Garage Lighting

Joined
18 Apr 2016
Messages
18
Reaction score
1
Country
United Kingdom
My garage lights have never worked since I bought the house. I am going to replace the existing Batten lights with IP65 batten lights. The cable that feeds the 2 existing lights is either 1 or 1.5mm standard twin and earth. Is that cable okay for a garage, if not what should it be?

Thanks
Tim
 
Sponsored Links
Hi Harry. Just saw that the product information said it was suitable for a garage. I take it that ordinary Batten lights are okay then?

Thanks
Tim
 
Hi Harry. Just saw that the product information said it was suitable for a garage. I take it that ordinary Batten lights are okay then?

Yes, unless you intend doing something other than park your car in the garage. IP65 is fully protected against dust and low pressure water jets - unless you have a special need for that, why pay more?

A couple of cheap 5 foot florescent battens should do what you need - 5 foot is the most popular and cheapest size. If you anticipate being in there with them on for many hours, it might be worth your considering ones fitted with electronic ballasts, or even LED lights.
 
Sponsored Links
f you anticipate being in there with them on for many hours, it might be worth your considering ones fitted with electronic ballasts, or even LED lights.

Electronic ballasts is quite important if you intend to use any sort of power tools with a moving part - circular saws etc. With old-school ballasts, the spinning disc can appear stationary.

From what I've read, LED isn't there yet for strip lights, as they don't produce 180 degree light.

Also, it seems electronic ballasts are generally the most available these days!
 
Why. As has been said: From what I've read, LED isn't there yet for strip lights, as they don't produce 180 degree light.
Whilst that is strictly true, I must say that, in practice, I have never noticed any difference. In fact, a bit less than 180° might even be 'better', since less light will be utilised in illuminating the upper parts of the walls.
Your 5' LED is 18w and produces 2200 lumems. A 5' florescent is 58w and produces around 5600 lumens and costs less.
Again true, but ...
You will need twice as many LEDs for the same light output.
As I have often observed, it seems to me that fluorescent lighting was often considerably 'over-specified' - probably largely because one never had a choice of power/light output for any given length of tube. As I've said before, whenever I have replaced fluorescent tube(s) with the same number and length of LED ones (hence around half the power and light output), the illumination I have got has been more than adequate for the purpose - implying that the previous fluorescents were producing an unnecessarily large amount of light.

Kind Regards, John
 
Whilst that is strictly true, I must say that, in practice, I have never noticed any difference. In fact, a bit less than 180° might even be 'better', since less light will be utilised in illuminating the upper parts of the walls.

I have no personal experience of using LED's as replacements for florescent tubes, but I have heard that same thing repeated numerous times, with no reason at all to doubt it. My own well lit garage and workshop has around 14 tubes installed in it, varying from 2' to 5' installed decades ago, with a stock of spare lamps - they are not used so much now, as when I originally installed them, otherwise it would be worth my while to swap them for LED's.

Around the rest of the house, I gradually replaced tungsten and CFL's with LED in the most used lights and been pleased with the saving, reliability and the light output generally.
 
While LED Tube (fluorescent replacements) may produce fewer lumens than the equivalent fluorescent tube (while using about half the power), the light is (largely) directed downwards.
This means that they appear as bright (or even brighter) than the fluorescent tubes which they are replacing.

My experience with this is replacing two single (not too old) fluorescent tubes in battens with Osram SubtiTUBEs (1200 mm, 16 W 2200 lm)
I first replaced one and compared it with the remaining fluorescent and could see only that the new LED appeared to be very slightly brighter than the fluorescent. (Of course, I then replaced the other one.)

Then there are "LED Panels" - of various dimensions.
These can be obtained in sizes which approximate the area occupied by a pair of fluorescent tubes (1200 x 300 mm) but, because almost the whole of this area is "glowing", there is more light - or so it appears.

Again, my experience with this is in having a dual fluorescent light replaced with a LED Panel.

Interestingly, some of these LED Panels can be adjusted at installation to produce different "colour temperatures". (e.g. 3000 K, 4000 K, 5700 K)
This could be useful in a domestic situation, if the initial colour temperature chosen is not "liked" by SHMBO.
 
While LED Tube (fluorescent replacements) may produce fewer lumens than the equivalent fluorescent tube (while using about half the power), the light is (largely) directed downwards. ... This means that they appear as bright (or even brighter) than the fluorescent tubes which they are replacing.
Indeed - as I wrote, although winston appears to regard the 'partial directionality' of LED 'tubes' as a problem, in most situations I would regard it as an advantage!
My experience with this is replacing two single (not too old) fluorescent tubes in battens with Osram SubtiTUBEs (1200 mm, 16 W 2200 lm). I first replaced one and compared it with the remaining fluorescent and could see only that the new LED appeared to be very slightly brighter than the fluorescent. (Of course, I then replaced the other one.)
That's obviously close to my experience. I've replaced a good few fluorescents with "same length, about half power" LED tubes and the resulting illumination has never appeared/seemed to be any less than with the fluorescents.
Then there are "LED Panels" - of various dimensions. These can be obtained in sizes which approximate the area occupied by a pair of fluorescent tubes (1200 x 300 mm) but, because almost the whole of this area is "glowing", there is more light - or so it appears.
Indeed. There were/are somewhat similar fittings with fluorescent tubes behind the 'panel', but the 'glowing of the panel' is not as apparently even as with the LED ones.

Kind Regards, John
 
Anyone still fitting fluorescent battens on a new install needs their head looking at. LED is better in every single way.
 
79137880-5431-4442-B964-15BDA921A223.jpeg


I recently replaced a 2x70W 6 foot fluorescent batten with a single 60W LED batten, and it out performs the old batten in switch on time, light output, energy efficiency and maintenance visits.
 
I had a 5' fluorescent over my lathe and occasionally the lathe would appear to be running slow. Borrowed a tacho from work and discovered it was actually running true to speed so figured maybe the light was at fault. Swapped it for a 4' flush style 40w 4800 lumens LED fitting about 6 months ago and the difference is amazing. Much brighter and all the light is directed below the fitting rather than some of it going up to the rafters.
 
I wonder if there will ever be a shift in thinking on the part of manufacturers as to form factors – of course LED battens are usful for retrofit applications, or when the lighting is installed on trunking, but otherwise why do we need the batten form?, its simply a legacy from tubes, with LED they could be any shape
 

DIYnot Local

Staff member

If you need to find a tradesperson to get your job done, please try our local search below, or if you are doing it yourself you can find suppliers local to you.

Select the supplier or trade you require, enter your location to begin your search.


Are you a trade or supplier? You can create your listing free at DIYnot Local

 
Sponsored Links
Back
Top