Iraqvet05 wrote:
ShinerBock wrote:
Iraqvet05 wrote:
ShinerBock wrote:
LED or HID in a housing made for halogen lights are illegal in all states, and enforcement is sporadic. If you want to put these kind of lights on your truck and stay legal then you would need to spend the coin and buy housing made for these types of bulbs(i.e. projectors) that do not scatter the beam.
I'd really like to read this law from a legitimate source, not "the internet said". I work for a police department...it's not enforced at all here. I've also traveled at night in Kansas, Colorado, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Arkansas and passed many police vehicles and I've haven't been pulled over.
As I said, enforcement is sporadic and most new officers do not even know it is illegal. As far as your state, somewhere in the transportation code it will state that a vehicle has to abide by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 49 CFR Part 571 which is what makes putting a HID or LED bulb in a housing made for halogen illegal. You can put an LED bulb in an LED housing or HID bulb in an HID housing, but neither in a halogen only housing.
CFR 49 571.108
Not to mention that it is a j@ckA$$ thing to do. I understand you need to see, but so do others on the road. I don't think they should be blinded just because someone is too cheap to do it right. If someone can afford a $40+k truck, then they can afford to spend the extra coin on the correct housing for the bulbs they want.
I'll continue to be that jack ass. I don't get flashed, I don't get pulled over (I imagine because 95 percent of LEOs don't know how to interpret the DOT law you provided). I see far brighter LED lights on factory vehicles that my cheap retrofit. Sorry, but you can't convince me that a halogen bulb that has very little directionality is that much different from an LED. Maybe the lumen output is more of a factor with the brightness than the design of the bulb.
You answered your own question. The reflectors required for halogens are different than for an effective led light source. Led’s in improper housings can create too focused of a light beam or too disbursed. So if you cannot confirm the housing is led approved all you can do is test with different bulbs to make sure the light is effective for the user and not blinding to other drivers.
