Garage Lighting with no mains

Garage Lighting with no mains

Author
Discussion

gowmonster

Original Poster:

2,471 posts

173 months

Sunday 16th October 2011
quotequote all
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

4,189 posts

210 months

Sunday 16th October 2011
quotequote all
generator?

snuffle

1,587 posts

188 months

Sunday 16th October 2011
quotequote all
Extension lead, possibly many extension leads.

Roop

6,012 posts

290 months

Sunday 16th October 2011
quotequote all

gowmonster

Original Poster:

2,471 posts

173 months

Sunday 16th October 2011
quotequote all
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

Original Poster:

2,471 posts

173 months

Sunday 16th October 2011
quotequote all
Roop said:
<vettle voice> yeah, that's what i'm talking about</vettle voice>

Cheers


offshorematt2

864 posts

222 months

Sunday 16th October 2011
quotequote all
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

4,824 posts

261 months

Sunday 16th October 2011
quotequote all
offshorematt2 said:
PIR meant it would come on automatically when the the door was opened
I like that. Elegant solution.

miniman

26,192 posts

268 months

Sunday 16th October 2011
quotequote all
gowmonster said:
Roop said:
<vettle voice> yeah, that's what i'm talking about</vettle voice>

Cheers
Hmmm...

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gowmonster

Original Poster:

2,471 posts

173 months

Monday 17th October 2011
quotequote all
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

9,416 posts

196 months

Monday 17th October 2011
quotequote all
Solar panel, car battery and 12v lamp. You can get a kit from Maplins I think.

cptsideways

13,639 posts

258 months

Monday 17th October 2011
quotequote all
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

592 posts

242 months

Monday 17th October 2011
quotequote all
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.