Thread: Led light bar

Originally Posted by SWH

and A driver must not use, or allow to be used, any light fitted to or in the driver’s vehicle to dazzle, or in a way that is likely to dazzle, another road user.

High level ones could be done under this one?

If you have driving lights on the rof be careful when you use them.

Heres a video from my dash cam, on a wet night.
you can see the dif btwn low & High, then LED bar on
and when dipping back to low for a oncoming car at the end.

Im usually driving blind in the wet at night, Like I said before I hate driving lights but these LED light bars are just great.

The difference is a lot more noticeable in real life because the camera auto iris compensates, so brightens the low beam and dims the LED.
I'll try some stills tonight with my handheld digital camera set on manual

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLNa5uiYwO0]22" led light bar - YouTube[/ame]

Originally Posted by Scouse

The locally put together Tomb Raider edition of the Defender also had them as standard.

Just because they are fitted doesn't make them legal to be used. A classic example of this this some years ago was in relation to radar detectors. You you buy them and fit them but get caught using them and .........same thing with lights and this topic has been discussed for more than thirty years since I had to attend the Vehicle and Safety Training School with Vic Pol Traffic Operations and nothing has changed.

Originally Posted by mervwho

Just because they are fitted doesn't make them legal to be used. A classic example of this this some years ago was in relation to radar detectors. You you buy them and fit them but get caught using them and .........same thing with lights and this topic has been discussed for more than thirty years since I had to attend the Vehicle and Safety Training School with Vic Pol Traffic Operations and nothing has changed.

But your experience is specific to Victoria - as SWH posted above, it doesn't _technically_ seem to be illegal to and and use (within guidelines) in Qld, and other states may be quite different too. As per radar detectors - still legal in WA!

Cheers,

Gordon

Photos taken at f3.3 1/4sec hand held

Gate is 50m , White Horizontal fence rails other side of road 80m

22" 120W LED light bar

LOW BEAM


HIGH BEAM


HIGH BEAM + LED

In New South Wales the following may apply, the regulations are extensive and I cannot find any clear statement.

So the Road Transport (Vehicle Registration) Regulation 2007 appears to apply in NSW.

1. There is no definition of headlights.
2. "high-beam", in relation to a headlight or front fog light fitted to a vehicle, means that the light is built or adjusted so that when the vehicle is standing on level ground, the top of the main beam of light projected is above the low-beam position.
3. Part 5 of Schedule 2 to the Regulations appears to cover Lights and Reflectors.
4. Reg 84 says a light, except a high beam headlight, must not dazzle the driver of another vehicle;
5. Reg 86 (5) says “Additional pairs of headlights may be fitted to a motor vehicle with 4 wheels built after 1969;
6. Reg 89 says if 2 or more additional headlights are fitted to a motor vehicle with 4 or more wheels, the additional headlights must as far as possible be fitted in pairs;
7. Reg 90 is to the effect that additional headlights must be white and project its main beam ahead of the vehicle and must not reflect off the vehicle into the drivers eyes;
8. Reg 92 in effect means additional headlights must not operate when low beam is on and must have a dipping device to change from high beam to low beam;
9. Cannot see anything about not mounting on roof rack;
10. However other Regs say can’t have anything protruding from in front of the front bumper bar (not got reference for that).


Of course everybody should do their own checking.



So mostly this appears consistent with QLD.

I believe you are fine with a pair of spot lights or a centre mounted LED bar.

I have not been able to find this in writing though.

I looked into this in detail a while back.

There are a few grey areas.
LED Light bars could be classified as either a single light, or a bunch of small lights.
Either way, that is not on, as all states I am aware of stipulate that lights must be fitted in pairs, and a maximum of 2(?) additional pairs are allowed.

However - as for the mounting height, most states do not stipulate a height, and indeed, many cabover trucks come with roof mounted lights from the factory.

The only issue is that most states say that headlights must be mounted at the FRONT of a vehicle. It is unclear whether the roof on a bonetted vehicle classifies as the front.

I suspect the rules will be clarified eventually wrt light bars. I tried to get a ruling from the WA transport engineers over the phone, but they said I would need to send a written submission... (which they will take months to process)...