Garage lamps: how to choose?

Many car enthusiasts, when purchasing a garage, plan to carry out auto repair work in it. Good lighting is necessary to carry out these works: the garage, as a rule, does not have windows. Consequently, daylight does not penetrate into the garage, therefore it is necessary to use artificial light sources for lighting.

Consider their main types and subtleties of choice, since garage light must meet many parameters.

Insufficient or excessive illumination affects a person's vision very detrimentally. The choice of lamps for lighting the garage must be approached seriously and carefully. It is not enough just to choose the design of the lamps, the power of the bulbs and place them in the garage. Every aspect needs to be taken into account.

For the convenience of choosing in the recommendations of SNiP, instruction 52.13330.2011 was developed.

Often it is necessary to illuminate not only the perimeter of the garage, but also its individual zones. The quality of work performed and human vision depend on the illumination of the working area. It is necessary to plan in advance where the work areas will be located. This will allow in the future to optimally select the design of the lighting device and the type of light sources. Before choosing lighting for a garage, several questions need to be resolved.

It is important to define:

• what will the garage room be used for;
• what types of repair work are planned to be carried out in the garage;

• where the main work area will be located, as well as auxiliary ones;
• what is the maximum number of people who can be in the garage when performing certain types of repair work.

As soon as there are answers to all these questions, you can easily choose the design of the lighting device, their layout. At this stage, you can determine the optimal light source. This will help make your lighting project cost effective.

Ceiling and wall lamps are distinguished by the method of attachment.

Ceiling lamps are suitable for lighting garages with small overall dimensions (for example, 3x4 meters). This is the most common type of fixture. This arrangement provides an even distribution of light throughout the garage space..

Installation of such luminaires is a little difficult: this is due to the performance of work at a height. For these works, an employee with the appropriate qualifications is required.

Wall lamps are used when it is necessary to illuminate certain areas of the room. For example, this could be a workbench, table, shelf, or rack area. Simplicity in installation and maintenance makes these lighting devices especially popular. Skills in electrical installation operations are the only thing that is needed to mount wall-mounted light sources.

Lighting devices are distinguished by the light source. They are:

• light-emitting diode (LED);
• luminescent;
• halogen;
• with incandescent lamps.

The most popular solution is to use lamps with incandescent lamps... The main advantages of such light sources are low cost and ease of use.However, they have their disadvantages, which include a relatively short service life, high electrical energy consumption and unstable light emission.

The light emission of such a luminaire has a yellow spectrum. This greatly reduces the color perception of a person working in the lighting area. The efficiency of such a luminaire is low, since the energy used by the incandescent lamp is converted into heat.

The use of this lighting unit in rooms with an explosive atmosphere is undesirable.... In the event of a malfunction, the incandescent lamp has the property of sparking, which can lead to fire. This luminaire is not recommended for use in rooms with flammable environment.

Many car enthusiasts use in the circuit lighting fluorescent lamps or linear lamps... This choice can hardly be called a good one, although these lamps have their advantages.

Such luminaires have a uniform luminous flux, high efficiency and long service life. but fluorescent lamps do not work well at low temperatures... At +5 degrees C and below, they do not ignite. In addition, these light sources emit a characteristic buzzing sound during operation.

When voltage surges appear in the network, such lamps begin to flash or glow with a dim light. The biggest disadvantage of this type of luminaire is the presence of mercury vapor in the lamp. It is necessary to operate such a light source with utmost care.so as not to harm your health.

For flawless operation of such lighting fixtures, an uninterruptible power supply is required. This leads to an increase in the cost of installing a garage lighting system. Operation of such light sources without a voltage stabilizer will lead to their failure.

Before using this type of lamp for lighting the garage, you must purchase a voltage stabilizer and take care of heating the room.

Powersave lamp - modern type of light source. All the benefits come from a long service life, good light output and stable performance at low temperatures. Before using this luminaire, everything must be carefully weighed.

For local lighting device today often use LED lamps... They are also called LED lamps. Their use to illuminate individual areas of the garage is due to their long service life, efficiency, high color rendering, uniform light flux without pulsation. The only drawback of this light source is its high cost.

Got widespread recently diode tapes... This is due to reliability in operation, ease of installation, and high performance. The use of this light source increases the comfort in the garage and makes its appearance more aesthetically pleasing. Many modern garages are equipped with this type of fixture..

The tape can have one or two rows of LEDs of different sizes and density. In some cases, it is able to completely replace the central garage lighting.as the light from the LED light sources is bright enough and the power consumption is low. They are economical: the consumption of LED light sources is 10 times less than incandescent lamps. The varieties are remarkable in that, depending on the type of device, they can change the shade of the luminous flux.

