piaa 510

[Kurt Henzler]

does anybody like their piaa foglights. i just put a set a piaa 510 fog lights in my road armor bumper and they just plain suck. you not even tell when you turn them on and off while driving. the light is so weak i could hardly tell how to set them. i used the stock wire harness, but checked it first and it has 12. 7 volts to the plugs. for 200 bucks they should do something . is it because they are yellow and any show against snow or rain? my factory fog lights in oem bumper were white or clear and seemed to work pretty good. they lit the sides of the road nice.



what do i do?

 

[Chipstien]

Get rid of the Ion lens. Order the clear..... works awesome. BTW, if you want them to work better then ditch the factory harnes and use the one that came with the lights. Think of the wiring as a hose. You can take a 1/4"hose and a 1" hose and hook them to the same source. Then screw a guage onto the end of both of them. You will get the same pressure but the GPH will be nowhere close.

With wiring it is the same, just look at pressure as voltage and GPH as Amperage. In short, the factory system is VERY restrictive.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

As Chipstien said - use the PIAA harness. There's no way the factory harness is supplying the amps needed to fire up those PIAA's. I have a set of PIAA 540 Plasma Ion fog's and they work great - FAR better than the factory lights. I used the factory harness simply to replace the switch on the PIAA harness (that way my factory fog light switch in the dash still operated them) but the power for the lights is all coming from the PIAA harness.

 

[dresslered]

I'm going to have to agree with Kurt on this one. Perhaps the lens is the problem, but I think that the PIAA 540 Plasma Ion's are a complete disappointment. Perhaps because they are street legal, but we actually get fog where I live and my 20-year old Cibie 35's were much better at only 35-watts apiece.



P. S. Also, do as Steve suggests and only use the OEM harness for the switching.

 

[Berserker]

Piaa 510's work fine

I happen to have put my Road Armor bumper on last weekend. I have both models of the 510's in the bumber and 3 580's on top.



It's true that the amber lenses show up a little different are not intensely white but I think that they work great. and FYI - use the Piaa harness. It only takes a little time to put in but it's well worth it.



I have my rear lights (Piaa 1400's) connected up to my backup circuit, they're pretty dim in reverse but I also used the Piaa harness and switch and Damn! :--) Mucho difference.



My problem is deciding where to put 5 switches - and more to come... ... .

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Back to the top. I'm about ready to order PIAA 510s. Should I order the Fog kit along with the clear lenses, or just order the driving light kit? It looks like the driving lights project in a narrow long beam. I'm assuming if I get the Fog kit the beam pattern will be the Fog pattern no matter what lens, or does the lens dictate the pattern?



I saw on another thread Willyslover says to get them at https://www.litewarehouse.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=45_22&products_id=65



PIAA tells me to order bracket PN 30195 to mount on the 2nd Gen Ram.



Vaughn

 

[Bugracing]

Kurt;



I had the same problem. The 510 fogs have a bucket that surrounds the bulb. you need to cut the bucket legs off and remove the bucket from the light through the blub hole. Lighting performance will increase by about 300+ %.

 

[Cooker]

Vaughn, the bracket isn't much. I can send you a pic if you would like. I'm not sure what they are charging for just the brackets but I wouldn't pay more then $20.

 

[Un-Hemi]

If you hack out the bucket, you will degrade the performance of the fog light. You will think you have more light output, but what you are seeing is direct light from the bulb itself causing upward glare in front of the truck, just what ya don't need in fog. It would be the same as using high beams in fog. So there!

 

[Bugracing]

If you hack out the bucket, you will degrade the performance of the fog light. You will think you have more light output, but what you are seeing is direct light from the bulb itself causing upward glare in front of the truck, just what ya don't need in fog. It would be the same as using high beams in fog. So there!

As I have removed the bucket and have had the pleasure of driving in fog more frequently than I care to remember, I can safely say that your fear is unfounded. There was no glare at all; as a matter of fact, I was able to now see the edges of the road.

Remove the buckets and you will have light and will be able to see.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Interesting. Anyway can any of you guys give me an idea if the beam pattern has more to do with the bucket or the lens? I am trying to decide whether to order the Fogs or Driving set. My hope is if I get the Fogs, and order the driving lenses and bulbs, they will work well as driving lights when I swap out the glass/bulbs.



I only need fog lights about 3 months a year, but when it's pea soup, and it can get bad here at times, you really want a good fog light.



Vaughn

 

[Chipstien]

Vaughn, disregard that PM I sent ya. Apparently the reflectors are different. Knowing this, I would opt for the drining lights and then buy the Ion lens separatly. As been stated, the ion lens refracts the light so drastically that I would doubt you would get much glare. In short, the good would far out-weight the bad. Besides, like you said, Only need the fogs 3 months out of the year.



FWIW, my driving 510's worked great in the fog. Maybe not as well as the ion lenses would but certainly good enough.

 

[Un-Hemi]

Bugracing, it is concern I have, not fear. It's also my opinion that you've compromised the function of the lights by removing the buckets. However, if you're satisfied with the results, I applaud your efforts.

 

[y-knot]

Kert,

The 510's are a little small for the Road Armor bumper, they are 4" round lites and isn't your opening for a 6" round lite? They have several versions of the 510 what is it that you have? I have a set of 510's I mounted in my rear bumper and use as strong back-up lites and hook-up lights. They work very well for that. They are also very effective at getting rid of a tailgater in the dark. Up front I installed a set of 525's, they are simply awesome. They look cool with their back lite LEDs while off, and give very good illumination with their dual pattern lighting that you control from the cab. I do not use them alot, but really like them when I do. I also have the Piaa 9004 head light lamps, they work great with the re-power headlight harness.

 

[Jengle]

I mounted a set of 540s in the fog style, in my buckstop. At first, I was unimpressed with both the pattern and color of the light, and seriously thought of dumping them in favor of something brighter. Then I got caught in some heavy fog at night in mountains. The color washed out, so the light looked clear, and they lit up the road great. I would have been sorry if I had ditched them. They are staying right there, and if I need driving lights, I'll get an above the bumper set, and mount them there. And yes, use the PIAA harness to power the lights. I did and use the factory harness to fire the relay, with a factory switch. Never had a problem in almost a year that I have had them.