My super cheap garage lighting fix

[Beater]

When I bought my place the 24'x25' garage had just four single 60w bulbs. Kinda similar to this pic I stole from the internet:

Needless to say, my garage was pretty dark. One day when I was checking out the markdown stuff at Walmart and I found those y-connectors for $.97 each. I already had some bulbs at home, so I basically doubled my lighting for $4:

So now I had eight 60w bulbs and it was noticeably brighter. It only cost me $4, but it still wasn't all that great. I don't know electricity at all, but I assume that the eight 60w bulbs means I was using 480w to light the garage.

Today I was at Home Depot and saw some 100w equivalent CFLs marked down. They were about $7 or $8, marked down to $1.97. I couldn't pass that up:

I picked up four packs, for a total of $8, and I replaced the old 60w incandescent bulbs:

Now I have eight 100w equivalent CFLs that only use 27w each. If my electrical math makes sense, I'm only using 216w to get 800w worth of light. And the whole deal only cost me $12.

 

[Joe B.]

I like that. I have similar CFLs in my garage but I never thought about splitting them.

 

[Beater]

I probably should have put this in the electrical & lighting section. Oh well. I guess a mod can move it if they deem necessary.

 

[Bull]

I was not expecting great results, but in the pic it looks plenty damn bright in there!

 

[Keep]

I was not expecting great results, but in the pic it looks plenty damn bright in there!

I was thinking the same thing!

Gotta love when a plan comes together.

 

[Beater]

I was not expecting great results

I was thinking the same thing!

Then that makes three of us.

I didn't really know if it would be much better or not. When I got home I opened just one pack of bulbs and installed them, just to be sure. They seemed to be significantly better than what I had, so I opened up all four packs and gave it a shot. That pic was taken without the flash on the camera, so yeah, it's decent light.

With the additional light from my two pull-chain shop lights I'll be set.

 

[rwhite692]

You know, you can also "go crazy":

buy some four foot flourescent fixtures from HD or Lowes (around $10) that come with the cord w/plug. Screw the fixtures directly to the ceiling.

Then get yourself a screw-in socket adapter to convert the socket to a plug.

Madness, I know.

 

[supertooljunkie]

I had two of those plastic fixtures in my garage and you are right, they ****. I took them down and put a metal cover with a knock out plug on the box in the ceiling. I then ran romex out of that to two 8 foot strip lights I picked up at a job site. The difference is incredilble.

 

[tcianci]

I did that in my basement years ago. I pulled out a bunch of double 4' t-12's and installed ceiling boxes along the joists. Since my ceiling was just floor joists and the underside of the first floor decking, I bought a bunch of 5 gallon bucket lids (white) from HD. I knocked a hole in the middle of them and screwed the Y adapter through the bucket lid and installed the lights. The lids made great reflector/diffusers to direct and even out the light. I got more actual light with less than half the original wattage. Does it look hokey? You bet! Do I care? Not as long as I'm paying the electric bill!

 

[Torque1st]

Just remember with CFL's don't screw them into a live socket. The arcing when the bulb terminals make contact messes up the internal electronic ballast.

 

[hetkind]

Just remember with CFL's don't screw them into a live socket. The arcing when the bulb terminals make contact messes up the internal electronic ballast.

new on me...I have been using CFL for years now without a problem...

I am just lighting the old way, 4' double tube strip lights with 12ga stranded wire and 3/4" nmc.

Howard

 

[NUTTSGT]

Looks good but watch out. If you look closely at the "Y" it's only rated for 60 watts max total. So when you doubled up the 60's, you were actually over loading the adapter.

Now that you are using those CFLs rated at 27w a piece, you should be okay.

 

[chrislehr]

You know, you can also "go crazy":

buy some four foot flourescent fixtures from HD or Lowes (around $10) that come with the cord w/plug. Screw the fixtures directly to the ceiling.

Then get yourself a screw-in socket adapter to convert the socket to a plug.

Madness, I know.

