Garage Lighting

My garage currently has 2 separate single standard bayonet dangling lights – with low energy bulbs (equivalent to 80w each)
Its pretty gloomy in there, and I’m planning on upgrading it, but I’ve no idea where to start. Plan to leave one of the bayonet fittings alone, and to use that for general access use etc, then convert the other one to something much brighter for when I’m working in there.
Its a biggish single garage, with an up and over door at one end and a single door on one side, so Im guessing 10ft by 20ft?
So,
1) Whats the brightest / cheapest to buy / cheapest to run alternative? a couple of 6ft flourescent tubes?
2) Can I simply replace one type of light with another? Do i need to do anything to the fuses / cables etc etc? will the electrickery break if I do this?
3) You may have guessed, but this isnt my strong point, am I going to kill myself if I attempt it myself?

IME furescent tubes don’t like low voltages so it depends how the garage is wired into your house, mine was clearly a bit dodgy as the votage drop was huge. I just wired some tubes to a plug, to a plug in RCD and then put all that into a socket. It did tend to get through a lot of the starter thingies (can’t recall what they’re called off the top of my head) which I put down to the low voltage.

Other than that more = better, go for double tubes as big as you can. And add some on the wall above any workstations (otherwise the ligh is always behind you while you work).

How do i find out what the wiring is like for the garage?
Could I run 2 x 6ft tubes as a main ceiling light then a shorted 4ft single tube on the wall by the workbench all off the same spur / switch thingy?

Starting to sound a little more than un-wiring one lamp and wiring in a new one!
Any idea what a decent electrician would charge for it?

I had the same quandry and went for fluorescent tubing. Not being a gifted electrician I spent a long time looking at the diagram in the packet and took my time putting it all together.
I switched it on with the very tip of my finger whilst cringing and bathed in the shadowless glory I had created – go for it.

why not buy some cheap ‘bulkhead’ light fittings, and put low energy bulbs in them?

fittings can be had from around £3 each, and the bulbs are silly money (like 3 for £1)

You can then fit them where you like, and they are a bit more robust than 6′ glass tubes.

Starting to sound a little more than un-wiring one lamp and wiring in a new one!
Any idea what a decent electrician would charge for it?

If you can tell the difference between blue, brown and yellow/green wires then you can DIY it. Wiring is all parralel so blue always goes to blue, brown to brown etc.

How do i find out what the wiring is like for the garage?

Garage away from the house, light’s look like they were bodged in, whole thing run off a socket in the house = probably done badly.

Garage part of the house, and lights look a bit more professional, dedicated trip in the fuse box = probably good.

I knew mine was bad as the lawnmower struggled when I used the garage plug, so used a (home made 25amp cable) extension lead form the kitchen.

So….garage is completely detached from the house, separate switch in the main fuse box in the kitchen will switch off all the garage power.
Currently has washing machine / tumble dryer / 2 bayonet light fittings and 3 x double sockets in there. Run the lawn mower from the sockets in the there with no problem. It also used to have our oil fired central heating boiler which we’ve since replaced with gas and moved into the kitchen.
So my guess is that with all that in there, and no problems historically, the wiring should be good enough to handle a few more watts of light?

So I can simply replace one bayonet fitting with a twin 6ft fluorescent setup just by re-wiring it?
Any idea how much brighter that would be than an 80w equivalent bulb?
If I were to also install a 4ft tube on the wall opposite the work bench, can I simply wire this in parallel to the new light?
And then if I want to switch this short wall mounted one independantly, can I still run this all off the same original light fixture cabling?

Replace pendant lights with ‘enclosed’ double lamp 5′ fluorescents and fit a bench angle poise lamp from a socket.
I got some used 5′ double lamp flourescent light fittings from work and went a bit mad and filtted all six. It’s quite a big garage but still a bit overkill.

So I can simply replace one bayonet fitting with a twin 6ft fluorescent setup just by re-wiring it?

Yep.

Flourescent tubes.

I’d say don’t be shy and go for a decent size – ie bigger than you first thought of. They don’t like be turned off and on a lot (the starter basically has a fixed lifecycle) but they provide tons of light and are pretty efficient once they are left on. If are concerned about light usage you could install another light running off a socket with a low wattage bulb for simple/short trips out to the garage

Yeah, I plan to keep one single bayonet light, with the switch next to the side door for short trips just to get stuff out / put stuff in etc.
Sounds like the best plan is then to replace the other bayonet with a twin 6ft fluorescent setup. I would only use this when I was settled in for a longer period so I’m not too worried about the on / off cycles.

My garage had one pendant when I moved in. I changed it to a 6ft tube and it was simple case of rewiring and following the instructions. You need plenty of light if you are working in a garage so I’d echo about going bigger than you thought.

An inspection lamp is useful too if you are looking for the bits that have rolled to the corner.

3 or 4 corrosion resistant fluorescents 35watt each will light it up no problem -electronic ballast will ensure max efficiency and lamp life.
Oh and Paint the walls white if they’re not alrteady.

Its pretty gloomy in there

Paint the walls and ceiling white – should brighten the place up a bit.

if your working at low level put flourescent bulkheads at low level as well + paint the floor with as light a floor paint as well