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Garage lighting


dailysleaze

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I'm going to be bringing electricity to my detached garage, which is very exciting 😎

Has anyone got recommendations for lighting? Not just the light products but positioning and any other tips. I'd at least like LED and for it to be BRIGHT in all nooks and crannies. It's a 5m x 2.5m x 2.5m volume with five 2-inch wide rafters.

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White walls are WELL worth a couple of tubs of masonry paint.

Also, LED's are hard to beat nowadays but in a frosty garage it doesn't hurt to have a couple of high-wattage floodlights casting a warm glow (for example, over the workbench or lathe), they're dirt cheap too.

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Just put up 7 of these in a 6mx6m garage (one over bench), plenty of light, and won't take years to warm up in winter.

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F162709707168

Also painted roof and ceiling with white emulsion, well, well worth doing that.

 

 

 

 

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Oh, and if you buy LED light fittings, there's three rules :

Check the lumens, check the lumens, check the lumens.

You can get 60W units that give out a piffling amount of light, or 40W version like I listed above that give the same light (~5000lm) as a good 5ft (so ~70W) fluorescent tube.

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Any particular reason for LED over tubes? I'd be surprised if LED units have reached the price point of normal tube fittings.

When I put the lights up in my unit I went for 3 x 2ft twin tubes across the 2.4m long 700(?)mm deep workbench. Perfect as I've got loads of light even when I lean over and block one or more tubes' light. For the main area, There is 1 original 6ft twin tube running across the workshop which would be about bonnet area if a car was driven straight in. The rest of the lights are 5ft twin tubes, two on each side running length-ways. They're offset towards the outer edges so they'd shine more down the side of a vehicle rather than on the roof.

I should also add that they're all daylight tubes and the kind without starters so they're straight on and full brightly pretty much instantly.

The only place in the workshop I wish I had more light is underneath whatever I'm working on! I could also do with a bit under the big 'shelf' above the workbench so I can see into the cupboards better, but I've managed for 5 years without :lol:. Everywhere else in the workshop is lovely and bright.

image.png.e7a663519260324f52aa0b8ec133e938.png

Edited by landroversforever
Added a Diagram:
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2 hours ago, Bowie69 said:

Oh, and if you buy LED light fittings, there's three rules :

Check the lumens, check the lumens, check the lumens.

You can get 60W units that give out a piffling amount of light, or 40W version like I listed above that give the same light (~5000lm) as a good 5ft (so ~70W) fluorescent tube.

You also want to check the colour temperature / spectrum as (cheap) LED's can put out insanely bright yet somehow horrible light. Sometimes you'll see more with a 40W flouro tube than a "brighter" LED unit.

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I put four of these in the large barn where we have our stables https://cpc.farnell.com/v-tac/vt-40101b-5964/floodlight-led-100w-3000k-black/dp/LA07145?st=100w led floodlights

I actually bought the 2700k version but i cant find it now as I hate the blue light from LED lights at the other end of the spectrum as I dont find it that useful or easy to see when it is too harsh.

The light from these is brilliant. Cost about £100 plus some wiring and a switch. This was with just two of them installed. There are another two now at the back as well so there are no shadows from the stable sides. (ignore the idiot in the middle)

IMG_1057.thumb.JPG.68cd4e8fa27204e24954a77a9ddc9369.JPG

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They aren't but they do look similar. We used a place local (ish) to our place in Cornwall called stablesonline.co.uk. Nice company and decent prices. 

The lights were horrible to put up as the ladder was at its limit as that roof is high!! 

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I got a load of 5ft striplights with diffusers (mainly as I've smashed a few tubes above my head and the glass is a pain down your neck) new off ebay from an electrician... I put daylight tubes in them, LED tubes were too expensive then, don't know what they are now. I have then all around the walls in the top corner and a line down the middle. The ones around the walls probably would have been better a couple of foot away from the walls so that they are shining on the side of the thing that your looking at on the bench rather than the back of it but there are that many in there it doesn't seem a problem. They also shine under the bonnet which is handy. I then have little freestanding work lights on the lathe, bench etc. I still haven't got around to painting the walls but it was my intention. :blink:

 

 

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Agree with painting everything white - the walls, trusses, roof panels and the floor. It makes a huge difference. We did this in a factory unit of about 8,000m2 and when it was done, with new lights too, nearly all the operators came to work wearing sunglasses. It was quite a laugh.

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Lots of good stuff to think about 👍. Painting is definitely an option. I originally thought LEDs as they my be more low profile and I won't bash them off by accident like I could with tubes. I don't want them to hang into the space too much.

I did have three 12v led tapes running the length of the rafters hooked to an old car battery, but once that died it wasn't very convenient. Wondering now whether to align the lights longitudinally or up on the cross rafters out of harm's way.

garage.thumb.jpg.fd9fbfa8122289c05f0b10303abf4ec0.jpg

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I have got eight 5ft T8 HF (slim and starterless) fittings with daylight tubes. Switched in pairs so I don't have to have them all on at once unless they are needed.

Also a couple of LED pendant bulbs on another switch to use if I only want to go in and out, as it doesnt do fluorescent tubes any good to keep switching them on and off.

I have not found any LED tubes that give anything like the same lumens, and although you can get LED lamps that do give more light, they seem to be more of a spot type which does not give such good light spread as a tube.

LED id coming on leaps and bounds though. 

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13 minutes ago, Bowie69 said:

@smallfry
the ones I linked to above give equivalent lumens to a 5ft tube.

Just looked. I have not seen them before ! They look pretty good to me.

Only issue to me is that my T8 tubes are 36W, so they do not offer any power saving advantage, BUT they will not be fragile, and will not be bothered by being continually switched on and off, so will be worth having over tubes for those reasons alone.

My other reservation with LED (we have a lot of them at work) is that do not seem to last anywhere near as long as claimed.

( just been looking at your old UZFE vids BTW)

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For our workshop I went for tubes over LED. The price difference was too big to justify and if prices come down in future it's easy to replace the standard tubes with LED.

We have 2 rows of 4 twin 5ft 58W fittings with reflectors, more than enough for the 18x7m main area. We'll add extra tubes to benches and work areas for local lighting if and when needed.

The warehouse has the same units, 12 in total for about 350m². That's plenty of light as it's used mainly for storage.

Edited by Escape
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