As above my garage does not have power and is in a block of garages away from the house so running a cable is not feasible. Other than the head torch suggestion has anyone found a cost effective way of lighting a garage so bike fettling can be completed using solar or rechargeable?
Cheers
ND
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Romantic too. 🙂
We have one of these for camping
Plenty of light. Batteries last well
actually our cost more but I'm sure thats the same one
But yes there must be a good solar option
Mine is in a block but I run a long cable. I've got a length of armoured cable for section where it crosses the track. Not ideal. I did toy with using a couple of car batteries, one in use, one in the house on charge. A solar trickle charger might work OK, too. When I CBA to run the cable I just use my night riding light.
Solar technology do some remote lighting options.
I have a generator in mine for big jobs but if just pottering I have a gas based camping lantern... Bit of heat provided too and the gas canisters are pretty cheap to.
I have a caravan leisure battery £85
10W PV Panel from ebay approx £ 100
Solar regulator £ 15
300W inverter for 240 V low E bulbs.
When I get some time I will loose the inverter and get some 12V LED
as used in campervans etc this will make the set up more efficient.
Works superb and a lot less cheaper than a sum main etc.
I have a similar set up to beicmynydd but with an old car battery and I'm using some 12v CFL lightbulbs.
Has worked well for 18 months now and the battery hasn't gone flat yet, even during the winter.
I had the same problem, so I bought a cheap (£99) generator, runs for hours and hours on a single tank. only costs a couple of quid to fill. Used it for 4 or 5 years until I moved house.
Upside compared to batteries is that you can also run power tools off it.
I have seen strip lights that run on batteries somewhere, not sure where but a couple of them would work.
Sorry not much help I know
This is the generator I used, £89 from B&Q, I guess you could find an equivalent cheaper online somewhere.
[url= http://www.diy.com/nav/fix/power-tools/compressors-generators-welders/generators/Performance-Power-2-Stroke-Generator-12448590?skuId=12969296 ]Generator from B&Q[/url]
I'd go the leisure battery/led route.
i point my exposure light upward towards a white piece of card on the celling (its honestly as good as mains!
+1 for Karrimor gas lantern. best deals on gas cartridges I found are the butane / propane one that DIY shops sell for use with plumbing torches
I just finished ziptieing an old motorbike headlight onto an old motorbike battery, complete with s****y ziptie carrying handle. No idea what the burn time will be, the battery was pretty unwell when I replaced it but we'll see how long it goes between charges.
Forget the lights.
Just eat more carrots......
🙂
Similar situation in my old shed. I got some LED lights from poundland the type you push on and off. Attached to roof they gave a decent enough downlight but I used a torch too if working on bike. in 12 months they didn't need the batteries replacing.
Similar problem tonight...parked car in front and full beam switched on...causes a hell of a shadow and blinding glare...but enough to tinker by!
If purely for lights then consider some sort of battery job. Possibly 1 of those power packs for cars and run 12 volt lights off them, can also be used to jump start a car.
If needing to do other jobs involving power tools then get a generator.
Gen handy as well for camping trips etc
Have a look at the twin halogen emergency light from newy&eire
Basically it's a big box full of batteries and two car headlights on top
I used one of these for about 5 yrs
You could do something similar but the advantage of these things is that they're self contained
I've got two lights similar to [url= http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/26-LED-RECHARGEABLE-CORDLESS-WORK-LIGHT-INSPECTION-LAMP-/230855881161?pt=UK_SportsLeisure_Camping_LightsLanternsTorches&hash=item35c01531c9 ]THESE[/url] from Aldi earlier in the year which do the job very nicely. I can use one of them to light the shed and the other to look for victims of fridge suck lol
Thanks for all the replys, plenty of food for thought. Might even have an old car battery in the garage. Just need it to get light enough to go looking
I saw a 12v led roll on dx for about 35 quid. That and a leisure battery will last days probably. Car batts are not designed for deep cycle so might not last long, maybe. Or get a really high capacity bike light battery as its easy to take home to recharge and should give you couple of hours