Lighting Small Garage, looking for ideas

[e34john]

Just hang shop lights on the two side walls, put them under the garage rails. Will cost you about 30 bucks. You can even include a space heater and still come out under budget

[///M42 sport]

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden...2/product.html

had a friend with one of these lights that attach under the hood...pretty sweet

[bddog]

Just buy three or four of the cheapest fluorescent fixtures at Home Depot. Around ten bucks each. Mount them flush with screws along the ceiling joists. Use extension chords. Use the chains provided to hang the one over the engine bay. You can lower it when needed for close up light. The whole thing can go with you if you leave.

[iansane]

To add a bit more light, I've mount four 4' fluorescent fixtures to my 2 car garage door itself. You could easily mount two to yours. (One high one low, horizontally). I picked up one of those extension cord reels, took it apart to disable the lock feature and mounted it right at the end of the garage door track.

[ChefSkinny]

just get creative. You'd be surprised how much light 1 fluorescent provides!

When I was living at home we moved into a house that finally had a garage and was going through the same thing as you right now, I was like 20 and stupid though, I used packing tape to secure a fluorescent to a rafter so I could work in there! It's still hanging there though lol

[Earendil]

Thanks for all the advice guys! With your encouragement and corrections on my thinking, I went on Craigslist and found a guy practically giving away fluorescent lights, 8 fixtures with two bulbs each, for $20. WAY more light then I need, but now I have backup fixtures (and bulbs!).

But after wiring three of them up I've found an electrical FML. There are three outlets in the garage really, one on either side and one on the ceiling which the garage door opener uses. I plugged in all three lights, and the circuit blew. So I go to the fuse box thinking I must have crossed a wire (even though I tested each independently), but no fuse was blown, especially not the one marked "garage". Having rented hold remodeled houses before, I figured what it must be. Sure enough, all three outlets in the garage and at least one outlet outside the garage go through a GFI plug :curse:

I don't know what the current draw through it is yet, but I know that even without the garage door motor plugged in, that it can handle any two fixtures, but not a third. Light wise, the garage could use at minimum three, and I was going to go ahead and put up 4 since I have 8 at my disposal. No such luck. Why why why run 4 outlets through a single GFI?!?

Anyway, for now I can run an extension cord from inside the house into the garage, but that's a pita. Oh we'll, at least I have light!

[Earendil]

Okay, I might have to retract my blame. I won't pretend to be an electrical guru, but at 40watts per bulb each fixture should be taking up 0.67 amps, maybe more with the conversion loss. But even if it were a whole amp, that's only 3 amps for the three of them. I took the GFI outlet apart to see if it was stamped, and it is, 20amps

So I guess it's back to the drawing board and research to see how exactly a GFI works differently than a fuse, and how I might have screwed up the wiring on the fluorescents. I suppose there could be a 5th outlet someplace with something on it that's drawing a lot of current, and my little fluorescents are the final straw...

[jlevie]

GFI protection senses current flow through the ground lead and trips when current is present. Which would be the case in something that had an insulation failure as current should only flow between the hot and return wires.

If a fluorescent light is the GFI its is wired wrong or is defective.

[Earendil]

GFI protection senses current flow through the ground lead and trips when current is present. Which would be the case in something that had an insulation failure as current should only flow between the hot and return wires.

If a fluorescent light is the GFI its is wired wrong or is defective.

The ground wire is the one wire I'm sure is wired correctly. Okay, so something is bleeding into the ground wire. What seems odd to me is that the circuit will take two of the fixtures (wired in parallel) or it will take one of the fixtures, but won't take all three. Actually, all three will light up for about one second before it blows. I guess tomorrow I'll wire up a few more and see if I have any different luck with alternate fixtures. Maybe both are bad, but neither is bad enough by its self.

[nokincy]

Since you're renting I'd just get something like this http://electrical.hardwarestore.com/...ht-105726.aspx but I'm lazy.

[ADlBOO]

Can you turn the lighs on individually when their plugged in? The gfi might be tripping because the ballasts usually have to charge up to get the flourecents to fire/ light up. With three ballasts charging at once might be enough draw for the gfi to think theirs going to be an overload. A GFI works on prediciting a potential ground/ short, where as a fuse waits till the overload either heats up or creates a strong enough electro magnet field to trip.

[Farbin Kaiber]

Also, a coat of high gloss white on the walls will help a whole lot of it hasn't been said in addition to the two 8' dual setup.

[StereoInstaller1]

Herp derp. It's in his original post.

Honestly. All I can think of is a couple cheapo wal-mart fixtures. I've had many of these and sometimes they burn out after a year, but I had several that lasted up to 5. Mount them good and tight against the ceiling. They're only 3 inches tall, so they'll fit there no problemo.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Lights-of-...White/19759624

And you need this:



T8 bulbs come in a variety of lumens and color temp, start quick and have lasted me for years. Get the 10 pack of bulbs at Home Depot.

Good luck!

Luke

[Mr.SWISS]

I would mount a twin tube 8' fluorescent fixture just below the garage door on both side walls

Yup, I put 3 of them in mine to accent the single dual 16" fixture.


Plan plan plan. I re adjusted my garage door so when it open the light comes through the top and lights up outside a bit.

[Habla]

Doing demo in the winter proved that these things work:



$115

Put it up along the perimeter of the cieling with flourescent bulbs!