Amber main lights?

[OFC Ranger]

Anyone have experience or opinion on running amber in the low beam driving lights?

I'm sort of am amber addict and I do see this on occasion with cars around town. Nothing in my state prohibits it to my knowledge.

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[OFC Ranger]

Amber or yellow? To me amber (<2000K) is the orange of turn signals and marker lights and probably won't give enough light to be able to see by. Yellow (3000K) might be a good idea. I have a yellow option in my fog lights (dual color LEDs) and like them for inclement weather (snow, rain, fog, etc.). Still not sure I would make my main low beam headlights anything other than white though. Yellow is a great backup or secondary, but not sure on it being the primary. Just my thoughts.

Sorry I guess you would consider it yellow, not orange.

In GA Code Title 40-8-34, it says that the color of headlamps must comply with SAE Color Standard J578, and be significantly white.

Can you provide a direct link to simple English? This is what I got:

https://law.resource.org/pub/us/cfr/ibr/005/sae.j578.1995.pdf

And laughably it even uses language like: "visual method" and "subjective".

OCGA has specifics regarding colored light in regards to strobing or static, yellow of which is not among the forbidden fruit. Oddly enough, purple and green are listed with blue and red.

Bottom line, I don't want to be unsafe, I am just curious if lumen for lumen how normal visibility differs between white and yellow under normal atmospheric conditions.

 

[Bomlodr]

The amber colored lights are great for vehicles that are driven in predominately rainy, foggy, or snowy conditions. This is due to the wavelength of the light spectrum and how it is refracted by the water droplets in the air. For decades, French cars used to come with yellow low beams as standard and cars in certain parts of Europe and Asia would have their fog lights in yellow only. Now, I think it's just an option, yellow or white.

If you're doing it for the aesthetics alone, get something inexpensive in case regret sets in or the fad fades. If you're doing it because you need it, do the research and spend the money on quality optics. In either case, research your state laws or get in touch with your state's DPS. Most of them will be happy to answer your questions before they have to write you a ticket for a non-dot or state approved modification.

 

[OFC Ranger]

Does anyone know the lumen or output of the factory halogen lights on our trucks?

 

[Ronbo]

Sorry I guess you would consider it yellow, not orange.


Can you provide a direct link to simple English? This is what I got:

https://law.resource.org/pub/us/cfr/ibr/005/sae.j578.1995.pdf

And laughably it even uses language like: "visual method" and "subjective".

OCGA has specifics regarding colored light in regards to strobing or static, yellow of which is not among the forbidden fruit. Oddly enough, purple and green are listed with blue and red.

Bottom line, I don't want to be unsafe, I am just curious if lumen for lumen how normal visibility differs between white and yellow under normal atmospheric conditions.

I'm sure I don't need to explain to you that what "visual method" and "subjective" means. It means that in some jurisdictions you'll get a ticket, and in some others you will not.

From a safety perspective, yellow lights, which are around 3000K, will not illuminate brightly enough under normal road conditions. They work well in fog or rain because they don't reflect light back from the weather, but they are really intended to be an auxiliary light, not the primary. You really need a minimum of 4300K, which is now "significantly white" in color If you're looking for safe. I'd stick to the white lights and run auxiliary ambers.

 

[landiscarrier]

If you're looking for a reason to get pulled over (legal or not) put colored headlights on your vehicle.

 

[Tito]

Anyone have experience or opinion on running amber in the low beam driving lights?

I'm sort of am amber addict and I do see this on occasion with cars around town. Nothing in my state prohibits it to my knowledge.

By federal standards (FMVSS) headlights are suppose to be white to yellow, but each state will have its own laws. Here in Texas, white to yellow is OK. I have read several research documents about which color is better; sorry, I can not list them as reference because I didn't save them as reference material. The short of it, the slightly yellowish white color provides the "best contrast" in ALL conditions but I don't agree. I don't know the lumen output but too yellow "seems" dark. I prefer the higher Kelvin range in white. I do know that going too white into the blue spectrum, lumen goes down, maybe thats the case also when going too yellow.

A low cost solution maybe this, lamin-x vynil film. I have the yellow on my F450 fog lights purely to look different. The film cover does give the light output a slightly yellow tint but still very close to the white range. It is a thick film that will also provide rock chip resistance. They have a specific cut out for the Ranger. The slight curve of the fog light lens meant I had to work the film a little more to get it to lay flat. Hope this helps

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