BMW R1200RT/R1250RT Forum

Sorry if this is a daft question.

Is there a correct height for fog lamps to be set at ( like dipped beam).
Was riding in some awful weather a couple of weeks ago and put the fog lamps on. Kept getting flash's from drivers as though I was using full beam. Asked my mate to ride in front to get his opinion and he said one of them seemed to be set too high.

Wasn't mentioned on the MOT but I suppose they just check they work.

Is there a maximum height of illumination at so many feet to adjust them to?

Good question. Is there a way to adjust them?

There's a fixing screw/bolt so I presume it's as simple as loosening it off and adjusting the tilt of the lamp.

This video shows how to check auxiliary light adjustment.

Spotlamps/ front foglamps are not part of an MOT. It all depends on where your lamps are fitted to sort the beam height out. Do you use them to be seen or use them to see?. I have 2 sets fitted on my bike. The 1st set are small round LED type. These are fitted just above the brakes on the forks and another pair is fitted to the crash bars.
The fork pair i use are day lamps. I set these by putting the bike on the stand, then walking 10 feet in front to set the beam just below my knees. These are only 10w each. For the ones on the crash bars, i did the same but this time focusing the beam just above my ankle. These are 60w oblong shaped. From there i adjusted them after a couple of ride-outs.
Takes time to get them where you want the beam to shine. So far i only get people to flash me at night with only my dipped lamps on. This is even after i had them adjusted correctly at the last MOT.

With the headlight dipped beam set correctly as per the MOT, if the auxiliary (fog) lights are set below this height, you might expect this to be acceptable.

I set mine dead ahead with a spirit level then knocked them down a bit. If I get flashed (and I haven’t recently popped an overtake) then I’ll drop them down a bit more.
That’s about as scientific as I’m gonna get.

The problem is that most don’t have a focused beam and just throw light out everywhere.

I do as Steve398 does and set them until the flashing stops

My crash bar spots are flood lamps and as you said throw light without a direct beam. I've set these lamps up to light to see the road about 10 feet in front of me. I know if i have the on that they will blind any car come towards me. I only use them on dark country lanes and make sure nothing is coming toward me.

My OEM Fog Lights, when pointed in the fog light position they work remarkably well as dip beams. The trick is not to have them pointed up as Daytime Running Lights as so many do. It takes a couple of tweaks on a country lane to get it right, but they have a good cut off and give a good white light.

As DRLs I have a pair of Denali D2 2.0 with Yellow lenses. I don't know if it's the yellow, but I've been told they're really noticeable. On their normal daylight setting they are however way too bright and not focused for dusk & night time use with dipped beam. Come dusk I use the Wonder Wheel to turn them down to minimum, but leave it at max when switching to high beam. This is burn the eyes setting and really bright.

PS Many people don't realise that you've got a CanSmart you can use the BMW Wonder Wheel or Mode button to control Denali lights. Worth reading up about for your model.

I have Clearwater Darla accessory lights with yellow lens which, like the Denali are controlled via the wonder wheel. Even at half power they’re very noticeable, to the point that on a group run I’m generally the back marker because the lead bike can see my yellow lights right up front.

Incidentally there’s a set of Clearwater Darla for sale on the UKGSER site…

Am just a poor boy without a whizzy wheel

Doctor T wrote: ↑Thu Nov 17, 2022 12:08 pm Am just a poor boy without a whizzy wheel

Less to get confused with… When I first got the bike I spent quite a while fiddling with and muttering about the ‘wonder wheel’ although I didn’t use that particular term on it much!

Doctor T wrote: ↑Thu Nov 17, 2022 12:08 pm Am just a poor boy without a whizzy wheel

Because I'm easy come, easy go,
Little high, little low,
Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to
Me, to me.

There's a hit in there somewhere.

Capt Sisko wrote: ↑Thu Nov 24, 2022 10:21 pm

Doctor T wrote: ↑Thu Nov 17, 2022 12:08 pm Am just a poor boy without a whizzy wheel

Because I'm easy come, easy go,
Little high, little low,
Any way the wind blows doesn't really matter to
Me, to me.

There's a hit in there somewhere.

Well you know fat bottom girls they make the rocking the world go around. Also, they call me mister Fahrenheit, But that's due to my high blood pressure .