my garage -

General Discussion Forums I Need Help!
2

hi,

i love my garage , its a good size ( 20’ x 12’) with a loft space for MORE stuff 

and to be fair its pretty full , stuff on the walls , hanging from ceiling etc,

the walls are painted white  but the lighting is still dismal , quite gloomy 

i have 4 fluorescent lights and looking to improve / change these 

i’m thinking LED ??? 

whats the best VFM lighting for a garage ??

any ideas /tips/ links /prices , all welcome 

 

thanks 

3

I think looking at garages on garagejournal is the way to go.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55006

1 Like
4

That is a nice garage and looks well organised. 

Can understand why you want to maximise light, particularly as the darker days are drawing in.

Problem is not a lack of light but too many things absorbing the light.

The floor looks quite dark in the picture - perhaps fit a lighter colour carpet. Can’t see much reflection back from above the lights.  

Directional light will help but only where focussed     

5

Hmm, fluorescents loose brightness with time.  You might find that four new CLEAN tubes will give a big increase in the light.

LEDs are either not that bright or short-lived if bright, and you’ll need a lot of them to cover that area.  Even the good ones lose brightness with time (witness my kitchen after ten years and conservatory after four), my house is all LED, except in the garage where we have four six foot 60W fluorescents!  The garage uses more watts in light power than the whole of the rest of the house with all lights on.

Fluorescents are good if you have the electronic ballasts, they last much, much longer.  On mine I replaced the starters and chokes with electronic, best lighting investment ever (quite cheap a few years ago with a trade card at the local electrical wholesalers).

EDIT updated for new link to ballast

This ballast on Amazon is about the right price

6

hi richard , thanks for reply ,

as my electrical skills are limited , could you explain the “ballasts”

are you saying replacing the ballasts and tubes ( bigger Watts?? ) will give me brighter lighting ?

regards

7

[quote=saz9961]
I think looking at garages on garagejournal is the way to go.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=55006



thanks for that saz , makes my garage more inferior  . 

 

 

jokes

that is a great effort he has made on his garage and a great video too 

regards 

1 Like
8

Questions but there seems to be an issue here.

You have four tubes, what lenght are they?

They look like 1.8 mtrs each.

With all the lights on can you advise the voltage in the garage? An old fashioned kettle lead is handy for checking that.

Have you painted the ceiling white?

Can you post a picure looking up in the garage.

Is it used as a workshop or a parking garage?

I think the width of the garage is a bit tight to get much light when you are working on the wheels.

Have you physically cleaned the tubes recently?

There appears to be insufficient light for a workshop but plenty for a parking garage or a storage shed.


9

Gardens looking nice Geoff  well worth the effort! Can’t advise on the lighting, when my electric garage door is open, it slides into the ceiling pace and blocks one of the two twin tube fitments  I also drive into the garage and bonnet up, that blocks most of the light from the other fitment! 

Barrie

1 Like
10

[quote=Drumtochty]

Questions but there seems to be an issue here.

You have four tubes, what lenght are they?

They look like 1.8 mtrs each.

With all the lights on can you advise the voltage in the garage? An old fashioned kettle lead is handy for checking that.

Have you painted the ceiling white?

Can you post a picure looking up in the garage.

Is it used as a workshop or a parking garage?

I think the width of the garage is a bit tight to get much light when you are working on the wheels.

Have you physically cleaned the tubes recently?

There appears to be insufficient light for a workshop but plenty for a parking garage or a storage shed.


ok…

  1. tubes are 5’

  2. voltage 240 ???

  3. ceiling is unpainted 

  4. pictures en route 

  5. used as workshop and parking 

  6. tubes are clean 

 

regards

11

[quote=Bettabuilda]

Gardens looking nice Geoff  well worth the effort! Can’t advise on the lighting, when my electric garage door is open, it slides into the ceiling pace and blocks one of the two twin tube fitments  I also drive into the garage and bonnet up, that blocks most of the light from the other fitment! 

Barrie

 

 

i wondered why you always wear a cap lamp barrie  . 

 

garden is a pain 

cheers pal

12

garden is too much for these old bones 

 

 

you can just make out my top shed hidden in the far corner under the conifers 

13

Tubes appear to be mounted too high. The ceiling joists creat a light barrier.

Richard. 

14

tubes are mounted to the underside of the joists ( maybe pictures deceiving )

thanks richard

15

What wattage are the tubes?

Richard. 

16

Usual crap with a garage and most of what I say you cannot do much with for many reasons.

  1. You need another shed to store all the usual crap in to allow you to work on your car, you are bumping into stuff to walk round the car.

  2. It is a biggish single garage but as always width is an issue even with all that stuff in another shed which it is not.

  3. The lights need to be below the roof trusses.

  4. You need to get all that roofwork painted white to reflect the light down and a thin false ceiling painted white will help.

  5. Assuming you have cleared the crap out to another shed, painted the cieling etc., and maybe do the floor white or gray you have three times the basic light needed for a parking garage.

  6. Depending on what you are doing you need around 2.5 to 3 times the light you have to make it good to work in as a workshop.

  7. Due to the width of the garage you may need say two tubes at each side edge of the garage. One right behind the door and another one above the bench if you can move stuff.

  8. I would be tempted to get some small strip lights or bulkhead lights down near the wheels.

  9. Fluorecent lights or similar with LEDs have a similar light output per mtr, unless you are in there every day through the winter you will not cover the cost of LED’s over fluorecent.##

  10. Have fun but it will be difficult to get it the way you want.

17

 

Around 58 watta per strip at around 240 volts.

We do not know the voltage drop getting out to the garage which I think may be significant.

New LED tubes would significantly reduce the voltage drop if changed all round bur are expensive and go off output wise over time.

18

Yes they are below the timbers but plenty suff below that,

19

You think your garage is too small, you wanna try mine, you can drive into the shape of an MX5 with all the junk i keep.
I need to do a sideways shuffle without being able to turn around to get in or out of my car.

20

Ha ha - same with my garage too - this one is luxury.