LED Light Bars

[lowfly]

Hello,
Does anyone know if LED light bars are legal in WA.
I was going to put one on my 4WD but have been told people have been stickered for them. This does not make any sense to me as there have been a few fatalities up here due to people hitting cattle, bloody madness.
Cheers

[FGII-XR6]

they are liiegal everywhere unless they comply with ADRs which I doubt

[XARATE]

As long as they are wired up as driving lights you should be fine.
The problem with led light bars (i sell them as part of my job) is they dont have much throw, they really only light up as far as your low beams (or high beams if you get the big expensive ones) but they are incredibly bright. The light is really intense and wide.
If wildlife is an issue i would recommend some lightforce HID genesis driving lights, if they dont light up enough for you, you shouldnt be driving.

[Fiesta_Man69]

Ring your insurance company first. See if it voids it...

[grandpa_spec_F6]

Mate of mine just did a trip over to WA where he's working now, has a big one up the front and two small ones at 45degree angles either side.

He could light up a small airport runway..... overkill for suburbia but out west they're a great toy to have. Interesting you say they don't throw light very far XARATE, his light up to 100m in front with ease.

[Franco Cozzo]

I've got a "Great White" small LED light bar I'm planning to put on one of my cars.

I've also got two Baja Designs Squadron LED driving lights going onto the Focus soon, to replace two Hella Rallye 4000 compacts.

I powered them up in the middle of the day inside the workshop and you could clearly see the light on the walls no matter where you shine it, so I'm excited, looks to have a lot of potential, they're a combination spot/spread each. They're butt ugly though, originally designed for motorbikes

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by grandpa_spec_F6

Mate of mine just did a trip over to WA where he's working now, has a big one up the front and two small ones at 45degree angles either side.

He could light up a small airport runway..... overkill for suburbia but out west they're a great toy to have. Interesting you say they don't throw light very far XARATE, his light up to 100m in front with ease.

I wonder how many other motorist he has blinded using them?

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by trublu

I wonder how many other motorist he has blinded using them?

With driving lights LEGALLY you trigger the relay off high beams, so you obviously wouldn't use them with other people on the road.

[XARATE]

They do have some throw to them but most of the usefull light is up close
This video sort of shows what i mean
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=PX-QA...%3DPX-QABDqVAc

[redxr8]

hi guys ! my understanding the reason people are gettiing pined is the ADR,S state that there must be a "pair"of lights ( unless motorbike ) not just one.and i all so think they dont throw the light far unless its the big ones ,but as said else were the light is very white and easy to drive behind

[Falcman0o7]

HIDs are the ducks guts! and cheap.....LED BARS are an absolute rip off.

[Smoke Pursuit]

I have HID's (lightforce 210's Gensis) on my BT-50 and they are rubbish... I have had personal experience with the Great Whites and they are amazing. I will be buying a set of them to put on every car I have when I can afford to....

They throw the light alot further then just infront of the car, must be the cheap ones your looking at XARATE!

[kempy311]

A set of 50w HID spot lights and you will be able to see everything.

[Mechan1k]

I had Lightforce 240's on my old AU ute ... halogen though .... I could still see 1km up the road ... the LEDs won't do that.

I used a combo spread/spot filter over the front of them as well.
Another good thing about the original Lightforce non-HID lights was they were adjustable when it came to spot intensity ... you could wind them out for a wider spot beam.

And they were strong as well ... took a strike from a lump of coal that came off a truck coming the other way ... the size of 2 fists ... never left a mark on it ... and deflected it over my roof.

[Franco Cozzo]

Problem with HID in driving lights is the warmup time to get to full intensity, great for off-road use as you just leave them on, not good for country highway as you turn them off/on frequently.

Also HID ballasts don't like being flashed, easiest way to kill them.

[4.0i_SiX]

In QLD theyre perectly legal if theyre wired up with a seperate switch that only works on the High Beam circuit. They also have to be in pairs or fitted with a small divider that is removable when offroad.

[2011G6E]

On a four wheel drive forum I go on, they have been talking about some technicality in the ADRs (not sure if it's just one particular state or all of them) which says they have to be "seperate"and not just one long bar...something about a blanking plate being fitted in the center to make it into two "seperate" lights with a gap in between...for some reason.

Here's a cut and paste from the other forum of the link to the website with the restrictions...it is Queensland now that I look at it again...
http://www.cviaq.com.au/PDFs/VSI%20H...ng%20Lamps.pdf

The Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) has recently dealt with a number of issues relating to the
fitment of LED light bar to the front bumper bar and bull bar on some vehicles. TMR is providing the following
advice to assist vehicle owners to comply with the regulatory requirements.

In addition to the main-beam (driving) and the low-beam (passing) headlamps, additional driving lamps may be
installed as long as they comply with the following requirements:
• Two or four driving lamps may be installed;
• Any additional driving lamps must only be used in conjunction with the main-beam (driving) headlamps.
• Driving lamps must be at the front of the vehicle and fitted in such a way that the light from them does
not cause discomfort to the driver either directly or indirectly through the rear-view mirrors and/or other
reflecting surfaces of the vehicle;
• The driving lamps must be able to be lit only when the main-beam headlamp switch is in “ON” position;
• The colour of the light emitted by driving lamps should be white;
• Driving lamps fitted are not required to comply with ADR 46/00 which contains the photometric
requirements headlamps;
• ADR13/00 requires that driving lamps, if fitted, must be fitted in one or two pairs.

And this is the pertinent part:

In cases where a single LED light bar is fitted in the centre as one continuous light unit, the requirement to fit
driving lamps in pairs could be easily met by fitting an opaque cover plate at the centre of the light bar to
simulate the appearance of two separate light units. The width of such opaque dividing cover should be
enough to distinguish the arrangement as two separate light units. For example, the ability of an observer
standing 200m in front of the vehicle to perceive the light bar as two separate light units may be used as an
approximate guide.

So legally you can fit them...but to meet the law a "blanking plate" must cover up the center to give them the appearance of a pair of lights. Kind of.

I suspect however it's one of those "depends on the copper who pulls you over and how picky he is" kind of things...I mean, look at how many people have HID conversions in their car headlights illegally...to meet the law, the vehicle must have come with them as standard or an option, and be fitted with headlight washers. How many people do that?

[lowfly]

I might just stick to my 35w hid's that are on there now, the idea was to have 2 hid spots for the distance and the led light bar for the spread. Oh well.