Lightbar on Sports Bar

[shaunv8]

Hi All,

Im thinking about mounting a 50" lightbar on the rear sports bar. I dont have a bull / nudge bar at front and thought this may be an option.

Has anyone done this?

Can any of you give some pros / cons?

Thanks

 

[Old.Tony]

1270mm .. that's a big light bar.

As long as you don't get any light shining in through the back window it should be fine in terms of safety although you won't get much light immediately in front of the car. LEDs are prone to spreading the light so even if they're spots, you'll get a bit of the beam in through the back window - you might need a plate underneath to stop that.

You'll also find that the roof will cast a shadow for you - handy that it will keep the light off the bonnet, but will also stop the light from casting on the ground in front of the car too.

 

[happy john]

And paint the white antenna black hey Tony.

 

[Old.Tony]

^ absolutely!

 

[Aussie Frontier]

I have 2 x 100 watt led bars mounted on my sports bar and as the boys have pointed out the roof will cast a big shadow.Am going to be upping mine to a 40" 240watt ( 24 x 10watt cree ) bar shortly , all spots no floods .LEDS flood light everywhere so dont bother with flood beams go straight for the spot.I will be taking one of the 100 watt bars and mounting that in the bullbar , replacing the lower quality bar 40x 3 watt .That way I will get the main light from above and infill from the front bar

 

[04HUG]

G'day

My thinking is that the LED light-bar is for close range and I would want them on as much as possible. I have kept them low.(Behind the numberplate)
HID are for long range and won't be on in semi built up areas. I put them up high.
The other influencing factor is no bulbar to mount anything on.

 

[dirtjockey]

I don't know about WA - but I think it's the same as Queensland - it's illegal to have lights above the roof line - the coppers don't generally enforce, but they can.

 

[Old.Tony]

You can't have headlights higher than 1400mm off the ground, and you can't have driving lights that are higher than the fixtures on your roof. That's part of the reason for me slinging my light bars under my roof tray - apart from minimising the glare off my bonnet, I think they look better where they are now. Just need to do something about the GME antenna!

 

[mike1303]

You can always buy ONE rhino bar and fit them to that!
then you can move it back and forth untill it doesnt reflect off the bonnet too much... and remove it if you meet a strict mr plod to shut him up

. Just need to do something about the GME antenna!

HEAT SHRINK from jay car or plasti dip toni!

 

[jonney]

yes fit 1 x single rhino rack to the front of roof and fix the led bar to it.

 

[shaunv8]

I have hopefully got hold of a factory nudge bar so I'll fix some lights to that. Cheers for the help

 

[auz1234]

A light bar further forward is always going to give you better light then when its placed behind the driving position.

 

[Foxtrot16]

There are no height restrictions for mounting driving lamps here in WA; however, it is recommended that they are not mounted higher than the drivers eye level.

Here is a link to the Regulations - http://www.transport.wa.gov.au/mediaFiles/licensing/LBU_VS_IB_123.pdf

Go to Page 3 and read about Driving Lamps there.

Karl

 

[qecluke]

Has anyone mounted one directly above the windscreen? Will the light reflecting off the bonnet be like staring into the sun?

 

[Old.Tony]

I get enough light off my GME antenna, thank goodness my two smaller bars (3300 lumens each, roughly) are set back a little so that the bonnet is in shadow or I'd not be able to drive at night.

LEDs have the wonderful capability of throwing light just everywhere. Unlike a halogen globe which sits in a reflector and is forced off in roughly one direction, LEDs shine in every direction possible. They're superb for lighting up the ground in front of the vehicle - which is why I bought mine - but you will find them troublesome if they're shining onto part of your vehicle.

Mine are so bright that even with them shining in front of the car and not on the car, when I dip the lights to low beam I have to wait a moment for my eyes to adjust to the relative darkness. If they were shining on the bonnet I'd not bother using them!

 

[qecluke]

I think you may have answered my question right there Tony!

 

[group3j]

On the legality front, I'm of the belief (though happy to be corrected) that driving lights needed to be added in pairs of two or four. According to the ADR:

In addition to the main-beam headlamps in paragraph 6.1 of Appendix A, a further two or four driving lamps may be installed as long as they comply with clause 7.3 of this standard.

Standard can be found here:
http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2013C00238

So.....I believe, single light bars are non-compliant.

That said, I'm yet to see someone pulled over for it, but thought I'd throw it out there........

In reference to the positioning:

7.3.4.1. In width no individual specifications.
7.3.4.2. In height: no individual specifications.
7.3.4.3. In length: at the front of the vehicle and fitted in such a way that the light emitted does not cause discomfort to the driver either directly or indirectly through the rear-view mirrors and/or other reflecting surfaces of the vehicle.

No height limitation it would seem and the longitudinal location seems ambiguous (if the lights are at the front of the vehicle, how could they affect the rear view mirror???). I guess they see "front" as anywhere beyond half way along the vehicle......

 

[Old.Tony]

I've heard from a little bird that light bars are being addressed if not in a VSI but in the ADR itself mostly due to their popularity, but I would think that there's a (quite tangible, and legally compelling) argument that a light bar HAS an even number of lights within it.

My concern with light bars on sports bars isn't so much one from a legal standpoint, but from practicality. Because LEDs throw light everywhere, they could easily shine in through the back window - particularly if you get one that's low-profile like mine.

 

[Aussie Frontier]

I made up some extension brackets to elevate the lit above the bar and move it forwards so no light could shine though the back window

 

[group3j]

I've heard from a little bird that light bars are being addressed if not in a VSI but in the ADR itself mostly due to their popularity, but I would think that there's a (quite tangible, and legally compelling) argument that a light bar HAS an even number of lights within it.

My concern with light bars on sports bars isn't so much one from a legal standpoint, but from practicality. Because LEDs throw light everywhere, they could easily shine in through the back window - particularly if you get one that's low-profile like mine.

Yeah, that's interesting actually. I seem to remember reading somewhere in NCOP (but I can't find it now, so take it with a grain of salt) that driving lights had to be distinguishable as two separate light sources from 200m. Now the insanity of that is, of course, that from 200m you'd be hard pressed to tell 2 x HID spots as individual light sources. But I do remember reading that somewhere. The subsequent advice from.....QLD road authority it might have been??.....was to put a 1 inch blanking plate across the middle of the light bar (which will make allllll the difference from 200m :/).
At any rate, it would certainly be good for them to clarify it.

Oh, and I must say that it was news to me that you could have light bars above the roof line (e.g. on a roof rack); I thought it was illegal. However your paraphrase and the contents of the ADR now have me convinced otherwise.
Now I just need to figure out if having 2 x 9 inch LED light bars, 2 x HID spots and a light bar across the rack is illegal. I think there was a rule somewhere which said no more than 4 spots, but I can't seem to find that either...