12° North Industries
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Joined: Thu Nov 23rd, 2017
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Name: Occupation: Vehicle Upfitter ... Interests: The great outdoors, nature, back to basics ...
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Lighting in general, some VOR lamps have a straight-across cutoff, and some have a stair step, and some have no discernible cutoff to the left of center. The defining characteristic of a VOR headlamp is that it has a cutoff at least 2 degrees wide, located at H-H (horizontal, not above or below), with at least 2 degrees of its actual width centered at 2.0 degrees right of center.
The lower the top of the oncoming-traffic (left) side of the beam is below horizontal, the more it reduces glare for oncoming drivers.
The defining characteristic of a VOL headlamp is that it has a cutoff at least 2 degrees wide, located 0.4 degrees Down from horizontal, and with at least 2 degrees of its actual width centered on 2.5 degrees Left of center. That does not regulate what the top of the beam pattern looks like anywhere else, such as on the right side of the beam; such regulation is handled in terms of intensity by the test points in the beam specification. There's nothing in this that would necessarily provide more left-side light nearer the horizon. A VOR with a flat cutoff can provide more left-side seeing distance, and a VOL can (but doesn't necessarily) provide more right-side seeing distance depending on what the top of the beam looks like to the right of center.
anyone can aim any lamp however they might get an idea to aim the lamp. That doesn't mean it's a correct or technically sound idea. There is no uniformity to where the left side cutoff is on a VOR lamp with a stairstep cutoff. It might be at 0.4° down like a VOL...it might be at 0.57° down like an ECE...it might be at 0.2° down...it might be anywhere, because the VOR specification does not regulate the existence or placement of a cutoff to the left of center, only to the right of center. The inverse is true of the VOL specification, which is why it is possible to design a VOL lamp that gives longer right-side seeing distance than a VOR.
That being said, your lights on these trucks are designed in a flood pattern to shine lower and wider in front of the vehicle itself as a compliment to the headlights which are if remembered correctly; the public-interest groups that test headlights, including Consumers Union and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, do not conduct tests of fog lights and do not take a position on their effectiveness. Nor do the federal safety regulators that issue standards for high- and low-beam headlights. In a statement, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said, “Fog lamps are considered supplemental equipment, which means there are no applicable federal requirements for these lamps other than they must not impair the effectiveness of the required lighting equipment.â€
Fog lamps; Amber and designed with a sharp top cutoff to shine down below the fog layer which is close to the ground, meant to illuminate ground markings on roads and highways and not reflect so much off of the moisture in the fog.
Most vehicles, although your upper and highline vehicles now are moving away from supplemental lighting such as fog lights or what should be termed as "flood lights" (clear); (Driving lights would be more pencil beamed for distance and high speeds) due to the latest in headlight technologies which are now more designed in the criteria of meeting distance, glare and uniform illumination, and filling in the foreground of the beam pattern to do basically what foglights were meant to do.
I argue that the overall effects of lighting in the needs of "Fog" should be yellow as they serve multiple purposes. But in newer sleeker cars the front ends are made in such a way that fog lights and headlights would be sharing the same areas of coverage which defeats the purpose. But in a long wind of words, really unless a highline vehicle, most of these clear lights in the lower valances are just flood lights, the size and placement is the simulated "cutoff", in simpler terms. Unless a true FOG light, you won't see a manufactured cutoff and whats mistaken as hotspots and then the blur of radiated lighting may look sharp enough to be confusing to some degree.
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North Industries
Las Vegas, Nevada 89118
Web http://www.12degnorth.com
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