Garage Lighting

[lorenzo]

I was also thinking about some car batteries (as Monkey suggested), but teaming them with the kind of lights found in caravan's...I'm thinking they should be lower drain.

Caravan batteries would be better than car batteries. They're about the same price etc as a car one, but designed for a long continuous steady drain, rather than a car one which is designed for a big fat drain then nothing. Can't remember what they call them, but leisure batteries might be it.

[rc30sp1]

fireflies in a jam jar.

[alexp5]

fireflies in a jam jar.

Glow worms.

[rc30sp1]

Glow worms.

what do they eat?

[alexp5]

what do they eat?

Kryptonite. They also have the 'strength of a bear' so you wouldn't need a bike lift.

[fran9r]

Ask at the stores of somewhere like Howdens. They quite often have a damaged piece lying around. A tenner in the storemans pocket and everyone is happy

The only problem is getting it home.

http://www.howdens.com/

Good call, never thought about a damaged one.

[Leighio]

I have a rented lock-up, a 5 min walk from the house. It's currently used to store bits, but it would be nice to use it to swing a hammer.

Any ideas on how to light it? Ideally rechargable batteries, and it needs to be bright because the door needs to be closed really -I'd rather people didn't see the bike bits inside.

Fran I have the same problem as rent my garage off the council. My last garage when I had this problem I used car batterys bought form the local salvage yard and hooked up some 12v lights that are used as low voltage lighting in the house, a coupe fo these and happy days. Now for the ease of re-charging the battery I would have a look on the Maplins web site to see what they have to offer as this cold be left on the roof off the garage and connected to the battery.

You would get better lasting time form the battery if you where able to use LED tech rather than 50w lights. Just as a side thought you could get hold of some old headlights from the salvage yard and use them to better desperse the light along with the painting of the walls.

[fran9r]

Fran I have the same problem as rent my garage off the council. My last garage when I had this problem I used car batterys bought form the local salvage yard and hooked up some 12v lights that are used as low voltage lighting in the house, a coupe fo these and happy days. Now for the ease of re-charging the battery I would have a look on the Maplins web site to see what they have to offer as this cold be left on the roof off the garage and connected to the battery.

You would get better lasting time form the battery if you where able to use LED tech rather than 50w lights. Just as a side thought you could get hold of some old headlights from the salvage yard and use them to better desperse the light along with the painting of the walls.

Yep although the more technical solutions are great, I think I will go with that. There are a few garages near work, so hopefully I can get some free ones...if they last a few hours inbetween charges I'll be happy.

I was moving stuff around in the lockup, and due to the wind the door closed...there is actually some natural light courtesy of the holes, so maybe it won't be so bad after all.

I'd not keen on anything suggesting there is stuff inside, so I'm not putting anything on the roof. I'll have to bring them home, but if I get enough batteries, hopefully I will be able to keep swopping them over. I'm looking out for one of those wierd pushbike trailers so I can use it to carry the batteries back and fourth.

Maplins can fuck right off. I bought a soldering station from them last year, which was OK for a month then decided it was a raddish, refusing to solder. Maplins were useless, taking it back and returning it more broken, or slightly differently broken, or just the same, all the time refusing a refund. They suddenly found a cheque when the court issued paperwork -obviously not being able to justify their shoddy products/customer care/illegal practices in court.