I did this in every rental place I ever had, and still havent hung them in the new house yet! Well, hung one of them over the workbench, so now I need to spend $ anyhow to buy more, and that makes me want to design a better plan.. and then that gets into more $$.. I might use the OP's idea in the mean time though.

 

[coachrick]

Well done...

I tried a similar 'double-up' about 10 years ago in our basement/laundry room using the older 'loop'-style CFLs before the spirals got more popular. The lights got plenty of use and were still going strong when we left last summer. Especially in the older/cheaper fixtures, I believe the lower wattage totals are safer and put out less heat.

Of course, those double lamp set-ups expose a bit more of the fragile lamp to damage from impact...no problem as long as you are careful with any long items/stock you might be moving through the area...we mortals aren't supposed to handle broken CFLs, only the recycling folks.

Also, in a corner with no other outlets, I used one of the outlet/socket combos to allow me to plug in a small fan in the same socket as a CFL...when your house is 5 decades old, you have to be creative

I also added a couple of clamp-lights in areas where wiring in a permanent fixture would have been a pain...just ran the drop cord along the floor/ceiling joists and clamped where needed. Boy, do I miss that basement!!!

As a last note, I see you're in VA...as you get into some seriously cold weather, the lamps will be a little slow to start up...takes 15-30 seconds to reached max brightness...a little disconcerting until you get used to it. The newer lamps are much better than the ones from the 20th century.

 

[redsky49]

I did precisely the same thing. Results have been very good based on the cost.

I have noticed that CFLs from different manufacturers have much different color temps, and can look sorta strange when mixed. Better to stay with one manufacturer.

 

[occupant]

Not bad at all. You have 3.3x the light and are saving 10% over 4 60 watt incandescents. The question is how well will the CFL's hold up to temperature changes when winter comes and summer again and winter again...

 

[Torque1st]

new on me...I have been using CFL for years now without a problem...

I am just lighting the old way, 4' double tube strip lights with 12ga stranded wire and 3/4" nmc.

Howard

I found out the hard way when I converted my home to CFL's. I noticed the arcing on a few bulbs when I was changing them in a live socket. Then noted that those bulbs were dimmer than the others and failed within a month or so. I could not know if those bulbs were just bad. After that I tried an experiment with a few known good bulbs that I was going to change for a higher output. I pulled the bulbs and then installed them back into live sockets and noted the arcing again. Then I noted the reduced output. The experiment sacrificed a few bulbs but I thought the experimental result was worth it. The test bulbs were those cheap Invision brand bulbs from Home Depot.

 

[Cryptic1911]

...we mortals aren't supposed to handle broken CFLs, only the recycling folks.

don't worry about it.. the amount of mercury released is so miniscule that its not even worth thinking about.. its just all the save the earth hippie types that get all up in arms about it..

Honestly, you probably ingest more mercury when you eat a tuna sandwich than you would be exposed to with a broken cfl bulb. Its a non issue.

 

[babzog]

Nice score on the 100W CFLs! I was looking at something along those lines a few months ago (sans splitter - great thinkiing there!) but HD had them at several dollars apiece. I forget the exact price, but it was enogh to make me buy the, much cheaper, 150W clear incandescent bulbs instead. I figure, any cost savings on electricity would be mitigated by the increased cost of the bulb itself. I think I'm going to install T8 flirescents at some point so this was only a stop-gap measure till then.

Your results look great (and much $$ saved to boot).

 

[fireball 440]

Not bad at all. You have 3.3x the light and are saving 10% over 4 60 watt incandescents. The question is how well will the CFL's hold up to temperature changes when winter comes and summer again and winter again...

I have CFL's in my porch lights and walk light outside. They come right on no problems in temps -25 degrees.

 

[Beater]

Looks good but watch out. If you look closely at the "Y" it's only rated for 60 watts max total. So when you doubled up the 60's, you were actually over loading the adapter.

Now that you are using those CFLs rated at 27w a piece, you should be okay.

