6 replies to this topic

[eeae6000]

I am wanting to buy some front lamps for my mini, i want something so when I am on the backroads I can flip them on for extra light, which are brighter, fogs or spots

 

 

and what brakets work better

 

 

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or 

 

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[Jordie]

spot lights are used for lightining ahead, or a spot in the direction they face.

"Driving lamp" is a term deriving from the early days of nighttime driving, when it was relatively rare to encounter an opposing vehicle.^{[citation needed]} Only on those occasions when opposing drivers passed each other would the dipped or "passing" beam be used. The full beam was therefore known as the "driving beam"

 

fog lights use a different lense pattern which changes how the light is output, designed for use in fog / low visability.

Front fog lamps provide a wide, bar-shaped beam of light with a sharp cutoff at the top, and are generally aimed and mounted low .^[11][12] They may produce white or selective yellow light, and are intended for use at low speed to increase the illumination directed towards the road surface and verges in conditions of poor visibility due to rain, fog, dust or snow. They are sometimes used in place of dipped-beam headlamps, reducing the glareback from fog or falling snow, although the legality varies by jurisdiction of using front fog lamps without low beam headlamps.

[eeae6000]

thank you jordie

[reallybig]

yeah you want spot lights 4 of them wired into the full beam

[Cooperman]

There are 3 different types of auxiliary lights:
Fog, spot and driving lights.
Fog lights give a short range flat low spread beam to enable driving at low speeds in very poor visibility, say with a visibility of less than about 30 years.
Spot lights give a very long range pencil beam with minimum scatter and are for high speed driving on very straight roads where it is easy to drive beyond the range of standard headlights on main beam.
Driving lights give an intermediate range light with a conical beam extending slightly beyond the maximum range of standard headlights but with some side scatter and a wider basic beam and are ideal for making good progress along twisty roads.
For night driving in a Mini a pair of good driving lights such as the Cibie Oscar or Super Oscar are absolutely ideal.
We very rarely get thick fog these days so fog lights are almost useless and a good quality dipped halogen headlight is just as good or even better in poor visibility.

[philip663]

Spotlamps ate the best! Got 4 6" plus the two winpac mains produces rather a lot of light, shall be upgrading the bulbs soon too. I have the stainless mounts on mine and haven't had any problems yet.

[Cooperman]

Probably the best driving lights with halogen bulbs are PIAA 80 with 'Driving' lenses. I've used just a pair for serious rallying with 100 watt bulbs and they are simply superb. The range is probably twice the range of a standard halogen headlight and they spread enough to not have dark areas to each side. With a pair of Cibie halogen headlights they are, quite simply, unbeatable for brisk night driving.

With this set up 4 additional lights are really unnecessary.