Lights for Under 4 Post Lift

[Matt M PA]

Well guys, a friend and I have been playing with some 24v led strips for under the lift. He's in the lighting biz and has some leftover stock I can use. They're certainly bright enough but we will need to bend some metal to make brackets, etc. Plus, I still have to buy an additional length of LEDs that costs something like $200.

At that cost....I figured Id be better off buying the pre-made Liftlytes kit at $300. Well, the company that makes Liftlytes is out of business. There are some of the more costly magnetic attaching sets in stock...but now we're back at close to $400. The way things are....I can't swing that.

I really like the idea of the full length lighting as opposed to a sliding arrangement or even the list you wear on your head. I have two of those and while they work...it's not what I'm after.

So...it's seems that HD and Lowes both sell some different rope light sets but I'm thinking they are more for decoration than lighting. Does anyone have any experience with these?

 

[shopnut]

I'm in the early stages of designing a LED light system that can shine down when I'm working on something on the floor under the lift or swing out and shine up when working on the undercarriage of a car on the lift.

It will store in the non-powered runway of my BendPak HD-9XW. I'm thinking at least two 4' long lights. The design of the arms will be such that it can't be crushed when bringing the lift down to the ground with the lights in either position (not that I'm forgetful or anything ).

Curious to see what lights you pick out. Mine will most likely be some rigid fixtures for obvious reasons.

 

[Vegaman_Dan]

I've seen some pretty slick setups where grooves were cut in the concrete floor and then LED lighting strips installed on those flush with the surface. Almost had a neat runway look to them.

LED Rope lights are not for lighting an area and are used for decoration only.

 

[shopnut]

I've seen some pretty slick setups where grooves were cut in the concrete floor and then LED lighting strips installed on those flush with the surface. Almost had a neat runway look to them.
.

I always thought they looked cool too. But I question their functionality on a 4-post lift. It seems (and its pure speculation) that between the runways, rolling tool carts, rolling bridge jacks, and my own body, too many shadows would be cast. I suppose it depends on placement and number though.

I bet they are pretty good under a 2-poster though.

 

[Matt M PA]

Thanks guys....I looked around at Lowes...and you're right...not enough light.

My lighting biz friend and I are going to go at this again. We have the power pack, and one reel of 24v LEDs. They are more than bright enough....and I think I've found a way to mount them at an angle on each runway. The LED strips are less than 1" wide..

I'll keep you all in the loop as it progresses...

 

[ixlr8]

Matt, any update yet? As I am using my 4post lift more and more I am scratching my head trying to figure out better lighting for up underneath the car and still be out of the way.

 

[Matt M PA]

The LED strips were very promising....but costly. To the good, they could be mounted easily and were small enough to not interfere with the jacking trays. But...they're not water proof. These may still be the hot set-up.

We also are experimenting with a new type of Philips LED fixture that is enclosed and has a swivel attachment. These are much bigger and would interfere with the jacking trays. His thought it to make some sort of piece to go between the ramps but I'm thinking that would be in the way when working.

Back to the LED strips. These for me are the best, as they'd give light the entire length without being in the way.

The real issue is that my friend in the lighting business is busy and we don't get much opportunity to try things...I'll try to keep everyone updated.

 

[JohnnieMo]

My plan is to look at the cheap "stick on" light strips. You can get them at places like this:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/150788032918?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

I just bought a roll for a measly $10 that is waterproof to be used to light the bed of my truck. They are self adhesive and plenty bright. Just get the 600LED versions with the most lights in them. I also used this for under-cabinet lighting in my kitchen and they are going strong 4 years later running 24/7.

It's dirt cheap to try this out and see. You might want to create a small shroud to keep them from shining in your face, but I think this is an ideal design. You want them up high shining on the bottom of the vehicle, not shining up underneath your chin.

I'll be watching this thread with interest as I don't have my lift yet. You can be the guinea pig

 

[torquepower85]

have yall seen the magnet daisy chain lights? http://www.gesusa.com/Daisy-Chain-Light-Master-and-Sub-Unit-p/100941.htm

the picture shows them on a 2-post lift but i don't see why they wouldn't work for a 4-post as well

 

[Jagmandave]

We have a new Hunter alignment rack that has LEDs on it, they work a treat, and look like this....

As you can see in the pic, they don't run the whole length of the rack but are concentrated at the two ends where you'd be making suspension adjustments, but they really work! The ones in this pic look more like fluorescents, the ones on our rack are true LEDs

 

[Platonic Solid]

I design lighting products. Your price range makes most any recommendations pointless. You're not going to find "cheap" wet location LED lighting. Here's my recommendation: (Wet location and it wont kill you if you happen to hit it with a tool and get electrocuted.)

LED Low Profile Strip Lights, 12Vdc Low Voltage, IP68

IP68 means it's submersible.

Here's a dimensioned drawing: http://dl.ledtronics.com/pdf/Cmms1195-CUST.pdf

 

[LX-Markham]

My LED light setup under the lift.

