clickscrazy

Hi All,
As the seasons change, and it gets darker earlier, I have to do something about my garage lighting so I can work on my truck.

Currently, I have a double garage, with a single bulb in the center for lighting.

Any recommendations on a direct replacement fixture that is not too expensive, won't require any rewiring, and will provide improved light?

I am thinking fluorescent strip lighting:
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Lithonia-...MVIS/202591815

Since it will still be in the center, it needs to be wide, and output as much as possible from the sides.

djfllmn

iTrader: (1)

youre on the right track

Rusty but trusty

This is mine. I wired them together in pairs, removed the center light bulb, installed an outlet and plugged in the lights. My light switch on the wall now controls all four lights. Plenty of light. Costed about $100 from lowes for the materials. If it gets cold where you are make sure you purchase cold weather ballast lights otherwise they will flicker in cold weather.

Rusty but trusty

Oops, just noticed you didn't want to do any wiring. I assure you, my setup is very simple wiring.

fltdriver

I did something similar to Rbt:
Ran power from an outlet to a light switch to another outlet that has two 2-bulb 4' fixtures plugged in to it. Twice.
Spent $72.65 on bulbs and light fixtures (ordered from lowes online, picked up bulbs in store but got free shipping on the fixtures b/c order was over $49).
Had outlets laying around (brand new) but think they were like $2 when I bought them.
$0.79 for each light switch.
$3 for the double receptacle boxes.
$2 for the light/outlet cover
$10 for 25' of wire.
Took maybe an hour to install four lights, two outlets/switches, and drill holes through the studs to run the wiring. Total <$100

Wiring knowledge required: Basic
Difficulty level: Beginner

I had a row of 3 150w bulbs in my 2.5 car garage that lit it up decently, I thought, until these went in. I left the original incandescent bulbs in and didn't get cold weather ballasts because I try not to do to much in my unheated/non-insulated garage during the winter so the price savings (I found and bought the cheapest 4' fixtures they had) outweighed the slight chance I will need that much lighting during cold weather. Plus my garage has 4 sets of windows so I get adequate natural light.

ebrobb

My boss just got a couple 4 foot LED lights for the office. They look like a regular fluorescent fixture but they have a strip of LED's in them. They are really bright, supposed to outlast anything else, don't have to worry about cold weather, and use less energy too. I been thinking about replacing my fluorescents in my garage with them. I don't know what they cost but she said they had come waaaay down in price.


We have Menards around here, I think that is where she got them.


I only have a single car garage, sidewalls are finished but not the ceiling, just open rafters. I painted the sidewalls white, and put 3, 4 foot fluorescent lights on each sidewall, standing up and down, spaced them out as I could to still maintain some sidewall storage, as well as 6 on the ceiling. So I have 12 4 foot fluorescent fixtures total, in a 1 car garage.


Dang if there is still not enough light at times though. The fact that the ceiling isn't finished seems to soak up all the light output.


Sorry I don't have any pics. And hope this helps a little.

Manuellabour247

Painting the walls a high gloss white will improve your lighting. With the price of LED's coming down, there should be lots of possibilities for plug in lighting that you can use.

If you do decide to wire anything in (which is really easy), make sure you buy an audible circuit tester. It looks like a fat pen. Turn off the breaker or switch to whichever recepticle you will be working on and make sure that nobody can "accidentally" turn it on while you are working on it. Tape works great for this. I wired in some cheapy 4 foot flourescent lights. Took 20 minutes tops. Good luck to you in whichever you decide, and stay safe.

Scraptor

We replaced alot of fluorescent lights with leds at work. The light is amazing.
A couple skylights will add a ton of light during the day, with no power bill.

LOCO LAPTOP

Just waiting for LED's to get cheaper myself.

My current setup, x2 6 fluorescent lights, 10" Led in the hallway, 4ft LED Wraparound on a battery backup with the garage door (very useful):




How it looks overall:

clickscrazy

Yeah, the more research I did, the more I realized I am going to have to do multiple lights.

I can do electrical, I just didn't want to make a big deal out of it.