Thread: legal hi/low beam hid

Originally Posted by benji

According to this, h.i.d. lights are legal on the p38s. ..
4WD Modification Legalities

Well I'm have just put myself into trouble now... Luckily I only have it on hi-beam where I generally use it only for offload. Guess I will change my low beam with Narva globes from now onwards.

I'm really glad that you post this link here, I never thought is an issue at all.

Originally Posted by AlvinD2a

Well I'm have just put myself into trouble now... Luckily I only have it on hi-beam where I generally use it only for offload. Guess I will change my low beam with Narva globes from now onwards.

I'm really glad that you post this link here, I never thought is an issue at all.

Give the Narva H4 Artic 50 a go. Comes in a pack with two main globes and two parkers. Every now and then Supercheap or Autobarn have specials on them. I love em, just perfect for the Rangie without going overboard.

I'm a big dan of Osram bulbs. Osram make a lot of bulbs for Hella. I dont know if they are the same spec but I have opened bubble packs of Hella bulbs and the base is stamped with Osram.

Now I buy my Osram Halogen bulbs from the UK at much cheaper prices than Hella, Narva or Philips.

I think Philips and Narva are rubbish. I've had a few and their higher % plus bulbs have a much shorter life than the equivilent Plus % Osram bulbs.

Happy days.

Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

Just use low beam, it doesn't dazzle. The idea of a fog light is to throw a very bright light just under the nose of the car.... They will make a very "bright" patch on the road, but do bugger all for aiding you ability to see (unless your crawling along at < 15km/h in fog so thick you can't see the end of the bonnet. Even then on a 4wd they'll be bloody near useless as they'll be mounted far to high off the ground. There a reason why the foglights are always broken on my cars ... By design there pretty much the lowest point at the front of the car ).

Low beam is much more effective for allowing others to see you.... Much better than fashion lights. Has anyone noticed how many morons drive around these days with one blown fashion light and one blown lowbeam It's like there that stupid they don't know they have:
a) foglights on ... one of which is blown
b) headlight out.

I really do see absolutely no point in trying to make low beam "really bright". Unless your travelling at less than 20km/h it's unlikely you'll stop if you "see" something due to the brighter light either way

If low beam seams really bad, a good first check would be the voltage at your globes (do the P38's have headlight relays ?) and the globes earth points. You can get a spectacular increase in light by fitting relays if there isn't close too 14volts at the lights with the engine running.

seyea,
Shane L.

I would have to agree and disagree with you there.

Yes I agree that having both fog lights and headlights on at the same time is unesessary in the city where there's plenty of street lighting around etc. But are a better alternative when used in the wet during rain ( where lights are supposed to be on anyway ), also in foggy or darkened conditions during the daylight they work a treat, so there is a reason for why they are installed on vehicles.

Now as far as legality in fog lights is concerned, again it's a grey area.

The ADR states that it is legal to be used in conjunction with your main headlights and that there is no real restrictions on how many extra lights you are allowed to have switched on on your front bumper provided that the globe wattage does not exceed the main two headlights, and that they're cambered downwards, not straight like high beams ( which in that case you must dim for oncoming traffic ). So in theory, fog lights should not be blindingly brighter unless the owner has put the wrong globes in or the lights have been misaligned.

But the twist is that State laws have their version in this regard. In Victoria you're not allowed (as of 2008 onwards) to have both lights on at the same time, it's either one or the other, and there must be a valid event for the foggies to be used I.e Rain, fog, mist, driving in forests or winding roads etc. They can now be used for daytime driving on dusty roads and desert tracks, especially now that daytime LED strip lights are rapidly becoming common in newer cars (New Range Rovers included ), its the current fad at the moment.

So a little common sense does play a part here too, use fog lights only when need to, and not just for the sake of having them. I use them regularly as mentioned by others as a form of being seen by others especially high accident zones like the citilink tunnels.

Foggies when used correctly are definetaly not like spotlights or Driving lights that must be dimmed to oncoming traffic.

This is what I use:
NEW Osram H4 Night Breaker Plus Nightbreaker Bulbs H4 | eBay

Further to "redandy3575"

As some state legislation states when fog lights can and can't be used. The manufacture needs to specifically refer to the lights as fog lights as many only refer to them as auxilary lights. Most police wont issue a fine unless the lights are actually dazzeling with the exception of some traffic cops but those guys are usually disliked by their own work collegues. The cops that so actually issue fines to people using their "Auxillary Lights" mostly rely on the fact that most poeple just pay the fine without challenge and those that do challenge it wont usually go past writting a letter because should they loose it will cost them more in court costs.

Providing they are not dazzelling, use them I say. The more you are lite up the easier you are for other to notice the more likely you are to be seen. This makes it less likely someone will pull out in front of you when you dont have the ability to stop.

Use the Auxillary lights be safe, be seen.

Happy Days.

Originally Posted by joel0407

I'm a big dan of Osram bulbs. Osram make a lot of bulbs for Hella. I dont know if they are the same spec but I have opened bubble packs of Hella bulbs and the base is stamped with Osram.

Now I buy my Osram Halogen bulbs from the UK at much cheaper prices than Hella, Narva or Philips.

I think Philips and Narva are rubbish. I've had a few and their higher % plus bulbs have a much shorter life than the equivilent Plus % Osram bulbs.

Happy days.

Depends where the Osram globes come from.

You've got the German one from Munich, and the Chinese one from the vast unknown of China.

However Osram supply Narva also. Most likely the Chinese one, but I haven't had an issue yet with the Narva's, time will tell I guess.

Just out of curiosity, you can get LED globes for P38s to replace the normal Halogen from EBay, has anyone tried them??

Jaycar sell them now, was looking at them the other day.

Seems like this is a touchy subject for some, though id reckon those hid conversions that do shine over the roofs of other vehicles are from missaligned lights, not the lack of a levelling system, though hid would make the glare worse.
Fair enough if the original link was rubbish, run it the flag pole snd see if it waves so to speak.


I cant see an issue with having hid driving lights though.

A much bigger problem than light projection is buggers on high beam who are only 500m behind you.

Originally Posted by benji

Seems like this is a touchy subject for some, though id reckon those hid conversions that do shine over the roofs of other vehicles are from missaligned lights, not the lack of a levelling system

The problem is the bulb shape, HID bulbs are long and thin. It's because of how they work that they need to be constructed like that. The light just hits the reflector at the wrong angle which causes a heap of spill light. Spill light is the light that shines out all the directions other than where the reflector shines the light, like out the sides, down but also up. The spill light is fine on high beam, it's half the reason I like to convert my driving lights. But on low beam you get all this up ward spill light that even if you angle your lights down there is still too much light being spilled up into the eyes of oncoming drivers. Most modern HID lite vehicles use a projector or a shutter. The shutter just creates a shadow across the top of the light to shade that upward spilt light.

Happy Days