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baja designs Tradesman light kits

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copperman

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I just purchased a 22 Tradesman in December. I am looking to install the Baja kit in the factory OEM driving light location. My question to those of you that have done this is how useful are the street legal lights for normal driving? If they don't seem to help much I will go with the Sport or Pro model. and only use when needed off road. Any advice is appreciated thanks
 
I have the Sport (wish Pro was available at the time). I've never found fogs very useful on the road in general. I wanted them solely for offroad use. I will say that I really wish there was a way to turn off the auto-on when low speed turning or using my signal.
 
BD sport and pro “wide cornering” lights definitely should not be used with other drivers on the road,…They are too bright / do not have an appropriate cut off. The SAE ones should be OK though.

“Fog lights” are not driving lights. They are designed for lower speeds , too keep the light low from reflecting back up.
They can useful as “cornering lights” on twisty mountain roads to help illuminate insides of corners (the factory equipped Ram foglights do this…lights the foglight inside corner beyond certain steering angle if speed is below like 25mph), or for offroad (similar situations: low speed, tight corners)

I replaced my factory LED foglights with Diode Dynamics Elite series. They are a bit brighter and have more even light distribution…but they are not as wide as the OEM LED fog lights for low speed cornering. I may switch back to OEM.
 
el_barto said:
BD sport and pro “wide cornering” lights definitely should not be used with other drivers on the road,…They are too bright / do not have an appropriate cut off. The SAE ones should be OK though.

“Fog lights” are not driving lights. They are designed for lower speeds , too keep the light low from reflecting back up.
They can useful as “cornering lights” on twisty mountain roads to help illuminate insides of corners (the factory equipped Ram foglights do this…lights the foglight inside corner beyond certain steering angle if speed is below like 25mph), or for offroad (similar situations: low speed, tight corners)

I replaced my factory LED foglights with Diode Dynamics Elite series. They are a bit brighter and have more even light distribution…but they are not as wide as the OEM LED fog lights for low speed cornering. I may switch back to OEM.
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I have BD SAEs on my 1500 Eco and they are great. You are correct, the other off-road lights would be too bright for street use and in fog. As I understand it, the lights are all the same, it's the interchangeable lenses that make the brightness difference.

And thanks for the last pp. I was contemplating changing out my 2020 HO's OEM fog lights for aftermarket. Your experience of OEM being wider convinces me to stay with OEM. For me, a wider beam is far more important than brighter and OEMs are bright enough.
 
John Jensen said:
I have BD SAEs on my 1500 Eco and they are great. You are correct, the other off-road lights would be too bright for street use and in fog. As I understand it, the lights are all the same, it's the interchangeable lenses that make the brightness difference.

And thanks for the last pp. I was contemplating changing out my 2020 HO's OEM fog lights for aftermarket. Your experience of OEM being wider convinces me to stay with OEM. For me, a wider beam is far more important than brighter and OEMs are bright enough.
Click to expand...
I believe the BD SAE does NOT have interchangeable lenses and the LEDs are not as strong as the Sport. These are requirements to make it SAE compliant.

Here is OEM LED on one side, Diode dynamics elite on the other (Amber)
36F51D02-DBEE-450A-9048-1F6F0825154F.jpegF5FB9DF1-3830-48CE-9D0D-12F3B2E7158E.jpeg
 
el_barto said:
I believe the BD SAE does NOT have interchangeable lenses and the LEDs are not as strong as the Sport. These are requirements to make it SAE compliant.
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My mistake, brain fart
I don't have SAEs, I have Squadron Sport and have interchangeable lenses for white or amber, not the brightness difference.
 
el_barto said:
I believe the BD SAE does NOT have interchangeable lenses and the LEDs are not as strong as the Sport. These are requirements to make it SAE compliant.

Here is OEM LED on one side, Diode dynamics elite on the other (Amber)
Click to expand...
Is that the SAE fog from DD or their off road?
I guess I could pull the motorcycle out and check...lol
 
el_barto said:
It’s the DD “Elite series” which is SAE F3 compliant
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Not sure on what 'elite' is, guess I'll have to look... I though they only had Sport, Pro, and Max.
I put some SS3 Pros SAE fogs on the bike to 'widen' the front end and to throw more light.
 
Gondul said:
Not sure on what 'elite' is, guess I'll have to look... I though they only had Sport, Pro, and Max.
I put some SS3 Pros SAE fogs on the bike to 'widen' the front end and to throw more light.
Click to expand...
It’sa newer model. Projector based SAE compliant…designed more as a “street” / OEM-style foglight than an offroad light.
 
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G Mcpherson said:
Will those bolt in to the Factory Lamp Bracket? Non LED
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“Yes” … I did need to modify the bracket slightly: the opening was a bit too snug around the lamp so I had to clearance it a bit with a utility knife and deburring reamer. Took my time so I didn’t remove too much material, but not really difficult.
01B20230-833E-43D0-A8E5-A1FBE84FD4F3.jpegD45D4D18-663C-4D55-B65D-2A453F53DF49.jpegC670C123-D06D-45FD-AEAA-1B02568A583C.jpeg1514A822-E67C-454D-AF07-4D134EE47A26.jpeg
 
Very good. I had thought you had done a posting on doing the Comparison and install.
 
sae version are installed, pretty straight forward install. Very nice and bright. I like them over the factory because they stay on with my high beams
 
MooneyFWD said:
I have the Sport (wish Pro was available at the time). I've never found fogs very useful on the road in general. I wanted them solely for offroad use. I will say that I really wish there was a way to turn off the auto-on when low speed turning or using my signal.
Click to expand...
AlfaOBD can turn that off
 
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