Under car workshop lighting recommendations?

[GreenV8S]

My new car lift is working well but leaves me in the dark when I'm under the car. My workshop is extremely well lit, but that's all lighting the top of the car - underneath it's pitch black.

So far I've tried head torches, clip-on mag lights and a ground level flood light pointing up. The first two helped quite a bit - the flood light was useless and just kept dazzling me or leaving me in shadow.

One suggestion I was given was to shine spot lights at the floor and use that as a diffuse reflector. I'm going to give that a go, but haven't done it yet. I've already tried shining a batton light at the floor but it was too diffuse and just dazzled me again.

Any other approaches anyone can recommend?

For what it's worth the car is about four and a half feet off the ground in a twelve by sixteen garage, so quite convenient to stick work lights on the walls if necessary.

[Jakg]

I fitted a LED battens at floor level, nicked the idea off here with someone whose garage was much prettier than mine.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Mock-up

[GreenV8S]

I'm jealous of whoever's garage that was.

I've tried direct lighting at ground level, but I found that whenever the light is in my sightline it dazzles me. Don't you have any problem with that?

[Jakg]

Jakg said:

I fitted a LED battens at floor level, nicked the idea off here with someone whose garage was much prettier than mine.

GreenV8S said:

I've tried direct lighting at ground level, but I found that whenever the light is in my sightline it dazzles me. Don't you have any problem with that?

They are only 10w battens so it's not so bad - I use 2x20w flood lights sometimes and it's way worse. The trick is always to have a higher quantity of less-bright lights.

[GreenV8S]

Jakg said:

hey are only 10w battens so it's not so bad - I use 2x20w flood lights sometimes and it's way worse. The trick is always to have a higher quantity of less-bright lights.

That's interesting - maybe I should try some dimmable ones.

[Belle427]

Led floodlights maybe bolted to the wall or floor so you can angle them as required?

[cliffords]

Jakg said:

Jakg said:

I fitted a LED battens at floor level, nicked the idea off here with someone whose garage was much prettier than mine.

GreenV8S said:

I've tried direct lighting at ground level, but I found that whenever the light is in my sightline it dazzles me. Don't you have any problem with that?

They are only 10w battens so it's not so bad - I use 2x20w flood lights sometimes and it's way worse. The trick is always to have a higher quantity of less-bright lights.

I am derailing the thread a bit but how does the lift help in that garage.
Surely you are just three or four feet up but now on your back at arms length. Asking as I have a good sized garage, but with a flat roof it's not too tall.

[GreenV8S]

cliffords said:

I am derailing the thread a bit but how does the lift help in that garage.
Surely you are just three or four feet up but now on your back at arms length. Asking as I have a good sized garage, but with a flat roof it's not too tall.

That isn't my garage, but I had a similar concern. My own workshop is quite a lot smaller (16'x12') and only 8' high, which is nowhere near high or big enough for any of the convention hoists except a mid-rise scissor lift - but that does leave the scissor lift right in the way if you want to work on the middle of the car. My own solution is to pick the car up on a set of gantry hoists. That gets it high enough to touch the ceiling, which is slightly higher than comfortable working height when you're sitting in an armchair. It isn't as convenient as a full height hoist, but sitting down comfortably and studying the problem with all tools and parts conveniently within reach is a mahoosive upgrade from working on a creeper. The gantry hoist takes up no space at all when the car is up or down, so there's nothing to step around/over or bang the doors into. I've got a set of high rise trestle stands for safety when I'm working under the car, but I usually don't set the car down onto them, so I can move them around to get them out of the way.

I haven't seen anyone else do it like this, so it's probably dangerously illegal, but it works for me.

[rambo19]

For working under my landy, I use a 5ft led batten light from screwfix.

[ShortBeardy]

got any pictures of said gantry hoist?

I had an old multi fluorescent 4x8 metal commercial/office ceiling lighting fixture on castors and it worked OK but the cable stopped it rolling about easily. It was bright but with four tubes (not single point), and a diffuser it wasn't too bad. I don't think you can get away from the dazzling problem if using light pointing up. You're always going to look down now and again, and it's where all the unused tools and dropped bits end up, so dazzling will be an issue.

Probably the best way is lots of overhead light, paint the floor and walls white, LED batons on the floor around the sides and take the wheels off the car...

[GreenV8S]

ShortBeardy said:

got any pictures of said gantry hoist?

I've got an RSJ over each axle, and four wire hoists on trolleys that I can position over the wheels. Each RSJ is up against the trusses, spans the garage and is supported by a leg at each end. You can see one of the legs here:



I pick up the wheels using a sling through the spokes, and some ridiculously over-specced shackles. All the hardware is at less than a quarter of its working load limit, with a safety factor of 6 - 10 on top of that.


This is what it looks like when I raise it to a low position to work on the suspension:


This is what it looks like when I raise it fully so I can work under the car:



The stands wheel around and park against the wall when not needed, so the whole workspace remains clear.

[shirt]

i've got something similar to this, but can't remember where from

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Line-Light-Professional-S...

has magnets so is stored on the lift leg and ties in to the feed to the control panel. the bar is rotatable so if there is any glare you can redirect it.

also not all head torches are made equal, try others out with a wider beam. i've got one from decathlon that has a very wide beam and just the 'right' level of illumination. i've seen some headband style ones with a full width LED panel but yet to see one outside of temu and the like.

[TwinKam]

Those head-band COB torches are brilliant, I paid £20 for my first one (Sealey), then bought a pair of cheapies for £6, there's absolutely no difference between them. They are great in all situations, under the car, in the wheelarch, looking down the back of the engine, walking around a campsite at night! Simply put, they illuminate whatever you're looking at. Mine have a proximity (hand-wave on/off) option, but it's a bit too sensitive in a wheel arch...
But they do have a relatively short working duration, so buy a few to have one in use, one ready, & one being charged.

Edited by TwinKam on Sunday 6th April 18:44

[GreenV8S]

Thanks for the suggestion - I will look into those.

[ShortBeardy]

Quite a hoist!
thanks