Yeah, that's one reason I wanted to try some other setup. Didn't want to bow something up or burn the garage down.

Well done...
Of course, those double lamp set-ups expose a bit more of the fragile lamp to damage from impact...no problem as long as you are careful with any long items/stock you might be moving through the area...

As a last note, I see you're in VA...as you get into some seriously cold weather, the lamps will be a little slow to start up...takes 15-30 seconds to reached max brightness...

With a 10' ceiling they should be hard to break. Who knows, I could probably make it happen.
Yeah, it can get fairly cold here. Even now I can tell that it takes just a little bit for them to come up to full brightness. We'll see in another couple months how they're really affected.

Nice score on the 100W CFLs! I was looking at something along those lines a few months ago (sans splitter - great thinkiing there!) but HD had them at several dollars apiece. I forget the exact price, but it was enogh to make me buy the, much cheaper, 150W clear incandescent bulbs instead. I figure, any cost savings on electricity would be mitigated by the increased cost of the bulb itself.

I saw some that were 65w CFLs (something like a 300w equivalent) at Lowes but they were about $15. They're pretty big, much bigger than these that I bought. They're probably pretty good, but I didn't want to spend $60 on them right now. I'm pretty happy with my cheap-*** solution.

 

[Cobra5L]

Thanks to Beater, I also tripled my lighting output.

I replaced 4 - 60w singles with 8 - 100w (CFL 23w). Now I'm getting 200W of lighting on each socket for the cost of 46W...BooYeah

This has dramatically increased the lighting in my shop. No more working with the garage door open! I did find the CFLs do take a bit to "warm up" to be completly bright.

Now I just need to replace the last two sockets once I get the car off the jackstands!

 

[61scout80]

You know, you can also "go crazy":

buy some four foot flourescent fixtures from HD or Lowes (around $10) that come with the cord w/plug. Screw the fixtures directly to the ceiling.

Then get yourself a screw-in socket adapter to convert the socket to a plug.

Madness, I know.

why do that when you can take the existing fixture down and hard wire in a flourescent fixture?

Then he would have 4 of these double fixtures to use elsewhere.

 

[5Cent]

why do that when you can take the existing fixture down and hard wire in a flourescent fixture?

Then he would have 4 of these double fixtures to use elsewhere.

Because that costs to much! Great post and good ideas. I'm in the same boat with 4 incandescent fixtures and not nearly enough light.....time to head to the store!

Scout, great looking XJ's you have there....I miss my 92'.

 

[rwhite692]

why do that when you can take the existing fixture down and hard wire in a flourescent fixture?

Then he would have 4 of these double fixtures to use elsewhere.

Of course.

From the original post, it didn't seem like this guy was that adventurous, LOL

 

[Mike83]

I was going to try CFLs in the garage door opener light but the slow response made it more sensible to use regular bulbs.

I have light in my basement that I pulled the pull chain off so the way I turn the light on is to screw in the cfl bulb. Never had a problem with the "electronics." Works fine for me.

 

[Costner]

I have light in my basement that I pulled the pull chain off so the way I turn the light on is to screw in the cfl bulb.

You wouldn't by chance have a propensity to fix things with duct tape and bailing wire would you?

Seriously...you realize you could fix that for about $1.79 and five minutes of your time right?

 

[jamesemery728]

I use a CFL in my pull down drop light. Plenty of light w/o the heat and no more burned arms.

 

[61scout80]

Because that costs to much! Great post and good ideas. I'm in the same boat with 4 incandescent fixtures and not nearly enough light.....time to head to the store!

Scout, great looking XJ's you have there....I miss my 92'.

Its actually not too bad. i think mine cost about $20 each with the bulbs.

thanks for the compliments on the xjs, i'm in the process of making them into one. its a lot of fun

I was going to try CFLs in the garage door opener light but the slow response made it more sensible to use regular bulbs.

