Easiest way to improve lighting?

[Luke McFadden]

My garage is very dark. It really doesn't help that the light above my workspace is blocked by a canoe either. I've been using a small light that I usually clamp to the hood of my car when doing repairs.

But this really doesn't work that well. It is very useful for being able to specifically focus light, when seeing shadows on certain sides is helpful. But I'd like something more substantial.

My workspace is also right below my garage door (workspace is unmovable). So I have very little room to do anything. I'm going to try to take pictures later. But what are some of my options?

Also, are their any good sites that talk about doing some simple wiring like this? I don't want to mess anything up. I've done some light wiring before, so I know the safety precautions to take, but I still need guidance.

Thanks!

Luke

[glenn bradley]

Hmmmm, that's a tough one as any directed light will cause definite shadows. I'm thinking that since you can't mount to the rafters as the door will block, maybe some sort of stands(?). I have lights over the door area that I use when it is closed and rely on mother nature when the door is up.

[Brett Baldwin]

I picked up some 4' dual-bulb T-8 flourescent shop lights (the kind that plug in, not the permanently wired kind) for about $20 each at the Borg and I hang them on the wall by hooks to my sides. They provide enough light to work with if you have one on each side. I'm still working out a plan for the permanent lighting.

[Rob Will]

We have 8' fluorescent lights mounted on wall brackets just below the level of the overhead door tracks. That way, the lights work whether the door is up or down. If the lights have a refector, you might mount them at an angle toward the room. I would probably use high output T-12 or (electronic ballast) T-8. Either will start when temps are cool.

Rob

[Mark Singer]

What i like is decent general lighting and then excellent task lighting. I have a couple of halogen machinist lamps that move around the shop....I need to see my scribe lines for joinery so I move them to the bench....an oblique lamp really shows a scribe

[Jim Becker]

The lighting fixtures are only part of the solution...you also need to improve the environment so it enhances the available light. That includes painting or finishing the space in light color(s) and insuring that things in the space don't cause excessive shadows on the work surfaces and tooling.

[Al Willits]

Short of redoing the entire shop, a cheap alternative might be flood lights mounted in the ceiling, I use three to make a triangle, mine are adjustable so you can move the direction of the light in almost a 360 degree rotation.
Also by switching from flood to spot bulbs you can centralize the light on a smaller spot.

Al

[Mike Steinhilper]

I'm glad this subject came up. I need to add some flourescents. I have only 2 right now, so i'm limited to working during the day with the big garage door open. How difficult is it to wire additional? I am not a big fan of working with electricity.

[Jim Becker]

Mike, you can use plug-in T8 shop lights...just be sure to not overload a circuit with a billion of them. In fact, that's how my shop is set up. Rather than deal with hard-wiring them, I just put outlets on my ceiling to plug the units in without modification. In your case, if you have an incandescent bulb on the ceiling, you can replace it with an outlet so you still have switched lighting for the new units you hang. Running two or three shop lights should be fine, but do the math.

[Mike Steinhilper]

Thanks Jim, I need to figure out how many amps I've got on that circuit I guess? It's a detached garage. Would I just find the circuit in the breaker box? I guess I need to join an electrician's forum! I guess this will be useful info for a lot of guys.

[Jim Becker]

Mike, yes find the breaker and make note of it's rating. And then while it's "off" figure out what else is on the circuit...some of your outlets may be on it, too, if it's a typical "minimal" garage setup. Hopefully that doesn't include some portion of your house, too...

[Brian Dormer]

If I'm getting the picture - your workspace is underneath where the garage door is when it's in the "up/open" position. So... your "ceiling" is the backside of the garage door if the door is open and the actual garage ceiling (with a canoe hanging below it) when the door is closed.

That being the case, you have a pretty difficult set of problems.

One possible solution would be to get the standard 4 foot florescent shop lights - for about 20 bucks a pop. Look for the lowest weight possible (non of the one's I've used are particularly heavy - but still - look for a "light light") Now all you need is a flexible mounting method. I would think you could mount hooks to the back of the garage door and maybe light gauge chain from the ceiling. If the door is down, hang the lights from the ceiling. If the door is up, hang the lights from the hooks on the door.

You might also work out some tricky quick-disconnect for the lights using rare-earth magnets or some quick-release type mechanisims scavanged from keyrings.

Hanging and un-hanging the lights is going to be a pain-in-the-butt and maybe a little bit of a "Keystone Kop" show for your neighbors... but it could work.

SECOND ALTERNATIVE -

Build a cantelevered arm (or arms) that swing out from the wall. Attach the light to the arm. Just swing out the light when you need 'em and swing 'em back when they need to be out of the way. You could use some of the colapsable shelf brackets (Rockler has 'em - probably other WW stores too) to brace the arms - and allow them to fold out of the way when necessary. I think those standards will hold 200 lbs or so - which should be enough (remember - those arms are 4 ft long).

Of course, you'll lose some wall space with this method - but this is more solid and less Rube Goldberg than the multiple-hang-points idea.

AS FOR WIRING -

Either method can work with just extension cords. I wouldn't try to do anything electrical based on a web site. You need someone to show you the ropes (I lucked out, my Dad taught me). Mistakes can be REALLY BAD.... like "DEAD". Don't mess with electrical stuff unless you get some hands-on training.

Hope this helps.