Garage Lighting with no mains

[gowmonster]

I have a lockup without mains supply.

I'm looking to get some lighting in it, but I'm not quite sure on the best way to go about it.

I was thinking, led strips and a car battery, and possibly a solar power trickle charger for recharging the car battery.

Naturally I wish to keep it cheap and simple.

Thoughts? any outside the box views that I might not have considered?

[sparkyhx]

generator?

[snuffle]

Extension lead, possibly many extension leads.

[Roop]

Maybe have a look at these...?

http://www.reuk.co.uk/Shed-and-Garage-Solar-Lighti...

[gowmonster]

i think a genny might be overkill but might come on handy for using the angle grinder.

as for extension leads, do they do half mile ones?

[gowmonster]

Roop said:

Maybe have a look at these...?

http://www.reuk.co.uk/Shed-and-Garage-Solar-Lighti...

<vettle voice> yeah, that's what i'm talking about</vettle voice>

Cheers

[offshorematt2]

Used to have the same problem in a lock up I had. I had a lead light running off a car battery that lit the whole garage up pretty well. Battery used to last the whole summer without a charge though the cold in winter killed it a lot quicker.

I ended up buying a cheap plasticky solar powered PIR controlled floodlight from Tesco (I think) for less than twenty quid. Plan was to stick the solar panel on the roof of the garage, and have the floodlight inside. PIR meant it would come on automatically when the the door was opened (so no need for wiring or trying to connect the croc clips on the light to the car battery in the dark). Neat solution but never got round to fitting it before I stopped using the lock up.

If you go down that route, let me know if it works!

[BOR]

offshorematt2 said:

PIR meant it would come on automatically when the the door was opened

I like that. Elegant solution.

[miniman]

gowmonster said:

Roop said:

Maybe have a look at these...?

http://www.reuk.co.uk/Shed-and-Garage-Solar-Lighti...

<vettle voice> yeah, that's what i'm talking about</vettle voice>

Cheers

Hmmm...

Advert:


Reality:

[gowmonster]

so what I've done so far is get 3 battery powered ones, one with a motion sensor so I can see where the others are and 2 strip ones with magnets. £22 including batteries.

don't know what the batter life is going to be but I'll report back.

[Mr Gear]

Solar panel, car battery and 12v lamp. You can get a kit from Maplins I think.

[cptsideways]

Mr Gear said:

Solar panel, car battery and 12v lamp. You can get a kit from Maplins I think.

Get some decent LED lighting to save on battery power

[james12345]

gowmonster said:

<vettle voice> yeah, that's what i'm talking about</vettle voice>

Cheers

Have one of these in my garage - really does the job well! I even unscrwed it from the charging wire and used it to see what I was doing when changing my brake pads in the dark the other night. Only thing to bear in mind with it is that if you leave it in "remote control" mode the batteries will drain quite quickly, so best to stick with the switch on the unit.

Other then that, perfect! Never run out of charge for me.