Roof Top Lights

Now going back to 2001 when I last had a look at the Vic RWC book......,

6 forward facing lights only,
No forward facing lights above 2m from ground level,
Any auxillary lights are required to be wired up to only come on with high beam unless they are to be used as fog lights.

Fog lights are to be NOT white in colour and must not exceed 35w
(I think, cant recall but thats normal lowbeam in most cars) or must not exceed the lowbeams power output.

Fog lights are not meant to come on unless the head lights are on.

Now in saying this, Ive got freinds that are involved in the B&S Ute set and they have normally more than 6 lights forward facing and rarely wire things up properly and have not had any probs with the coppers or insurance co.s when they get into accidents which most of them have done here and there.

It is normally a matter of using a bit of comon sense, wire them up through the high beams with thier onwn switchs for each pair so you can run the bull bar driving lights separately without the roof ones on the road but run the roff lights off road.

Clarkie came up with a bit of info on lights above the bull bar etc a couple of years ago re rally lighting etc but again this is all Vic regs.

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Originally Posted by mcrover

Fog lights are to be NOT white in colour and must not exceed 35w
(I think, cant recall but thats normal lowbeam in most cars) or must not exceed the lowbeams power output.

Fog lights are not meant to come on unless the head lights are on.

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Fog lights may be yellow or white. Fog lights must not be used in conjunction with hadlights, but must be wired so that they may not be used without the vehicle's side, tail & number plate lights. They may not be used except in conditions of poor visibility such as fog, mist, rain, smoke. It is an offence to use them in clear conditions or in conjunction with headlights. Source of this is Qld. Transport. If I could only find the publication I would quote the references.

Regs for these sort of things are a state govt matter so they differ from state to state. I have been out of the motor trade since the mid 1980s but I used to do many roadworthy inspections. The Vic regulations back then were that any auxilliary lamps must be fitted in pairs and the CENTRE of the aux lights must be not higher than the CENTRE of the vehicle headlamps, they must be wired to come on only when high beam is selected but must also be able to be switched off when high beam is on. Obviously this makes rooftop lights illegal. If you have a pair up there just for 'decoration' then they are illegal twice- (a) because of where they are, and (b) because they don't work!
Roadworthy requirements for new vehicle manufacturers are no different from old vehicles. I was in a toyota dealership when the 60 series cruisers came out; the wagons were designed to have the number plate in the centre of the tailgate but this was above the height required by vic laws, so toyota had to supply and fit a different rear bumper bar with number plate mounting and lights, and fit a stupid-looking badge arrangement in the tailgate to cover the holes!
Having said all that, i have 2 bull lights on my roofrack (the rack only goes on for trips). They are fantastic for avoiding roos on outback roads with long grass at the sides. I run the wires up through my snorkel.

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Originally Posted by POD

Roadworthy requirements for new vehicle manufacturers are no different from old vehicles.

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The regulations for roof mounted lights changed in regards to new vehicles a few years ago which is why the Tomb Raider Defender & Jeep have them. There is a cut off year though so it makes them illegal for older cars.
This is NSW, not too sure on other states.

Jock...

I have yet to be picked up by the boys in blue for my setup and I do quite a few klms on the freeway...

4 x IPF 800's on the roofrack
2 x LF XGT240's on the bullbar

I now think they are a bit of overkill as you really dont need that much light, they do look cool though...

Shane

http://www.aulro.com/afvb/attachment...ullbar-001.jpg

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Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

Fog lights may be yellow or white. Fog lights must not be used in conjunction with hadlights, but must be wired so that they may not be used without the vehicle's side, tail & number plate lights. They may not be used except in conditions of poor visibility such as fog, mist, rain, smoke. It is an offence to use them in clear conditions or in conjunction with headlights. Source of this is Qld. Transport. If I could only find the publication I would quote the references.

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How can you use fog lights NOT with headlights ?

Sounds like poppycock to me.

The issue of roof-mounted driving lights has been discussed at lengths on various fora.

I checked with RTA some time ago and there is no height restriction for driving lights so they can be mounted anywhere you like. The issue here is that they must face forward. If there is any doubt - like lights mounted on a roll bar that can potentially be turned backwards - the boys in blue will get you. If the lights are mounted in front of an object - like a roof rack - then there is no potential for them to be turned any other way.

Factory fitted lights in Jeeps were legal as they were in pods and oriented forward.

Anyway, my 2 cents' worth

-- Irek

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Originally Posted by VladTepes

How can you use fog lights NOT with headlights ?

Sounds like poppycock to me.

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Actually Vlad, it’s not poppycock at all, Brian is right on the money.

In QLD, it is an offence to drive with your headlights on while your fogs are on.

Furthermore, roof mounted lights are not only legal in QLD but Qld Transport has set regulations on where to mount them and how they are to be operated ( basically the same as bumper mounted driving lights ).

As to the rest of Australia, you need to check the rules but on a recent trip to Melbourne, I passed heaps of semis with roof mounted lights.

Never seen roof lights on semis with roof lights before so I would guess that the laws have been changed.

If you want to sort through all the info, here is QLD’s Road rules.

Queensland Road Rules legislation

My two bob's worth is as follows;
If you want to impress a lot of school aged kids, great,
but if you want vision, any professional driver will tell you that the further the source of light is from your line of vision the more effective the light is! (Watch a truck in fog- low mounted lights, usually on low beam, and a high elevation for the driver and he can see far further than you can in a car because he isnt peering in to a highly reflective wall of moisture!)
Its called physics I believe.
Regards
Glen