garage lighting

[chynewalkr]

Hi,

I was just wonder what everyone has for lighting in their garages. I detail my vehicles often and have found that different types of light show different defects in paint.

i am thinking i am going to hang some florescents along with some standard incandescents and then some halogen spots, all seperatly switched. along with a couple wall mounted flourescents too

[22VelocityProMax300]

Chynewalker, I have a 3 car garage and I used 3, 8' fluorescents and when I detail I pull out the twin 500 watt halogen lamp. It shows any and all swirls and scratches. If I was building it over again I would have added several built in can lights also.

[chynewalkr]

i just bought the house and it has a 2-1/2 car garage and it has only 1 bulb in the middle :eek: . so i have a clean slate to work from:D

[cat06]

with the fluorescents, go to a electrical wholesale house and get color corrected bulbs ( tell them you do detail work and want light color as if outdoors in the sun) they will cost more but are worth the cost for the quality of the light

[Techno]

If it was me I would get a few hid lights. They may not be color corrected but they aren't the ugly colors anymore either.
Preheat is a problem, so fluorescent or bulbs are still needed. But when your out a while nice amount of light output.
I think the only type that come close to the right color temp are sodiums.

I did get a brain fart last week. I'm going to convert one of my dual tube shop fluorescents into a trouble light. 4' of light will cooly light anything I'm going to need a trouble light for.
Under the deck with a 250w halogen isn't nice on hot days.

[gotboostedvr6]

I would go with metal halide bulbs in a 8k to 10k color temp and use electric ballast so there is a 10 - 20 sec warmup time.
you can use 3 250w for a 2 car garage and it will look like daylight < no joke

I make metal halide lighting system for aquariums on the side trust me there is no lighting on the planet in this price range that comes close

[hsbob]

you need the flor in the longest length you can get usually 8'. the longer the length the more light you'll get at any point. just one of theose laws of phyics.

[johnt]

that's a great idea about color corrected fuorescents, I have never heard of them.. off to the electrical wholesale house for me..

[chynewalkr]

i have colored florescents in my fish tank and they are very bright and really bring out the colors in fish. hmmm:

[markt111]

the flour lamps they are talking about do not really cost anymore, just may not be able to find them at your local home improvement, order them at any electrical supply house or from grainger etc...

you want what they call "daylight" 5000k on the spectrum, look for a quality bulb that retains it's color and brightness over time, that is the major difference in quality, they all look good for a few hundred hours but drastically loose output and color quality over time

I would def use a couple extra lights,they are short money, $50.00 or so per fixture for an 8' flourecent strip light using 4-4' lamps, you want a good overlap of light, you can always switch them seperately so it is not always lit up for detail type work

[markt111]

nothing againds HID, they are very efficient just don't seem to fit the application in most home garages unless you have a high ceiling and the initial expense is obviously greater

also if your garage is cold (depending on climate/heat etc..) make sure whatever you get is rated for the temperature or you will have starting problems, most electronic ballast these days are good down to 0*F

[Hottrucks]

I have 8.... eight foot floresent if i had to do it over I would mount them on the wall my garage is 24 X 28 I think the light is better more of a piant shop style

[jerry]

get a 3 wick candle !

[OldMerc]

In my garage I have about 20 20w compact fluourescent bulbs strung around. They're usually on sale for only a buck, and seem to last a lot longer than the long tubes. And they're much easier to throw away when they burn out.

[chynewalkr]

thats alot of little bulbs

[22VelocityProMax300]

Chynewalker, the other key to a good garage setup is keep the color of the floor light,you will get better light reflection than having a dark floor plus small things are easier to find. I have a light grey epoxy that has been down for 20 years that looks good. Frank

[chynewalkr]

i painted my floor with the grey epoxy, still havent decided on lights though. it really all being held up because i want to insulate the walls and drywall first.

[benski]

I've got incandescent can lights in the ceiling, a whole bunch of 4' flourescents in the ceiling on seperate switches, and 5 4ft flourescents mounted 1.5 feet above the floor running down one wall of the shop. The other side is 25' away or I would have put some there, too. A twin 500W Halogen on a stand for portable work, and a trouble light with LEDs on a 50' reel on the wall round out the inventory. All that and I find I'm still short on skill for certain projects, but at least I can see what I am messing up! I agree with the comment about the light grey floor..the other thing I did was buy some fairly good quality semi-gloss white latex and paint out my whole garage with it. I makes it a much cheerier spot to be in, and helps to see where things are on a dark and dreary day.