D40 Canopy mounted driving lights

[flashum1]

Heres a little someting i've been working on.

Found I needed a flashing light on the roof for site access & breakdowns but really didn't want a cig lighter & magnetic one.
Started looking into light bars similar to tow trucks but they were way too dear.
Stumbled upon strobe led's on ebay, got 12 of them with strobe controller for $40. spent a couple of arvos in mates shed drinkin rum cans and made custom bar to mount on canopy between front plastic rail mounts.
Decided to fit a couple of tabs for driving lights as i dont have a bullbar to mount them to aswell as a fold-down uhf antenna mount for the same reason. (not mounted yet as no uhf yet). cheap powdercoater @ $40
Aquired a set of hella rallye 4000's which had new lens/reflectors but the bodies were a bit average so i sanded em back and applied black hammertone which i think looks pretty good. got white plastic plastic covers fitted now, looks great.
not real happy with sikaflex finish around mounts, damn stuff skinned up quicker that i thought it would and it stretched when i was removing masking tape, oh well, you get that. canopy roof has been strengthened at mounts with alloy plate inside to prevent any flex from such heavy lights.
before anyone tells me, yes i know there are no bulbs fitted, hid's coming soon with slim ballasts to mount inside light body.
led strobe controller in overhead sunglass pocket. wiring only thru to canopy yet but hopefully leds will be done tomorrow.
plan is a uniden uh-015sx remote face uhf, face to be mounted in o/head sunglass pocket too and i've got kenworth rocker switches to go in bottom of centre console next to door lock button.

one concern though, does anyone know if roof mounted driving lights are legal?
i'm aware they may not be too efficient but hid's will fix that one right up!

thanks for reading

 

[KraftyPg]

I can't speak for other states but in Vic driving lights mounted like that are illegal. To be legal in Vic they must have a bar running over the top of them that is attached to the rest of the light frame.

Mounted in a roof rack is fine as long as there is a piece of steel of the same construction that the roof rack is made of going over the top so that anything supposedly hits the bad and not the lights. Same goes for lights mounted on the tops of bull bars or bars behind the cabin.

I've know coppers down here to do blitzes on them because so many Commodore and Falcon ute drivers round here use their bars to mount as many lights as they can fit so that when they go to Deni they can show off. The copper rarely fine people for it despite the legalities and seem to prefer reminding people of the rule which just makes them remove the lights for a few weeks before putting them back on but I do know of a few people who have been fined for it because they were being smart arses

 

[flashum1]

cheers for info krafty.
see heaps and heaps of fourbys up here with em, i was just assuming due to the distance from the roads surface theyd be illegal.
ive put the white covers on so at least i can plead the case of 'offroad use only'?

 

[KraftyPg]

I'm pretty sure our ruling down here is something along the lines of damage to people if you hit them just the same as it is with bullbars and things mounted to the top bars. Realistically though if someone's hitting the lights on your roof the presence of a bar might mean you keep your lights in one piece but doesn't do much for the person

 

[flashum1]

yup, if ya hit someone hard enuf to mount em on ya roof, i dont think theyre gonna give a **** about a couple of lights!
rallye 4000's would have to be one of the tuffest lights around i reckon, full metal body lights are few and far between now days, thats the main reason i chose them for this position, didnt wanna tap a little branch or somethin and rip the lights off.

 

[Old.Tony]

I believe NSW has a similar law to Vic - you cannot have any part of the driving light showing above the top of a fixed part of the vehicle. A roof-rack that has some depth in it (like the large Rhino racks) can have the driving lights mounted in front, but not on top.

I can't find the relevant legislation at the moment but it'll be around somewhere. If I remember to go hunting for it again I'll post it.

Krafty makes a very good point though, about drawing attention to ones' self.

 

[flashum1]

yeah, thought about the cons of the attention thing but also thought the pros of increasing night visibility should far outweigh?

i think it also be a good way to stop shopping trolley damage, no more undercover carparks (just shy of 2mtrs roughly)

 

[Matt76]

Thats easy, just modify the light bar so that it has a loop going over the top!

 

[KraftyPg]

Show me a Commodore or Falcon ute driver who has spent more money on lights and mud flaps than they have on the purchase of their car who's prime goal isn't too bring attention to themselves.

Despite mounting all driving lights on the old work trucks on the top of the bullbars I can see the reasoning behind the law. Sure being hit by a bullbar is probably going to ruin your day no matter where the lights are mounted but it's like Tony has said before, the law is made for Joe Average and can't specify everything. Fishing rod holders, aerial mounts and lights could all be damaging to a pedestrian but while rod holders might be more dangerous making a law that covers any items rather than specific items does make more sense.

 

[Old.Tony]

making a law that covers any items rather than specific items does make more sense.

It's the KISS principle at work.

 

[flashum1]

if needs be, i really like it the way it is but if authorities tell me to i guess i have to.
or just take driving lights off alltogether and bite the bullet and buy a bullbar?
another advantage of current setup is that if i need to get undercover i can just remove the lights.

 

[KraftyPg]

It's the KISS principle at work.

Put your painted face on everything you possibly can then sell it at a huge mark up and you get to screw all the women? I'm not quite sure that's the principle I was thinking of Tony.

Oh wrong KISS

 

[roundy]

Does anyone know the definite ruling on this one? Is it a state by state thing?
Was looking to put some smaller lights on the roll bar today and could only find the adr that says no light 1200mm above road, no more than 6 total and no odd numbers. For what it's worth i reckon it looks the goods and will probably put some on anyway on a separate switch and covers "for offroad only". Neat work too flashum!

 

[Old.Tony]

Your roof is over 1200mm above the road, so in the absence of any state-specific ruling, the ADR is probably the "fallback" position.

But, as always, there's a lot of people out there with lights up there and as long as you're not deliberately drawing the ire of law enforcement, you shouldn't have a problem.

 

[Leprechaun]

A problem with driving lights up on the roof is the light tends to reflect off the bonnet, I found it so annoying on my Landcruiser that I ended up painting my bonnet matte black to try and cut down the glare.

 

[flashum1]

A problem with driving lights up on the roof is the light tends to reflect off the bonnet, I found it so annoying on my Landcruiser that I ended up painting my bonnet matte black to try and cut down the glare.

yeah thought that might have been an issue, hopfully mine are mounted far enough back for this not to happen? guess we'll see soon enough.

 

[flashum1]

as for the height from the road issue, one of the trucks i work on is a new scania and it has factory driving lights mounted in the exterior sunvisor above the windscreen.

i'll just have to hope for the best.

 

[Leprechaun]

Leave the covers on, and don't have them wired to high beam, may help the cops be a little more sympathetic. They don't seem to be enforcing the law anymore, I got pulled over several times when I had mine in the early 90's, now every second 4WD seems to be getting away with it.

 

[flashum1]

pretty sure any forward facing additional lighting needs to be wired into high beam circuit with an independant switch also, both high beam and independant switch need to be on. ive been defected for having driving lights not connected to high beam before, mind you it was about 10 years ago.
hopefully, in my defence, not having a bodgey looking light setup should also deter any attention too?

 

[Leprechaun]

yes I meant independent switched.