8 - LED pucks strung together and wired to a motion sensor.
They put out an amazing amount of light. Not really enough to work on stuff, but great for getting in/out of the car.

 

[Platonic Solid]

My plan is to look at the cheap "stick on" light strips. You can get them at places like this:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/150788032918?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

I just bought a roll for a measly $10 that is waterproof to be used to light the bed of my truck. They are self adhesive and plenty bright. Just get the 600LED versions with the most lights in them. I also used this for under-cabinet lighting in my kitchen and they are going strong 4 years later running 24/7.

It's dirt cheap to try this out and see. You might want to create a small shroud to keep them from shining in your face, but I think this is an ideal design. You want them up high shining on the bottom of the vehicle, not shining up underneath your chin.

I'll be watching this thread with interest as I don't have my lift yet. You can be the guinea pig

I stand corrected. That's some seriously cheap LED lighting. I'm trying to figure out how they make any money. It costs more than $10 to ship pretty much anything from China to the US or Canada. Though I still find the sharp point light source of raw LED's undesirable at any price.

 

[Matt M PA]

Johnnie Mo....I 'm going to forward that link to my friend who's helping me. He too is a lighting designer and I'd be glad to hear his thoughts. Those are a 10th of the cost of what we were looking at...

 

[Platonic Solid]

Price per LED comes out to $0.017 ea. There are quite a few Chinese LED products out there being sold below cost, but the shipping usually kills the deal. The only thing I can figure is that the Chinese gov't must be subsidizing their manufacturers. They're selling manufactured LED products cheaper than we (non-Chinese) can buy the individual LEDs themselves. Kind of the same way we subsidize farming I guess.

 

[JohnnieMo]

I also can't explain how they can ship stuff for this cheap. I've bought a few things out of China and Taiwan with a similar cost. The cost of the Canada Post truck bringing it from the depot to my house can cost more than the product itself. I've even seen postage on the packages that exceeds what I paid. But hey, it still works!

For full disclosure, I haven't received this particular item yet, but I've seen others use strips just like this in trucks. (See the thread here: http://chevyavalanchefanclub.com/cafcna/index.php/topic,128779.0.html)

The LEDs I used in my house were non-waterproof, but full RGB. They were supplied through a different vendor, but same concept. I paid more money for those, but 80% of the cost was for the transformers and the controllers (for setting what colour you want). If you are running straight white and have a 12V source, you need neither of those things.

I think for a lift, you'd want to find a 120V/12V transformer/rectifier, but that should still be under $20.

For the price of these, I don't see why one wouldn't try.

 

[Beemer533]

I made workbench lights using these: http://www.vleds.com/white-8k-strip-light-striplight-3-chip-36-led-24-inch.html

I just stuck them to a small aluminum angle and screwed the angle to the under side of my shelving over my benches. They work really well, are very cheap and put out no heat..

I wired them all back to a 5A 12 volt supply withh some 2c 18awg wire.

I'll put up some pics when I get a chance.

This place also has a lot of good, reasonable priced LEDs..
https://www.superbrightleds.com

This post edited by the NSA

 

[JohnnieMo]

^^^^^^ that is where I got my kitchen LEDs also.

Sent from my Passport

 

[Platonic Solid]

Low end products aren't really my thing. I design for the military where quality, longevity and efficiency take precedence. I can provide 16,000 lm in 4 very small packages, very little heat, and no visible LEDs, but the consumer cost would be $1,000+.

 

[scott67chevelle]

Here's my solution to under lift lighting. Light up the walls.
Scott

 

[Beemer533]

Low end products aren't really my thing. I design for the military where quality, longevity and efficiency take precedence. I can provide 16,000 lm in 4 very small packages, very little heat, and no visible LEDs, but the consumer cost would be $1,000+.

Low end products? Ok, maybe compared to a $1000 light, then yes pretty low end.

Who is going to spend that on a light for thier lift? When i sit at my bench, my $50 in lights allows me to see just as good as some uber expensive light.

I'm sure your stuff is very cool, well built, indestructible, etc... But i don't see the return on investment for applications like this.

To each his own obviously!

This post edited by the NSA

 

[motofool33]

subscribed

 

[Matt M PA]

I was thinking of buying LiftLytes. About $400...which is pricey...but looked like a good product that would fit the bill. Except...it seems they are out of business. (The firm that makes them doesn't respond to emails, calls, etc)

While Greg Smith lists them for sale, my concern would be parts, warranty, etc....

 

[Tscott]

I always thought something like this mounted tot he lift would be useful.

Tom

 

[Old Moparz]

Read this a while back, a homemade light set up that works like a jack tray.....

http://garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=178165

 

[teal95]

Old computer power supplies are a cheap source for 12v and 5v power supplies.

Steve

 

[Platonic Solid]

Low end products? Ok, maybe compared to a $1000 light, then yes pretty low end.

Who is going to spend that on a light for thier lift? When i sit at my bench, my $50 in lights allows me to see just as good as some uber expensive light.

I'm sure your stuff is very cool, well built, indestructible, etc... But i don't see the return on investment for applications like this.

To each his own obviously!

