Reverse light brightness

[Ranga]

Anyone know of the legalities of reverse lights? I' m looking to fit a new reverse light to my tray modifications, and was looking at options. Plenty of LED style flood/spot/work lights on the market, but I vaguely recall that a reverse light can't be too bright. Any ideas?

[trout1105]

I have a couple of small LED lights mounted on my rear bumper for reversing lights.
They are angled down but they light up 30-40m behind the truck when in use, The same or less light than a standard set of headlights on low beam.

[austastar]

Hi,
I put a pair of LED work lights under the back of the tray. They give better light than the pre Traxide up grade headlights.
Not positive on the legalities, but a cab switched relay in just the LED circuit would solve any unforseen problems provided the original lamps still operated as per regulations.
Cheers

[Bigbjorn]

Check the Australian Design Rules website. Brightness and positioning of reverse lights are covered in detail.

Mine are illegal but I can see clearly behind with them. I have a 5 3/4" 100w QH driving light on one side and a 5 3/4" high beam QH headlight on the other with both beams wired in. They are also mounted higher than the rules state. No copper or pedantic Transport Inspector has twigged this yet. Any time I have been pulled over in one of those roadside licence/rego/safety inspections all they were interested in was tread on the tyres, current licence, and vehicle registered. Sometimes they ask to check the lights. "OK, Sir, all working, off you go." TMR don't do these much any more but one time they would set up for days on end on a main road in an unsighted location that could not be avoided. It seemed that any older vehicle, say 10+ years, got pulled over.

[DeeJay]

Bigbjorn,
I would love to see where in ADR there are references can you post a link??
-I fitted a fairly powerful LED floodlight after finding no restrictions. Spent a lot of time looking too. The only ADR's I could find specify a white light located no higher than 1200 or lower than 250mm
This Hella reference is not much help either.

http://db.hella.com.au/downloads/Hella%20ADR%20Guide_sml.pdf

[gromit]

Here's some bedtime reading for you.......

Vehicle Standard (Australian Design Rule 1/00 - Reversing Lamps) 2005 (https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2005L03873)
Vehicle Standard (Australian Design Rule 19/01 - Installation of Lighting and Light-Signalling Devices on L-Group Vehicles) 2007 (https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2016C00338)

Colin