I have light in my basement that I pulled the pull chain off so the way I turn the light on is to screw in the cfl bulb. Never had a problem with the "electronics." Works fine for me.

I was about to tell you that i have a CFL in my opener, then i noticed your location. I would bet we have slightly different climate parameters

 

[Beater]

why do that when you can take the existing fixture down and hard wire in a flourescent fixture?

Then he would have 4 of these double fixtures to use elsewhere.

That was the original plan. When I bought the house it had several, matching, cheap fluorescent lights: one in the kitchen, one in the breakfast nook, and one in each of two of the bedrooms. Kinda odd to have in the bedroom.

Anyway, I hung two of them in the garage after I took them out of the house during various remodels, but they kinda sucked in the garage. I don't know if they needed new ballasts or what, but I didn't feel like messing with them so I swapped them back to the plain jane incandescent fixtures.

I spent some time in the garage the last couple nights working on building a blanket chest (I have a small, old house with really small closets and I need some more storage) and my cheap *** CFLs are working great. With the pull-chain lights I already had there is tons of light.

 

[Beater]

Thanks to Beater, I also tripled my lighting output.

I replaced 4 - 60w singles with 8 - 100w (CFL 23w). Now I'm getting 200W of lighting on each socket for the cost of 46W...BooYeah

This has dramatically increased the lighting in my shop. No more working with the garage door open! I did find the CFLs do take a bit to "warm up" to be completly bright.

Now I just need to replace the last two sockets once I get the car off the jackstands!

Nice.

It's been cool here lately, but not cold yet (maybe 45* to 50*) and the CFLs do take about a minute to really warm up. No big deal.

 

[Photo]

Just to let you guys know how much more everything costs here in Canada, I priced out the items to do this yesterday:

"Y" Bulb Adaptors: $ 4.12 ea
100w Equivalent CFL Bulbs: $ 22.97 / 4 pack

Sure wish we could get your prices up here!

Lane

 

[Torque1st]

I think the OP said he found his parts on a "clearance" table... The Y adapters at Walmart and the bulbs at Home Depot. Regular prices would be much higher.

 

[nate379]

Same here, but they take a good 5 mins easy to warm up enough that they are making more light than a cigarette lighter!

I had one on my front porch that would come on with a sensor and it didn't last too long. I ended up just putting in a 40 watt reg bulb after I killed 3 or 4 CFLs in a month. (guess they don't like those sensors?) Without any light it's pitch black at home if the moon isn't out and I couldn't see from my driveway to the front door (about 20 feet).

I have CFL's in my porch lights and walk light outside. They come right on no problems in temps -25 degrees.

 

[fireball 440]

I use a CFL in my pull down drop light. Plenty of light w/o the heat and no more burned arms.

Yeah but are CFL's tough enough to be banged around a little bit like the rough duty service bulbs?

 

[Torque1st]

Yeah but are CFL's tough enough to be banged around a little bit like the rough duty service bulbs?

Yes!

 

[aleccolin]

Decent. The CFLs have definitely gotten a lot better. You have a sheetrock'd ceiling so the light color gives you some nice light reflection and dispersion.

 

[Cobra5L]

Just to let you guys know how much more everything costs here in Canada, I priced out the items to do this yesterday:

"Y" Bulb Adaptors: $ 4.12 ea
100w Equivalent CFL Bulbs: $ 22.97 / 4 pack

Sure wish we could get your prices up here!

Lane

I also live in Canada...I got a 4 pack of 100w Equivalent CFL Bulbs for $15.99 at Home Depot.

All total it was less than $50 for all new stuff and none of it was clearance.

I know it's not as cheap as beakers, but deals can be found it you look for them. I never tried walmart, just went to Home Depot, so I wasn't looking for the ultra best deal...I just wanted to increase my lighting ASAP!

 

[rikmeister]

cfl's that hang down will not last as long as ones that are upright. when the price comes down on leds that will be the way to go. they have 60 watt ones now but they are like 50.00 a piece. auch.