Spot lights on cars

What is the legal stuff with fitting spot lights on a car or in my case a van.

I have just received some fancy led drivers. specially designed for auto use and wanted to build a couple of death rays
to fit tothe T5 as spot.
I am aware they need to go off with the main beam but are there limits as to what power is allowed.

60W max? And I think they may need to be Type-approved for road use.

60W led would be pretty bright.

Non factory fit spots wired to main beam = mot fail

Must be wired to their own switch. Hoe ever a man of your genius could make a switch to cut them offmthe main beam ring for mot im sure.

Ive got factory spots on the frontera. 🙂 they make a huge difference in the dark 🙂

Isn’t measuring lights by power in a bit out of date

This is then the beamshot from a 30 watt light by that measure and I want to make 2 of the critters

Non factory fit spots wired to main beam = mot fail

Do they ever check it? Doubt it. I’ve had them on a car, never had problem.

When was that though peter – its a recent issue thats caught alot of landy owners by surprise at test day

A mate had a pair of Cibie Oscars on the front of his Escort and on full beam they would melt tarmac. That was years ago when headlights were like having a couple of candles out the front of the car.

Trout some of your lights would cause severe blindness for oncoming drivers.

Trout, those look awesome, I’m keen to see how a pair light up the road. I had some old school Cibie Super Oscars and then a pair of big Hella lamps with 100w bulbs on my Series IIA back in the day. Amazing on main beam but the transition to a couple of tea light style Lucas headlamps on dip was terrifying, even at IIA speeds.

Spots are great off-road but I’ve always found that used on-road on dark, miserable nights, when you flick them off it’s like being plunged into darkness as if, well, as if someone has turned off the lights…

Sorry, no idea about Construction & Use regs or MOT requirements 8)

MM never thought about when you dim them and go back to the normal dipped beam
the lights on the T5 are pretty crap .

no problem putting an isolating switch in there

When was that though peter – its a recent issue thats caught alot of landy owners by surprise at test day

Fair enough, didn’t know that. 🙂
Not hard to pull a wire off or install an on/off switch though is it?

I used to just pull a wire at test time. Then they’re not lights but just decorations 🙂
New van has been treated to an HID upgrade thouhg and I don’t feel the need for spots. Dip is fantastic now, makes a huge difference.

You can have as many lights as you like wired to the main beam (doesn’t need to be on its own switch) as long as there are at least one matched pair and the aim of the whole lot is set up correctly (thats from the MOT testers manual)

Possibly the height of said spotters rather than the act f having them then.

I know several folk that have failed an mot on spot lights wired to main beam and were told they had to be on a switch – roof mounted though . Keep em out the water

I would like to know where in the mot tester manual main beam spot lights come into the mot test as it is not in the latest one or from what I can remember has never been in the older ones. You could have 100 w dip beam bulbs fitted and it would still pass the mot but you can get done if they where checked out n the open road.

i have 100w dipped bulbs, they have went through the last 5 mots no problem, they are properly aimed so they dont blind oncoming traffic though.
i never get flashed, and i rarely need main beam as dipped is so good.
this may be an option instead of spots?

the lights on the T5 are pretty crap .

You need to fit an adapted headlight wiring loom.

It’s pretty simple to do and upgrades the power at the bulb (and the brightness) massively !!

It makes it how it should have been, rather than the VW way of routing the headlight power round the whole vehicle before it gets to the bulbs.

Add a set of Osram Nightbreaker + Bulbs and they are bright as anything else on the road.

I checked the voltage at the headlamp on my T4 the other night, it was about 1.5 volts less than battery voltage. The lights have always been crap, I’ll be fitting the loom conversion kit after xmas.