This post edited by the NSA

If I posted pictures I'm sure there'd be several willing to get the latest state-of-the-art technology.
Yes, it's overkill for a lift, but still cool as s#!t.
It would go quite nicely in some of the cool as s#!t overkill garages on this site.

The 5000K CCT module can get even higher Lumen Output.
5000+ Lumens @ 143L/W from 22" x 2.5" x 1"
Solid White light. No sharp point light source.
Input 120VAC 0.29A 35W
LED PCB temperature <50°C

Thus 4 modules = 20,000 Lumens (get out your sunglasses)

and no, I won't post pictures ... yet.

 

[Ross/Kzoo]

My plan is to look at the cheap "stick on" light strips. You can get them at places like this:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/150788032918?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

I just bought a roll for a measly $10 that is waterproof to be used to light the bed of my truck. They are self adhesive and plenty bright. Just get the 600LED versions with the most lights in them. I also used this for under-cabinet lighting in my kitchen and they are going strong 4 years later running 24/7.

It's dirt cheap to try this out and see. You might want to create a small shroud to keep them from shining in your face, but I think this is an ideal design. You want them up high shining on the bottom of the vehicle, not shining up underneath your chin.

I'll be watching this thread with interest as I don't have my lift yet. You can be the guinea pig

How are these sets energized? Is there some type of transformer or dapter?

 

[JohnnieMo]

The LED strip is basically a ribbon cable. They make little 'clamps' that crimp on the ends and break out to individual wires. You then just run +12V and ground to it. Using a computer power supply is a clever idea.

For the RGB lines there are 4 lines instead of 2.

Here are the ones I ordered.
http://m.ebay.com/itm/380803032439?_mwBanner=1

Sent from my Passport

 

[TheJDMan]

I installed a couple of 12v LED light strips on my four post lift to illuminate the underside of the car. I have seen kits for sale for around $400 to do this but by purchasing the component parts on Amazon I have around $90 in the lighting project.

Here are the LED strips I used.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MPDA8WK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here is the power supply I used.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0034GUEY4/?tag=atomicindus08-20

I attached the LED strips with 3M attachment tape. Here is a picture of the lift lights standing in front of the lift looking toward the back between the car and lift deck.

 

[JohnnieMo]

JDman,

That is exactly what I had in mind. Thank you so much for posting. Can you comment on how well it works? Do you also use supplementary lighting? Is the glare bad?

That is one clean Camaro!

Sent from my Passport

 

[BonzoHansen]

I installed a couple of 12v LED light strips on my four post lift to illuminate the underside of the car. I have seen kits for sale for around $400 to do this but by purchasing the component parts on Amazon I have around $90 in the lighting project.

Lol I saw that on pro touring and was going to mention it!

 

[Matt M PA]

I was hoping to do something very similar, except using triangular plastic extrusions that would attach to the lift...then the led strips would be on a 45 angle.

On the link for strips above...are they adhesive tape backed?

 

[DoyleDee]

I plan on using barbecue type lights on my two post. The one I want is clip/magnetic, with about a 15" adjustable arm with leds. I just need simple and bright adjustable light. With the magnet, I can stick it to just about anything under the car.

 

[Platonic Solid]

I installed a couple of 12v LED light strips on my four post lift to illuminate the underside of the car. I have seen kits for sale for around $400 to do this but by purchasing the component parts on Amazon I have around $90 in the lighting project.

Here are the LED strips I used.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MPDA8WK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here is the power supply I used.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0034GUEY4/?tag=atomicindus08-20

Amazon Light Strip Spec states:
Working Voltage: 12V DC
Working Current/Meter: 1.5A

You have a 5 Meter strip, thus 12VDC x 1.5A = 18W x 5m = 90W
You're certainly not over-driving or over-heating them with a 30W PS
IMO your PS is under rated, unless you don't want more light.

 

[JohnnieMo]

Amazon Light Strip Spec states:
Working Voltage: 12V DC
Working Current/Meter: 1.5A

You have a 5 Meter strip, thus 12VDC x 1.5A = 18W x 5m = 90W
You're certainly not over-driving or over-heating them with a 30W PS
IMO your PS is under rated, unless you don't want more light.

Where are you seeing that 1.5A is per meter? I assume it is for the whole strip.

 

[Fishplate]

Where are you seeing that 1.5A is per meter? I assume it is for the whole strip.

"Working Current/Meter: 1.5A"

 

[Matt M PA]

An update.

I received the LED strips from the ebay link above. They may just do the trick...I'm going to give 'em a try and I'll get another update going...

 

[JohnnieMo]

Got mine too. Now I only need a lift!



Sent from my Passport

 

[Matt M PA]

An update...the strips from eBay may be bright enough...but I'm not sure how well the sticky back is going to work. The backing paper is already coming off. If these don't work, i'll try the ones from Amazon.

So..to those that have done it...where did you run the wiring? My lift has the corrugated hose running from the post to the lift which I'd like to use. After I'd get inside the driver's side runway...I'm not sure the best way to run the wiring.

Any thoughts?