Light Bars

Yuglamron · Guru

Light Bars

peter_s · Veteran Member

yes sign of the times..... rules are for those who want to obey them which ain't many these days

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Where they on or fitted ?

Yuglamron · Guru

Daylight so not on.

However I did see a 4x4 Police vehicle with one fitted on top of their Nudge bar in the sight line of the driver. The actual ADR states that you can have light bars on top of the vehicle if they are on the front half of the vehicle. Also not on top of Bull bars if they are the sight line of the driver. Must be wired with a switch to only be on when high beam is selected.

They must pose no threat from the fittings or the light bar itself to other road users including pedestrians. What about the Bull Bar itself?

The line of sight rule is a real ambiguous one. In line of sight of the driver. A six foot person will have a different sight line from a four foot nine person.

Hey Jim · Guru

Yuglamron wrote:
I had to drive from Ipswich to Hervey Bay over the Easter Holiday and just out of sheer cussedness I counted the SUV's 4x4's heading towards me with illegally fitted light bars.( Located on top of the Bull Bar)
Figure was over 150.
Is it just me or is just the times we live in that nobody complies with the rules these days?

Well they could have saved some money then, by going to Spec Savers in the first place. biggrin biggrin biggrin

Jim

KFT · Guru

G'day Yuglamron

Re this comment:"However I did see a 4x4 Police vehicle with one fitted on top of their Nudge bar in the sight line of the driver."

just so you know

Emergency service vehicles are exempt from those rules

regards

Frank

Yuglamron · Guru

Thanks for that Frank I was unaware that the Police were exempt.

KevKim37 · Senior Member

As of Sept 2015 New Qld Vehicle Stds for Lighting 15.2 allows fitting of LED Light Bars on the front of and on the Roof with Strict Stipulations on the the fitting and operation of including Line of Sight from Drivers position if fitted on the front of a vehicle which includes on a Bullbar.

I myself can't believe that they allowed this through.

Cheers Kev.

03_Troopy · Guru

KevKim37 wrote:
As of Sept 2015 New Qld Vehicle Stds for Lighting 15.2 allows fitting of LED Light Bars on the front of and on the Roof with Strict Stipulations on the the fitting and operation of including Line of Sight from Drivers position if fitted on the front of a vehicle which includes on a Bullbar.
I myself can't believe that they allowed this through.
Cheers Kev.

Why not Kev? If they are not in the drivers line of site, they conform.

Actually, the line of site rule is a bit iffy anyway. I can see the top half of mine from the drivers seat (so technically it is my line of sight), yet it doesn't obstruct my effective forward view, any more than my bonnet does. The area of road obstructed is about a meter in front of normal view, and only to a width of about a meter wide in the left half of the view.

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Better things to worry about .

Hylife · Guru

There is an exact UN/ECE/ADR standard formula for the range that the top of the low beam hotspot must fall within, and i have listed it below if you are interested.
We have all experienced lights that seem to shine too high, especially when you chuck a whole heap of weight on to the rear of the vehicle such as a caravan.

The high beam standard is a mirror of the low beam. EG the reflector and/or filament occulting cup design must split the beam in half for low Vs high beams.
Almost ALL spot lights and light bars fail this test and would be deemed illegal for public road use.

PS, for high beam you must dip to low beam when within 200 meters of an approaching or following vehicle.

--------------------------------------

Low beam alignment test

Measure height to middle of headlamp lens.
Place coloured adhesive tape on a matt surface wall at exact same height.
Mark a line straight down wall and on floor at 90^o to the wall for 6 to 7 meters
Position headlight on 90^o line so headlight lens is 4 meters (12 feet) away from wall.

Light hotspot should be dead centre on vertical mark with an elbow to the left (unlike European designed car lens which elbow to the right for left hand drive).
Minimal light should illuminate wall above mark and the hotspot must all be below the mark.

Adjust headlamp housing to re-align if necessary.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Highest point of Top of hotspot in millimetres is,
Distance to test wall in meters, times (the height minus 1000 in millimetres), divided by 92
D(h-1000)/92
EG Distance is 4 meters and height is 700 millimetres
4(700-1000)/92
= 4x300/92 as a negative
= 13 millimetres below the mark for top of hotspot

Lowest point of top of hotspot in millimetres is, distance to test wall in meters, times height in millimetres, divided by 25
EG 4x700/25
= 112 millimetres below the mark for the top of the hotspot

So in this example the top of the hotspot must be within 13 to 112 millimetres below the wall mark.

