Garage Mod #4: let there be light!

**scheides** · 05-17-2009

I am sick of using trouble lights for every little thing. Since apparently I get to do another HG job on my car in the near future, I decided to finally get this done. Total cost about $80 for fixtures w/ ballasts, bulbs, and wiring. Took about 2 hours, easy peasy.

I positioned the lights so they'd be right over the open hood of a car as its parked in the garage. Even leaning way over and reaching down into the engine bay (blocking light with my body) I could still clearly see 10x better than before. I sat down on the futon to admire my work and noticed that there's so much light now that the shiny stuff under my hood illuminates the underside of the hood!

Swifty1638 · 05-17-2009

dude, drive to my place sometime and borrow my spotlight if you want..in exchange though, I wanna test those hood struts out!

**Halon** · 05-17-2009

Nice. I've thought about doing this sometime as well. Right now I just have 2 200W bulbs that do light things up pretty nice, but the car has to be backed up damn near to the garage door to have it so the hood isn't blocking the light.

Swifty1638 · 05-17-2009

ya, that's why my floor spotlight is aimed at the car. Over winter it also gave off heat, keeping me warm lol. I didn't realize it had hi-beams too!

This is it:http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/...3+90401+501093

**Kracka** · 05-17-2009

Looks great; can't wait to try them out

**scheides** · 05-17-2009

Screw the spotlight! I have massive speakers and a futon taking up floor space

The coolest thing about these lights are how they provide just tons and tons of AMBIENT light. The walls and ceiling are all painted white, light just gets reflected everwhere. Fuking sucks actually, I can see spots deep in the back of my engine bay that are dirty as fok! Now I will feel obligated to clean them!

**Kracka** · 05-17-2009

Next project: Lighted glass blocks in the garage floor!

slowbubblecar · 05-17-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kracka

Next project: Lighted glass blocks in the garage floor!

hmmm, if I was still messing with cars all the time, that would be tempting.

awd-drifter · 05-17-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kracka

Next project: Lighted glass blocks in the garage floor!

do it!!

LED garage floor?!

**cmspaz** · 05-17-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kracka

Next project: Lighted glass blocks in the garage floor!

They'd have to be angled and off to the side so he's not just throwing the cardboard over them. Regardless, do it!

A//// Guy · 05-17-2009

Nice!! Light is awesome haha.

One of the cool features about a lot of auto body shops is that they have flourescent tubes int he wall at around waist or lower level. Always thought that would be sweet to have in a garage to light up the lower areas/floor.

john · 05-17-2009

I did this mod to my moms garage 5 years ago or so. I believe there are 5 fixtures I used. Still need a trebel light for certain work however. Just get one on a retractable reel and hang it from the ceiling. Will be convenient and out of the way.

**scheides** · 05-17-2009

Yup, I have two of those actually, one on the shelf from my last house and one mounted next to the garage door opener, easy access and reaches everywhere in the garage. Anna got me a battery-powered LED one too, which has proven to be extra awesome.

Still, I want parts or tools in my hands, not lights. I have spots on the walls on either side of the garage door that will get more fixtures like this some day if the mood ever strikes me, but for the little amount of work that I do back there its prolly not really worth it. Still, I have said, 'some day I want to....' for all of these little mods, so...one step at a time

Next will be compressed air outlets or a heater I think.

NOT THE BLUE LAMPSHADE · 05-17-2009

compressed air!

**Goat Blower** · 05-18-2009

Very nice, my buddy has the same setup in his garage, worked well for doing his timing belt last night. We still needed portable lights for working in the wheel well though. I still haven't found a great solution for that yet, except for the lift. :-)

**Kracka** · 05-18-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by scheides

next will be compressed air outlets or a heater i think.

Heater!!!

MustGoFaster · 05-19-2009

+1 for the heater. And if you can justify it, get a nice permanent one that has an exhaust to route outside, so you don't have to worry about killing yourself. John has one in his garage and it's NICE. His heater is also a little over sized for the space so it heats it up nice and fast.

Kevin 1G Drummer · 05-19-2009

My vote goes to heater! With the compressed air outlets you still have to drag a hose around, and since your compressor is kinda small I don't think it could keep up with 2 air tools going simultaneously.

A//// Guy · 05-19-2009

Yea just get a reel for air down the center of your garage ceiling, so you can pull it down to use in either bay.

This is what we have in my dads 3 car garage, and it gets it decently warm in a half hour or so if its really cold out. A detached garage is a different story though, but since its only a 2 stall this should work no problem.

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...6428_200316428

MustGoFaster · 05-19-2009

John has a gas one, kinda like this. Same BTU rating. http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/w...7959_200307959

But if you don't have gas in the garage it's an easy choice.