Best way to light a standalone garage?
Discussion
I have recently acquired a standalone garage that is across the road and about 150m from my house. It's part of a block of 4 that have been built at the rear of some gardens with an unmade access road. There are no services to the garages at all.
The garage is an old fashioned single, so big enough to work on a small car in, but it has a garage either side of it and is a breeze block construction with what looks like a corrugated iron roof. It is watertight and has two side hinged wooden doors.
I would like to have some form of lighting in there so that I can work on a car over the winter, but am struggling to find the best way to do it.
Would it be possible to stick two or three large solar panels on the roof and connect them to a large (truck?) battery and then run the lighting off of the battery? I will only be using the lights in the garage for a maximum of 8 hours per week, and I would imagine I could get away with two 60W bulbs.
I think having a diesel/petrol generator will be a bit overkill for my needs, but being able to have a heater in there would be nice as it gets colder.
If anyone can find some decent rechargeable inspection lights, they could also work. Screwfix have these on offer, http://www.screwfix.com/prods/57027?ts=41253 , but I'm not sure if they're much good?
PS: Snide comments about large amounts of petrol and a match are not required.
The garage is an old fashioned single, so big enough to work on a small car in, but it has a garage either side of it and is a breeze block construction with what looks like a corrugated iron roof. It is watertight and has two side hinged wooden doors.
I would like to have some form of lighting in there so that I can work on a car over the winter, but am struggling to find the best way to do it.
Would it be possible to stick two or three large solar panels on the roof and connect them to a large (truck?) battery and then run the lighting off of the battery? I will only be using the lights in the garage for a maximum of 8 hours per week, and I would imagine I could get away with two 60W bulbs.
I think having a diesel/petrol generator will be a bit overkill for my needs, but being able to have a heater in there would be nice as it gets colder.
If anyone can find some decent rechargeable inspection lights, they could also work. Screwfix have these on offer, http://www.screwfix.com/prods/57027?ts=41253 , but I'm not sure if they're much good?
PS: Snide comments about large amounts of petrol and a match are not required.
You wont be able to light 2x60W bulbs using a basic solar setup. You could maybe operate a flourescent of LED light fitting of some kind but I dont think you'll be able to get the brightness or duration that you're after.
For example, many emergency light fittings use a 28W flourescent lamp and even after 16 hours charging from the mains, will only operate for 3 hours (at a bit more than half normal brightness)
For example, many emergency light fittings use a 28W flourescent lamp and even after 16 hours charging from the mains, will only operate for 3 hours (at a bit more than half normal brightness)
Ozzie Osmond said:
I used to run a 12v light off an old car battery. You can get mini-flourescents for caravan use etc which don't take much current.
Heater-wise you're looking at either a gas cylinder or an old paraffin heater. Just don't asphyxiate yurself in a closed and unventilated garage....
Or find an old calor gas fire - one of them plus a bottle of gas saved me from hypothermia when I was at university.Heater-wise you're looking at either a gas cylinder or an old paraffin heater. Just don't asphyxiate yurself in a closed and unventilated garage....
A couple of 60W bulbs running of 12V would consume 10A, so would flatten a truck battery in a few hours.
I'd consider a Tilley lamp or two
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilley_lamp
They'll help heat the place as well
I'd consider a Tilley lamp or two
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilley_lamp
They'll help heat the place as well
I'm in a very similar position. i have my project in a garage like this but i've managed to get the garage next door too. i think i'm going to use a headlamp for the car as i'll keep this with the generator and the other will be used to practice my welding, i'll just use some site lamps in this half. hopefully with only car and genny in one and powertools (welder, comperssor, grinder etc) and work benches int the other, the,garage with my tools will be powered via my genny so hopefully some site lights will work, need to find something bright with a low power usage off a norm 13amp socket (i'll be wiring from the 32amp genny to normal 13amp for ease of use) i know a second garage isn't a good idea but it's all i have. hope you get it sorted. (tbh i'd think about a few bright led lights and good rechargablw batteries)
steveo3002 said:
dunno on the lights..im in the same boat myself
its well worth painting /emulsion the whole inside white , that helps no end when the light is poor
Hadn't thought of that, it would clean up the inside nicely too.its well worth painting /emulsion the whole inside white , that helps no end when the light is poor
In the meantime, I think I'm going to go with a small 650w generator. It will should hopefully be enough for some decent lights and a small heater/lightweight power tool.
I won't need heavy duty power tools to work on the car, just about the only one I envisage using is an impact wrench which will run off the car battery anyway.
Edited by youngsyr on Friday 22 October 14:01
If I screwed plaster/wall boards onto the walls, could I just paint directly onto that?
Would be quicker and easier, I would imagine?
http://www.wickes.co.uk/Plasterboard-Tapered-Edge/...
Would be quicker and easier, I would imagine?
http://www.wickes.co.uk/Plasterboard-Tapered-Edge/...
nobodyknows said:
Water the 1st coat down then it should paint quite easily. We did this with our breeze blocked warehouse & it wasn't a huge problem, bit bigger than a single garage too!
When you say "water the first coat down", about what ratio of paint to water did you use?Also, you wrote first coat, does that mean you gave your warehouse more than one coat?!
youngsyr said:
nobodyknows said:
Water the 1st coat down then it should paint quite easily. We did this with our breeze blocked warehouse & it wasn't a huge problem, bit bigger than a single garage too!
When you say "water the first coat down", about what ratio of paint to water did you use?Also, you wrote first coat, does that mean you gave your warehouse more than one coat?!
youngsyr said:
If I screwed plaster/wall boards onto the walls, could I just paint directly onto that?
Would be quicker and easier, I would imagine?
http://www.wickes.co.uk/Plasterboard-Tapered-Edge/...
You could, but if the garage is not 100% dry with damp proofed walls etc. the plasterboard will go soggy and mouldy.Would be quicker and easier, I would imagine?
http://www.wickes.co.uk/Plasterboard-Tapered-Edge/...
You could buy a few tins of paint for the cost of the board anyway.
http://www.screwfix.com/prods/13389/Power-Tools/Sp...
Get one of these and it'll make painting the walls a doddle, you just need to... umm... plug it... in... somewhere...
Get one of these and it'll make painting the walls a doddle, you just need to... umm... plug it... in... somewhere...
youngsyr said:
Petrolhead_Rich said:
long extension lead from the house??
Or did I miss something?
If its just an access road a decent cable should survive the neighbours driving over it.
No, it's across a main street and then down an access road. It's probably 150m away in total too.Or did I miss something?
If its just an access road a decent cable should survive the neighbours driving over it.
Are any of the other garages lit up? is there a house/building nearby that you could speak to the owner of and pay them for a bit of electricity??
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