serve much purpose anyway so I wouldn't throw much more money at it.


It's not that uncommon on older lamps with glass lenses.

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I appreciate the information but I do not appreciate what I perceive as a very condescending attitude. Have I done something to you or to the forum to deserve this type of treatment?

The way I read it, Alaric's having a little fun with that "TOP" marking. I don't think you mistook "TOP" for a brand name, and I don't think Alaric thinks you did, either. Tone of voice is hard to convey in words on a screen.

It is difficult to convey tone in text and if I took his meaning incorrectly then I apologize.

Bitter said:

I appreciate the information but I do not appreciate what I perceive as a very condescending attitude. Have I done something to you or to the forum to deserve this type of treatment?

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I was thinking perhaps it was the quip about the sound of the switch clicking, which on reflection might have sounded meaner than the intent. We often deal with explaining why photos just don't tell the whole story (although they can be interesting to look at and occasionally can be a good diagnostic).

-Virgil- said:

The way I read it, Alaric's having a little fun with that "TOP" marking. I don't think you mistook "TOP" for a brand name, and I don't think Alaric thinks you did, either. Tone of voice is hard to convey in words on a screen.

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But, yes, the "Hey, Wally" was homage to Leave it to Beaver-- as well as my surprise that no *branding* is evident-- not any bite at you for now knowing the brand. Is there a chance you can get some pics of the lamps themselves?

I snapped one last night, I dug through the box they were shipped in and found an instruction sheet. They're "Rally" brand and on closer inspection there is a "Rally" cast into the glass lens over the bulb cap. For what I paid I'm not particularly disappointed with the lights but I'm also not very impressed with them, I'm not sure spending 5x the money will net me noticeably better results, the OEM fogs for this year of Mazda were small aftermarket projector units which look the same as many GM parts and I'm fairly sure are indeed Blazer brand projector fogs with side mounted 880 bulbs.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-OEM-199...m5680518303:m:mz4t0wwCj0t1f7z-sNNMcpA&vxp=mtr

Here's the "Rally" fog light, due to height restraints there's not a lot of options, but the Hella Micro DE is looking more and more appealing, I have a few spare pair of dichroic yellow glass H3 bulbs I could put in them but I'd loose the "look" of the car not having the big yellow rectangles down there. Ah well, styles change I guess...just not confident that 5x the cost is worth it. At least I have some good solid mounting brackets made of 1/8th by 3/4 steel down there now to hang whatever lights I decide to install.

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I'll make a new thread if I need to but I see more than a few complaints of severe corrosion with the Micro DE fog lights, and where I am uses sodium salt and worse for the roads in winter. How problematic is this really and is there a good fix? It looks like some of the issue is the location of the vent tube on the cap being low to the ground, if I were to run a tube from a more protected location down to the light and use thick silicone grease on the bulb cap and wires where they enter would those two steps alleviate the issue?

Bitter said:

I'll make a new thread if I need to but I see more than a few complaints of severe corrosion with the Micro DE fog lights, and where I am uses sodium salt and worse for the roads in winter. How problematic is this really and is there a good fix? It looks like some of the issue is the location of the vent tube on the cap being low to the ground, if I were to run a tube from a more protected location down to the light and use thick silicone grease on the bulb cap and wires where they enter would those two steps alleviate the issue?

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That could help, but what's the intent here? Mini fog lamps like these "Rally" toys are completely, totally useless. Good fog lamps are almost useless.

The Hella Micro DE is an excellent fog light. I have a set on a 4WD truck with no corrosion issues. As to being useful, they have paid for themselves several times over. I happen to live in an area of the US, where rain and fog are ever present from October to February, and they are a blessing. (I use Osram 64151ALL Allseason bulbs in them.)

-Virgil- said:

but what's the intent here?

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That's a good question, I may not even know the answer to that. We do get heavy fog and snow on a regular basis here, sometimes both at the same time though that's rare. I've felt that having the yellow fog lights makes me more visible in bad weather and seems, to my eyes, to make seeing the road in very foul weather more easy. White road reflectors and white lines against white snow are hard to pick out, but having yellow down low seems to add some contrast in the light bouncing off the stripes and reflectors to help differentiate them from the surrounding snow and makes lane keeping a little less stressful in very bad weather where I'm already slowed down enough that fog lights ARE being used at the right speed. I work in an urban area but live rural, the roads progress from well plowed to less well plowed or sometimes unplowed depending on what route I have to take home due to roads being closed due to snow drifts or accidents or iced bridges. We get fog any time of year just about and it can be extremely thick out here while there's next to nothing around where I work. I think I have times when fogs are appropriate to use, but to be honest I also like the look of the car with fog lights in the lower 'mouth'. It's partly for the looks, it's partly for the utility. Good question though!

KXA said:

The Hella Micro DE is an excellent fog light. I have a set on a 4WD truck with no corrosion issues. As to being useful, they have paid for themselves several times over. I happen to live in an area of the US, where rain and fog are ever present from October to February, and they are a blessing. (I use Osram 64151ALL Allseason bulbs in them.)

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Thanks, it could just be the mounting location that some people are using that's exposing them to too much direct salt water spray.

Bitter said:

That's a good question, I may not even know the answer to that. We do get heavy fog and snow on a regular basis here, sometimes both at the same time though that's rare. I've felt that having the yellow fog lights makes me more visible in bad weather and seems, to my eyes, to make seeing the road in very foul weather more easy.

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The extra "visibility" comes at a cost; the extra lamps will result in both some direct and some specular (reflected) glare for other drivers. If your headlamps and position lamps are on, you're already going to be visible. You'll verge towards distracting or even debilitating other drivers by just putting more lights on the front. They'll be bothersome to other drivers at much greater distances than you actually could use them to see, yourself.

White road reflectors and white lines against white snow are hard to pick out, but having yellow down low seems to add some contrast in the light bouncing off the stripes and reflectors to help differentiate them from the surrounding snow

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But yellow light bouncing off a white object or white snow means yellow light reflected back anyway. Snow-prone areas are also less likely to have raised reflectors, which are visible at much greater distances-- the sunken reflectors won't beam as much light back to your eyes from the fog lamps as until you're pretty close. Unless the atmospheric disturbance is active, fog lamps really aren't the answer here.

but to be honest I also like the look of the car with fog lights in the lower 'mouth'. It's partly for the looks, it's partly for the utility. Good question though!

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So long as the lights are off, having them for looks is fine. But turning them on at the wrong time for the looks isn't quite so fine. But I suppose when you're that far out from town, there's nobody to see those lamps being on in the first place...

KXA said:

As to being useful, they have paid for themselves several times over.

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In what way?

I use Osram 64151ALL Allseason bulbs in them)

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There's worse bulbs out there, but a good, clear bulb would be better.