Garage spinoff, what is some good garage lighting?

I have a severe lack of lighting in my garage that I notice mostly when waxing the car.

Noticing that automotive paint booths almost always have florescent tube lighting; is that the best for when working on the paint of a car?

I presently have the garage door opener lights(useless) and a fixture that is perpendicular to the car that is two 8 foot florescent bulbs. That fixture is towards the front of the garage and so leaves a lot of shadows towards the back of the car.

Thinking about it, I could go with halogen which produces ALOT of heat(lol Texas) and then tend to burn out quickly too. I could go with more florescent tubes which isn't a problem, I can just install two more eight foot pairs of lights up on either side of the garage ceiling. I really see very little downside to this, other than I need to check on the current draw, if it isn't bad, I could get em wired into the fixture that is already up there.

ORRRRRR, I could go with like three fixtures on either side of the garage which have the ability to be aimed. I can put some LED bulbs in each of those. The only drawback to this is that those bulbs aren't super bright. But they do produce a very white type of light I think. For those bulbs though, Sam's Club sales them for 14 dollars for a two pack. I've got two in my house already and like the light quality quite a bit. They just are only equivalent to something like a 40 watt incandescent bulb is all.

#4248070 - 11/13/09 12:42 PM Re: Garage spinoff, what is some good garage lighting? [Re: CommonGutterTrash]
MikeY2kSS MikeY2kSS Post Master Sr Registered: 10/12/00 Posts: 6080 Loc: Cent/South NJ	Originally Posted By: g96nt Covers = dead bug collectors. If anthing, just get the shatter-resistant tubes, and call it a day. For the lights over my workbench, I bought clear tubes that slip over the bulbs, they have caps on the ends, so bugs won't be getting in there, and I doubt they'll keep the bulb from shattering, but at least they'll hold all the shards. After having some mediocre setups in the past I did the electric in my new garage right (well, as good as I could). Subpanel out to the garage, 100A circuit for the big TIG (not pictured), lights and outlets on separate circuits, so when you're running a grinder or something, and pop a circuit, the lights don't go out, etc. I wanted to get booth style lighting in the walls, but real booth lights are very expensive. Apparently they're "explosion proof" due to the fumes in a spray booth. I don't spray in the garage, but just wanted nice lighting on the sides of the car. It's nice being able to do brake/suspension work and not need a drop light that's always in the way. Here's the garage just after it got dropped off. It's 12x40, with the last 10' separated to use as a tool room. It's nice to have the compressor out of the work area. After working in there for a few years, I wish I went for the 14' wide. an extra foot on each side would be nice. I insulated with normal fiberglass insulation except where I was putting in the lights I used a product called "Reflectix" behind the lights. It's pretty much foil backed bubble wrap. I figured it would both insulate and reflect light. After paneling: You can see how well it lights up the side of whatever's in the garage. I added diffusers over the lights. I don't think it helps the light quality at all, but it finishes it off, and once I slipped and kind of fell into the diffuser, cracking it, but it may have kept me from falling into the lights. The diffuser is much cheaper to replace, and isn't going to cut someone if thy fall into it. This pic was just in the same folder. It's my "what not to do" shop safety poster. Unchained bottles, jumbled, loose hoses and cables, dirty workbench, but look how well the side of the Corvette is lit! Along with the 4 in-wall lights, I have 6 fixtures in the ceiling, and 2 over the workbenches at the back of the garage. My advice is to install double the amount of lights you think you might need, you can always turn a few off. You pretty much can't have to much light, and the fixtures are cheap to both buy and run. _________________________ My current CSi specials (2004 Mach 1, MINI Cooper, 2009 Suburban new cars all the time) Rusty pushrodz 4 lyfe!
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