Spotlights

[Guest martinkerr]

A friend of mine wants me to fit a set of spotlights he recently bought, they were sold as road "legal" but after him speaking to a fre ppl he is having doubts.

 

They are a set of 4 fixed to a metal back plate, he wants to fit them in the front grille which i thought would be ok as i see cosworths with large light pods on there bonnet and the coppers dont bother them,

 

I know fog lights have a maximum distance they can be fitted above the road but i thought driving lights were ok as long as they were in pairs and level

 

Martin

[Guest kpnuts2]

I sure your right, as long as there in pairs it doesn't matter how high or low they are cos there only on with main beam. Fog lights are different because there on with dip beam as well as main beam.

[Ivor_E_Tower]

Extra lights can only be usd with main beam. Fog lamps can only be used legally when visibility falls under 1 kilometre - quite how you prove this to Plod if he stops you, I don't know. But this certainly makes their use in broad daylight, or clear nights, illegal, as witnessed by several people who have been stopped and fined for such use. (Similar law for rear fogs to).

Any extra lights fitted must not protrude forward of the front bumper line - I think it's the construction and use regulations that cover this.

Spot/driving lamps will need to be wired such that they can only be switched on (manually or automatically) when main beam is in use - I think that use when "flashing" headlamps is also permitted.

HTH

Ivor.

[Guest Boggler]

Construction and use regs state front fog lights are for use in "fog or falling snow", rear fogs are for use in "poor visibility", you can reasonably claim that night is "poor visibility" so rears would not get you a ticket, however fronts in anything other than fog or falling snow are a breach (and as most fogs esp Galaxy are wired so that the fronts come on with the first pull, rears with the second, you couldn't just have thereas on).

 

It should also be remembered a single fog light mounted on the offside is not only acceptable but is also now a requirement on the rear of all vehicles. By the way, on the Galaxy they only tend to use the offside rear fog, however the nearside only has a blanking plate, remove this, put in a bulb and you have fogs on both sides.

 

The Construction and use regs used to state that front lights had to be mounted between 24" and 48" from the ground, I would imagine this has gone metric now.

 

Fog lights should only legally be on with dipped beam, after all if you go to main beam in fog or snow you will just get a "white out" and your visibility would be severely impaired.

 

You can mount as many "driving lights" as you wish, I believe this doesn't even have to be in pairs (there have been a number of cyclops cars ie with a central driving lamp) though you have to have one headlight at each corner, the only thing I'd be wary of is the strength of the bulbs, and whether they are E rated,plus if you look like a christmas tree then the police are bound to pull you as a matter of course, they'll probably ticket you and let you argue it out in court.

 

I wouldn't have thought a nice discrete pair of driving lamps would any undue consternation.