This type of lighting device has a closed, sealed housing, inside which a light source is located. Due to the sealed housing, harmful factors that are contained in the garage room cannot get inside the luminaire and spoil the light source. This increases its service life.... This light source is the safest to use.

Portable light sources are used in garages as auxiliary lighting... The so-called carrier is a simple extension cord (cord) attached to a light source. This is an outdated design for a portable luminaire. The presence of a cord makes it inconvenient to use and limits the area of ​​application of the device.

Recently, rechargeable portable lighting devices. Their main advantage is the absence of a cord.... This allows it to be used anywhere (even where there is no electricity). But the lack of a cord is also a disadvantage: this device needs constant recharging of the battery.

All portable lamps must be powered from a 12 Volt network (no more) with a degree of protection of at least IP44. This requirement must be met to ensure safety. A universal converter is required to connect the diode strip. This device is designed for a standard voltage of +220 volts, it is necessary for the operation of the diode strip. Its capacity is 12; 24 or 38 volts (the longer the tape, the more powerful the converter should be).

All other luminaire designs can be connected to a 220 volt supply network. To determine the lighting power, we assume that for 1 sq. m. garage has a minimum of 20 watts of lighting.

The design of a garage luminaire depends on the type and nature of the work performed in the room. Personal preferences of motorists play an important role. We can give some recommendations to help you decide on the choice of lighting devices.

• To calculate the exact number of lights in your garage, you need to determine for what purpose it will serve.
• One bright lamp in the working area and background lighting around the perimeter of the room may be enough.
• If you need a uniform and powerful luminous flux in the garage, it is worth integrating two central lamps into the ceiling.
• To exclude the failure of the entire lighting system at once, it is necessary to be powered from two automatic switches.

When choosing lighting devices, the quality of the selected products plays an important role. Cheap options tend to use substandard components. This leads to a decrease in the working life and technical characteristics of the luminaire.... Operational safety of such lighting devices leaves much to be desired.

The use of a luminaire with an E27 base makes it universal in terms of the use of any light source. You can always change the light source in such a lamp to the one that is most suitable for the work being done at the moment. You can choose any lamp for such a base.... At the same time, there is always the possibility of choosing a warm or neutral shade of the glow.

The number of luminaires depends on the size of the garage and the power of the selected luminaire. It is necessary to multiply the area of ​​the garage by 20 W (the minimum illumination of one square meter of the garage). The result obtained must be divided by the power of the selected luminaire.

Example: a garage measures 3x7 meters, a lamp with a 75 W incandescent lamp. We find the number of lamps: 3x7x20 / 75 = 5.6 pieces. It turns out that to illuminate this garage, you will need to supply 6 lamps with 75 W incandescent lamps.By changing the power of the lamps upwards, their number will decrease.

The most common arrangement of lamps in a garage is overhead. In this scheme, all lighting fixtures are located on the ceiling of the garage. This arrangement ensures optimal and even distribution of light over the garage area with a minimum of light sources. Due to this, this scheme is popular with motorists.

Wall-mounted luminaire layout is used at least. Ease of installation and ease of maintenance determine its popularity. Such a scheme allows you to save space along the height of the garage, if it is necessary to perform some type of work. However, wall lighting is inferior in terms of the degree of illumination to the central one.

A combined arrangement of lighting devices is often used. This makes it possible to carry out many types of repair work in the garage. This scheme is considered universal. Connection to the mains is carried out separately. Wall lights are connected to one circuit breaker, and ceiling lights are connected to the other. This makes it possible to use each scheme separately.

If the repair work involves the frequent use of the inspection pit, stationary wall lighting with a voltage of 36 volts is installed in it. In this case, the use of a carrier is not required, which is the advantage of this method of placing the lamps.

For a better positioning of the lamps in the garage, there are a few tips to consider:

• When installing street lighting in a garage, attach a motion sensor to the luminaire. This will save energy.

• In a heated room, install fluorescent lamps or LED lamps if the garage is not heated.
• To protect the garage lighting system from short circuits and overloads, install RCD circuit breakers.
• It is necessary to install the ground loop of the electrical wiring to avoid accidents.

• Be sure to install an emergency light and power it from a 12 volt battery. You can think about alternative energy sources.
• Don't skimp on the quality of component materials. Remember, the miser pays twice.

For information on how to make LED garage lighting with your own hands, see the next video.