Under Lift Lighting

[Handyandy23]

Anyone have any ideas for lighting under a 2 post car lift? I know I read one person on here talking about lights he had flush mounted in the concrete pad before it was poured. But I can't find that now.

Aside from that, has anyone rigged anything else up that is effective? I was looking at some of the cordless flood lights (Ryobi for example makes one) that sits just a couple inches off the floor and tilts to shine up on the underbody.

I also thought maybe something that magnetically attaches to either the lift posts or the lift arms that could tilt / swivel to light wherever you were working? But before I go searching and customizing I figured I'd check on here to see what others have already learned.

 

[fiataccompli]

I had posted something recently about under-lift lighting. In the end, I decided as nice an idea as it sounds, I didn't think it would be necessary vs. good adjustable work lights. I thought I might end up fussing around more on the concrete pour only to end up looking like i'm in a disco when I need to work under a car...

 

[Moosefire]

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[aka Larry]

Anyone have any ideas for lighting under a 2 post car lift?

4-post lift is easy to illuminate because there are no arms to move/slide.

 

[pbon]

When I had a 2 post, I used the Milwaukee tower lights so I found direct light where needed.

 

[Craneboy]

I just set myself up with a plastic bump cap (a light duty hard hat) with a headlight on it.

 

[Moosefire]

4-post lift is easy to illuminate because there are no arms to move/slide.

Well color me bashful, must've skipped over the 2 post part. My apologies gents, good luck with your search


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[Lucid Moments]

I don't have my lift yet, the shop is being built. But when I do I plan to look into something like this for under lift lighting.

I will have to sort out some details, but it shouldn't be too hard. Getting 120V power to the lift would be the hardest and that isn't really much.

 

[maxpat82]

I though about putting light in the slab too, but didn't go with it finally.

it make for a complicated pour.
rare are the case that a simple flood light is enough under a car.....you always need to point it in a different direction to really light up work under engine and suspension part.

didn't worth the hassle and $$$ to put light in the slab.

 

[James E]

4-post lift is easy to illuminate because there are no arms to move/slide.

Except if you have a rolling jack on the rails or use the sliding jack trays a lot (which I do).

I considered mounting bright lights on the wall on each side of the lift, and rigging them up on articulated arms that I could pull out and then shine the light up towards the vehicle.

I first thought that used dentist lights would be perfect, but after looking into them, they're hard to find, extremely expensive (even when used) and the light is just not that bright.

I came up with a design but lost interest when I couldn't decide on what kind of light to mount to it. I may still do it.

Now that strips of LEDs are so inexpensive, I have considered placing strips in the rails where my rolling jack sits. If mounted in the very bottom of the channel, the jack wheels wouldn't touch the strip. The problem there is that the rails attract dirt and oil, and the light would be limited to a strip along each side as the channels are pretty deep and would block light to the center of the vehicle.

 

[CJseven]

I used stand lights and hated them, always in the way or you were in the way of the light. Look for a couple of old dental lights or loading dock lights , they can be mounted to a post or a wall if next to one.

 

[Thirdyfivepickup]

The Warthog Hideyhole has lights in the concrete pad shooting upwards. I saved a picture on my phone. You'll have to search his thread for install pics.

 

[Lucid Moments]

The Warthog Hideyhole has lights in the concrete pad shooting upwards. I saved a picture on my phone. You'll have to search his thread for install pics.

I don't know how useful that would really be. Seems like your body would almost inevitably be in the way of the light.