Garage lighting

[1carguy]

My garage has 10'4" ceilings. I like the garage, but the lighting *****. I currently have 9 Flourescent 2 bulb fixtures with glass lens covering them. I am changing the 9 existing fixtures out to T5's with energy saving bulbs. I am also going to install 9 additional 2 bulb 4 foot T5 flourescents. I am getting rid of the lens and leaving the bulbs exposed.

Big problem I have is that the stacked cars really blocks the light when detailing a car below. I work really hard dialing one of my cars in for a show only to pull it out in the sun and say "how could I miss this?

I am thinking I need a good portable free standing type of light source that could be placed closer to the area that is being worked on. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas orn this subject.

Thanks

Dave

 

[2LTim]

How about tucking a couple of single tube lights under the ramps of your lifts? You could even switch them so they only come on when needed.
Tim

 

[Dogberry01]

Try mounting lights lower on the wall below the top car. Combined with what 2LTim said should help you out.

 

[jgira12]

forget the 2 bulb fixtures. you can now get fixtures that hold up to 8 4' bulbs. I just put in 3 that hold 4 T8s each, and the difference is like night and day...pun intended! BTW, no C5??????

 

[nissan_crawler]

forget the 2 bulb fixtures. you can now get fixtures that hold up to 8 4' bulbs. I just put in 3 that hold 4 T8s each, and the difference is like night and day...pun intended! BTW, no C5??????

My dad and I have almost identical size garages. I put up 9 4' 2 bulb t8 fixtures. He put up 4 4' 4 bulb t8 fixtures. So, he has 16 bulbs, I have 18. The light in my garage is WAY better than what he has. Way more than what the 2 bulbs do.

I'm not a fan of 4 bulb fixtures at all, just a waste of light. The ones that are 8' with 4 4' bulbs are ok, but still not as practical, IMHO.

 

[Stargeezer]

You can put some fixtures up high onm the wall facing the cars. I suggest looking into lights a little different for the deatils you need to see. Often mixing light colors will help. High-end fashion and ad photographers use a portable large bank of LED emitters. These take out all the shadows and render life-like colors in images.

Something like this and these range from $600 to around $1,600.00. Really cool..

 

[mmhouse]

I've never used one of these but always thought they looked interesting. Maybe others have some experience with them.

http://www.wobblelight.com/

 

[tipstall]

Nice cars, I guess you like vettes?

 

[Ggg]

What kind of lift is the white vette on? It looks like it lifts from one side only.

 

[heffneil]

How do you use those lifts with the garage doors? I am trying to understand how one sets up their garage doors to work with the lifts. I am going to go search this forum but I would love to see an inside picture of your track and opener!

Thanks,

Neil