Overhead lighting brackets?

[hpfiend]

Hey all-
I just recently installed a 4 post lift in my garage. With a sports car backed on and a high lift garage door kit with jack shaft opener I think it is going to work but the garage door will definitely hit the lights in their current location and I have limited mounting locations due to the open beam sloped ceiling design of my garage.

With the car in storage so close to the ceiling any lights above it will not be able to spill over. The two fixtures aren't actually too bad if I could find some shorter 90 degree brackets but I would obviously like an improvement with more fixtures. Short chains at center may work as they have to be above the beams but they will be wedged against the side of beam not hanging as intended.

Any suggestions?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bert_]

I wouldn't hack those fixtures up. They look nice and original, even still have the end caps, which is not all that common for fixtures that are from the 1940's. I would be a shame for them to have lasted this long and now get cut up.

You might be able to make some shorter downrods if their made of threaded pipe. other wise the best answer would be to mount the fixtures in between were the cars are parked.

I'm sort of a sucker for old lighting and electrical gear, so I'm sure other will disagree with me.

 

[ard]

Id consider relocating them AND adding lights.

If you just move them up- perhaps up in between the 'joists', you will still be in the shadow when the car is on the lift....

Those lights along the center beam, then new lights to either side, so as not to be above the car when it is on the lift?

 

[matt_i]

Right angle brackets are as simple as folding (bending) some steel bar or slicing up angle iron in either steel or aluminum.

Also there are a wide variety of unistrut angles that can be purchased and modified by drilling, etc.

I look up "Eaton Cooper B Line Catalog" and there should be a massive .pdf catalog of everything strut channel you could ever want, most of which you never knew existed before

 

[Falcon67]

Shorter down rods, make a bracket to fit on the roof side of the beams and hang them inside the rafter beam areas.

Looks similar to one I saved from the junk pile, a bit.

 

[Platonic Solid]

Hey all-
I just recently installed a 4 post lift in my garage. With a sports car backed on and a high lift garage door kit with jack shaft opener I think it is going to work but the garage door will definitely hit the lights in their current location and I have limited mounting locations due to the open beam sloped ceiling design of my garage.

With the car in storage so close to the ceiling any lights above it will not be able to spill over. The two fixtures aren't actually too bad if I could find some shorter 90 degree brackets but I would obviously like an improvement with more fixtures. Short chains at center may work as they have to be above the beams but they will be wedged against the side of beam not hanging as intended.

Any suggestions?

I take it that's an old picture since I don't see a lift there. That ceiling is exceptional for a house let alone a garage. I don't know what your beam spacing is but surface mounting some flat panels LED edge lit fixtures (link) between the beams could look pretty good IMO.

 

[hpfiend]

I take it that's an old picture since I don't see a lift there. That ceiling is exceptional for a house let alone a garage. I don't know what your beam spacing is but surface mounting some flat panels LED edge lit fixtures (link) between the beams could look pretty good IMO.

Thanks all! Yes, we are lucky to have that style ceiling in the garage as well as the house and are considering adding another attached garage down the road and finishing this garage as part of the house The downside is the slope of the roof is too flat for shingles so it must be metal or rubber-

I cannot attach anything to those white panels directly as they are some sort of foam like ceiling panels for insulation/decoration, but I get your points. I will mount the existing fixtures along the center beam and then somehow make some sort of support (maybe using that channel link, thanks) between each beam to hang lights perpendicular on the outside of bay where the lift is and then a dual run on the non lift side but that may be overkill.

I was going to fab short 90 degree brackets to run with the beams but you are all right that would not be efficient with the cars in the bays unless I was focused on waxing their roofs 24-7


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Wirepuller]

Unistrut is mint for stuff like this. not the most attractive stuff but it's extremely useful.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[hpfiend]

I take it that's an old picture since I don't see a lift there. That ceiling is exceptional for a house let alone a garage. I don't know what your beam spacing is but surface mounting some flat panels LED edge lit fixtures (link) between the beams could look pretty good IMO.

While those do look good, how do you change the bulbs?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Platonic Solid]

They are flat panel LED. The LEDs are inside an extrusion pointing directly at the four perimeter edges of the panel. The result as a remarkably even and thin panel of light. When it dies you have to replace the whole fixture. There are no replaceable "bulbs". They are actually intended to replace your standard grid drop ceiling fixture, but you have the option of buying a surface mount kit, which is just a rectangle metal box. You do not replace the box when the fixture dies.

 

[hpfiend]

I am tempted by the flat panel fixtures but the idea of replacing a 7.00 made in china bulb every few years makes me more at ease than a 37.00 made in china fixture. Call me paranoid but I am not convinced about the promised LED quality and lifespan coupled with cold solder joints and cheap construction.

I have slightly more than a 4' span between beams. I was planning on mounting one in each beam space perpendicular to the beams and spanning close to the ceiling just outside the cars and then mounting the two existing fixtures centered parallel along the center beam for 10 fixtures or 20 bulbs total.

If I convert the 2 existing fixtures to LED that should be about 4 amps (440w/110).

For my roughly 22L x 27W garage will 44k lumens be overkill? I do have two separate 15 amp sources to the garage but they are shared and decently loaded already.
I will turn everything on and clamp on amp check the max current load now.

I will be bringing new 8-3 ga (~40 amp) 220 volt wiring for the welder. I will be running all new 14-3 wiring for two 3 way switches so I could bring a dedicated 15 amp line parallel with the 8-3 for the new lighting as well for the overhead lights and two new side


Thanks in advance for any help.