Led headlights

[Skylarking]

In fairness though if you were ever pulled over you could argue that nowhere in NSW legislation does it state that led headlights are illegal. Under NSW roads and transport regulations part 7 lights and reflectors it mentions lights must be white and angled down as not to dazzle oncoming drivers

And the policeman would say NSW vehicles must comply with Australian Design Rules which specify much much more than headlights must be white and angled down...

So if the police notice your led lights and you start the “I know better” spiel, heck you may end up with much more than just globe issues to fix

Reality is that using led “adapter globes” on halogen headlamp assemblies is illegal on road cars. That’s a fact.

You may get away with driving with these illegal headlamps for quite a while but eventually the authorities will target such issues and you’ll be getting a ticket

 

[lmoengnr]

Ok, hands up...
There are many drivers out there using illegal LED and HID low beam globes in projector housings.

How many have been stopped by police, and defected and fined for using non ADR approved globes?

 

[BrettP75]

Thankfully I’ve never been stopped the many times I’ve driven past highway patrol at night

 

[rtmpgt]

Yes, LEDs are not ADR compliant unless they come new on your car. Mostly because the light pattern that most LEDs chuck out is entirely different to the light pattern that regular bulbs chuck out.

Now in saying that, if you spend good dosh on some nice LED bulbs (Morimoto's 2-Stroke kits come to mind) you'll get a pattern that's pretty damn close to your stock headlights due to the placement of the LED chips (They attempt to get as close as possible to the placement of a filament on a stock H7 bulb) and you may end up getting away with having them, but don't blame me if a cop nicks you for it.

Most eBay bulbs are simply designed to be high intensity bulbs. They use huge COB chips which don't accurately reflect the design of H7 filaments, so you get all kinds of weird scattering artefacts.

In saying that though, by all stretches of the law, LED bulbs are illegal.

 

[mpower]

Ok, hands up...
There are many drivers out there using illegal LED and HID low beam globes in projector housings.

How many have been stopped by police, and defected and fined for using non ADR approved globes?

not enough, if the purge was ever a thing i'd smash the lot.

 

[BrettP75]

not enough, if the purge was ever a thing i'd smash the lot.

Does that mean you’re for or against LED headlights?

 

[BrettP75]

Interestingly my wife was on the phone today to Service NSW and they said there is nothing in their legislation to state that LED’s are illegal, and when you read ADR46 there is nothing in there to say you can’t have them either.

 

[Mp64]

Oops forgot about this thread. Just an update on the LEDs, after I turned them on again there was no more smoke. Maybe they just had some dust in them or something.

Also to add to the discussion, my lights are quite bright, not overly intense compared to a lot of the cars that have OEM led lights. I've driven past plenty of police in the last 2 weeks, as theres a police station on my route to work. Haven't had any issues thus far

 

[Skylarking]

Interestingly my wife was on the phone today to Service NSW and they said there is nothing in their legislation to state that LED’s are illegal, and when you read ADR46 there is nothing in there to say you can’t have them either.

Current ADRs lighting regs reference EU regs which have huge sections defining light output levels, beam pattern, light colour, self levelling, washing systems, even abrasion resistance, etc... been down that rabbit hole... Sadly, it’s often the case the plods at the state registration authorities don’t know their left elbow from their arse and aren’t current with the latest regs or how to correctly interpret them. Even sadder is that if you ring a second time and speak to someone else you often get a different perspective.

So if you believe LED adapter globes are ok in halogen headlamps, get the NSW RMS to reply in writing, quoting the specific globes and the vehicle you plan to use them on. You may find the answer may be different

 

[Skylarking]

Oops forgot about this thread. Just an update on the LEDs, after I turned them on again there was no more smoke. Maybe they just had some dust in them or something.

Also to add to the discussion, my lights are quite bright, not overly intense compared to a lot of the cars that have OEM led lights. I've driven past plenty of police in the last 2 weeks, as theres a police station on my route to work. Haven't had any issues thus far

Fact the police are lazy and CBF applying the law or haven’t been told they are targeting headlight issues this week never turns something illegal into legal... just means there is apathy for the moment.