Just Got Me A Garage!

[RyanML]

hey,

 

just got me a garage not far from my house, plan on using it a fair bit, but its a small garage out of the way and doesnt have any electrics in there, now id like to set up some lights in there, only one or 2 strip lights just so i can see a bit in there, my dads in the same predicament with his garage, but he runs a generator which is quite loud, my plan was to get a car battery or 2 in there and run the lights from them... now every other night or when it needed it id take the car battery home and charge it, so it keeps charge, just wondering how would i go about making the lights run from a car battery? im not the best with things like this, but to me this seems like a nice quiet option to get lights in my garage...

 

cheers for any help.

[smithyandco]

Van, Camper or Truck batteries might be a good idea as they would last for longer between charges without an alternator.

 

As far as wiring... car amp wiring would be suitable (That really think stuff... stuff you could use on a pylon... )

 

Then 12v tubes and bulbs (to the maximum amp output of the battery... workout amp ratings from the bulb and tube watt ratings)

 

Then household (or better... rugged, waterproof) switches for the lights...

 

Maybe even a fuse... for example if you had a 65amp battery and you were running 40amps worth of bulbs off it (quite difficult really... unless your running blackpool's lights as well ) then a 35/40amp fuse for piece of mind

 

Or if your struggling to 12v bulbs... a 240v inverter.... and mains bulbs etc

Edited April 20, 2009 by phil-smith.tk

[Stu]

Someone must have mains power nearby, perhaps strike up a deal with them to take a feed?

[charlie74]

ideally you need a leisure battery as you will be draining them from full to flat,, whats known as deep cycling, car/vehicle batteries arnt designed for that and will burn out quite fast as they will slightly overheat each time you charge them,

 

lighting wise you might find that a series of kitchen striplights might be the best option as most of them are already 12v

 

but in reality a decent quality genny is the best option and you can get some reasonably quite ones,, bonus's is that you can run some stuff like drills and a KETTLE )

[RyanML]

i may invest in some kind of invertor or somthing, theres no houses close enough to run power from, but the houses that are near, id imagine about 100-150ft away are full of old people, so i dont think they would appreciate a generator running all the time. i shall look for some 12v lights first lol.