03_Troopy · Guru

Hylife wrote:
There is an exact UN/ECE/ADR standard formula for the range that the top of the low beam hotspot must fall within, and i have listed it below if you are interested.
We have all experienced lights that seem to shine too high, especially when you chuck a whole heap of weight on to the rear of the vehicle such as a caravan.
The high beam standard is a mirror of the low beam. EG the reflector and/or filament occulting cup design must split the beam in half for low Vs high beams.
Almost ALL spot lights and light bars fail this test and would be deemed illegal for public road use.
PS, for high beam you must dip to low beam when within 200 meters of an approaching or following vehicle.
--------------------------------------
Low beam alignment test

Measure height to middle of headlamp lens.
Place coloured adhesive tape on a matt surface wall at exact same height.
Mark a line straight down wall and on floor at 90^o to the wall for 6 to 7 meters
Position headlight on 90^o line so headlight lens is 4 meters (12 feet) away from wall.

Light hotspot should be dead centre on vertical mark with an elbow to the left (unlike European designed car lens which elbow to the right for left hand drive).
Minimal light should illuminate wall above mark and the hotspot must all be below the mark.

Adjust headlamp housing to re-align if necessary.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Highest point of Top of hotspot in millimetres is,
Distance to test wall in meters, times (the height minus 1000 in millimetres), divided by 92
D(h-1000)/92
EG Distance is 4 meters and height is 700 millimetres
4(700-1000)/92
= 4x300/92 as a negative
= 13 millimetres below the mark for top of hotspot

Lowest point of top of hotspot in millimetres is, distance to test wall in meters, times height in millimetres, divided by 25
EG 4x700/25
= 112 millimetres below the mark for the top of the hotspot

So in this example the top of the hotspot must be within 13 to 112 millimetres below the wall mark.

The OP is talking about where a LED light bar is mounted though.

Hylife · Guru

03_Troopy wrote:
The OP is talking about where a LED light bar is mounted though.

But the point I make is, that almost all light bars are illegal if you use them on public roads regardless of where you mount them.

It is not illegal to have lightbars fitted wherever you want, if they are not turned on. When they are off they are simply bling (decoration).

What is illegal is to use them on public roads if they are outside of the regulations.

If you want to mount 50,000 lumens of LEDs on the roof front of your caravan that is quite legal, so long as they are never turned on on a public road.

PS, Only a motorcycle is permitted to have a single source of light. Light sources on other vehicles must have two (or more) sources of white light and they must be spaced equidistantly on the front (a mirrored position on each side) within certain distances and heights from the corners etc etc.

Most folks don't fit two equidistantly spaced light bars, or fit them within the correct position, or use lightbars that meet the UN/ECE/ADR spec for light spread, but that doesn't matter if they won't ever use them on a public road.

Wire them up so they have their own on-off switch which can only be turned on when your main headlights are on high beam with an internal warning lamp and all is OK.

rockylizard · Guru

Hylife wrote:
But the point I make is, that almost all light bars are illegal if you use them on public roads regardless of where you mount them.
It is not illegal to have lightbars fitted wherever you want, if they are not turned on. When they are off they are simply bling (decoration).
What is illegal is to use them on public roads if they are outside of the regulations.
If you want to mount 50,000 lumens of LEDs on the roof front of your caravan that is quite legal, so long as they are never turned on on a public road.
PS, Only a motorcycle is permitted to have a single source of light. Light sources on other vehicles must have two (or more) sources of white light and they must be spaced equidistantly on the front (a mirrored position on each side) within certain distances and heights from the corners etc etc.
Most folks don't fit two equidistantly spaced light bars, or fit them within the correct position, or use lightbars that meet the UN/ECE/ADR spec for light spread, but that doesn't matter if they won't ever use them on a public road.
Wire them up so they have their own on-off switch which can only be turned on when your main headlights are on high beam with an internal warning lamp and all is OK.