27 replies to this topic

[Pooky]

Recently moved into a new house and have a single garage across a shared driveway. As yet there is no mains electricity. We'd like to install some form of lighting in the garage. Would a caravan battery connected to some car fog/spotlights work? All we'd have to do is bring the battery in and recharge overnight now and again. Would i be able to run the wiring through a household 240V switch? We have considered solar powered but would prefer all equipment to be contained within the garage.

Has anyone got any other methods or ideas for the best way of doing this?

Thanks!

[Carlzilla]

if its just a double socket and a light youre after, a single fused spur off the house ring main will do, just make sure any wiring running outside is armoured if buried, as it cant be easily broken through.

Edited by Carlzilla, 19 December 2010 - 07:45 PM.

[Pooky]

As it's a shared driveway it's not something I think is possible just yet. I have plans to extend the garage and add electric in the future but am after a solution between now and then.

[AVV IT]

A leisure battery (as used in caravans, boats etc.) will last minutes, before starting to dim if hooked up to decent powered lighting. Caravans and boats use low powered 12 volt lighting, adequate for reading and cooking your grub under, but not much else. If you want half decent lighting, without mains power then your only real option is a generator. If a generator is too loud, then you could always leave a car running/idling outside the garage and temporarily run some cables to the cars battery terminals that are hooked up to some lights in the garage. But it's not a very fuel efficient option & you have to contend with the legalities & security issues of leaving a cars engine running whilst unattended.

But if the garage is close enough to the house, then personally Id just trail an extension lead from the house each time I needed power. In fact I used to trail a very very long extension cable down the road & round the corner to a garage on block!

Edited by AVV IT, 19 December 2010 - 08:01 PM.

[andydclements]

I'm with AVV IT, don't try spots (or other halogen type lamps) on a leisure battery. Leisure batteries are no better at powering items than a car battery.

A fair size car battery would be around 50 AH, that's one amp for 50 hours, two amps for twenty five hours etc. A pair of spots (can't do much with one, too focussed on a single point giving shadows etc) would be 2x55W, 110W, that's around 9 amps, so less than 6 hours on a full charge with a battery in good condition.

You could try lamps that use car batteries to power LEDs etc, but the cost would be high (You'd want a few lamps).


So, mains, buried under ground, armoured, Earth protection, installed professionally (you can dig the trench, lay a pipe/ hose, cover it in concrete etc, then get a professional to connect it up) is probably better and not very much more expensive.

[Pooky]

I obviously can't deny that mains electricity is the best option but that's not possible just yet. This lighting is only really to help the Mrs reverse into the garage and get out the car on cold dark winter nights. Not thinking of it having to be on for hours at a time, for anything more I would run an extension out.

[Carlzilla]

http://www.autoexpre...aley_led28.html
http://www.autoexpre...ng_ril2500.html
perhaps?

Edited by Carlzilla, 19 December 2010 - 08:42 PM.

[AVV IT]

I obviously can't deny that mains electricity is the best option but that's not possible just yet. This lighting is only really to help the Mrs reverse into the garage and get out the car on cold dark winter nights. Not thinking of it having to be on for hours at a time, for anything more I would run an extension out.

In which case a low powered 12v light connected to a leisure battery should be ok, in fact I think I've got a 12 volt strip light kicking around somewhere, that I never fitted into my camper, if you're interested.

[1.3Cooper]

I just used to use a bulb out of one of these connected to a car battery - a lot better than nothing! Did not bother with the lamp, just got a spare bulb and solderd some wire on the terminals.

http://www.halfords....tegoryId_165727

[1380sprint]

Id be gettimg the hammer and chisel out making a channel for some armud cable

[josh.evans]

you can run cable through conduit if above ground and fix to wall etc etc.... depends how far the garage is away aswell really

[M44K TS]

What about a leisure battery and a couple of these?

http://cgi.ebay.co.u...#ht_2018wt_1002

[1380sprint]

Forget the leisure battery!!

total rubbish on any decent light.
Just run a suttle extension cable,
do you have any opics so we can get a better.....er.....picture..

[Shifty]

What about an invertor battery pack?

You can rig up some low wattage 240v lights, plug em into the invertor and job done.

Unplug the invertor and bring back in the house to charge it up at night.

[Pending]

what's wrong with an extension cable running from the house?

unroll for work, roll up when done, simple's