Many vehicle owners own a garage in which not only the car is stored, but also repaired. Therefore, there must be a good lighting fixture in the room. Hiring specialists is a rather expensive undertaking, so you can make high-quality lighting in the garage with your own hands.
Content
- Luminaire selection
- Making calculations
- Arrangement principles
- Installation work
Luminaire selection
As a rule, an inspection pit is equipped in each garage, with the help of which all major repair work is carried out. But finding a broken part or a necessary tool in this hole without good light will be quite difficult. And constantly using a flashlight is simply inconvenient. Therefore, good light in such a room is extremely necessary.
When installing lamps, the following factors should be considered:
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height and total area of the garage; - finishing material;
- the number of work areas and where they are located;
- specific power of the luminaire per square meter.
Conventional types of incandescent bulbs are not suitable for garage lighting. The fact is that their efficiency is too low, which means that most of the energy they generate turns into heat, not light. All that remains will simply not be able to provide good and comfortable conditions for renovation. In addition, such lamps shine with a yellow-red light, which spoils vision.
Therefore, it is best to choose the following types of lamps for the garage:
- Halogen. Excellent lighting fixtures with a long service life. But when installing such lamps, you need to take care of the stabilizer, this will help protect the device from voltage surges. In addition, it is recommended to operate such devices in special shades, so as not to touch them with your hands once again, as this leads to a decrease in their resource.
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Luminescent. These devices are presented in the form of glass flasks with electrodes that are filled with an inert gas. The inside of the flask is painted with luminescent paint, which begins to glow under ultraviolet light. - LED - modern lamps that are more expensive than conventional devices, but pay off quickly enough. When illuminated, they do not emit harmful substances, and their light is brighter and more lively than that of similar devices.
If the lamps are purchased in a room without heating, then it is better to choose halogen lamps. If the humidity is higher, then it is safer to use only portable devices that operate on low voltage. But LEDs will work perfectly at any temperature and humidity.
Making calculations
When installing the lighting device, it is necessary to adhere to the SNiP standards, where all the requirements are indicated. To calculate lighting, it is necessary to use the formula SxP / N, where:
- N is the number of lamps;
- P is the specific power;
- S is the area of the room.
In addition, interior decoration is also taken into account when calculating. The darker it is, the more watts you need to add. It is best to use a material that reflects light, such as thick foil.
As for the lighting device itself, you can use one type or several. It should also be noted that it is best to do a combined version. Install a traditional incandescent lamp as the main lighting, but integrate LED spotlights or fluorescent lamps for work areas.
Arrangement principles
Having chosen the light sources necessary in terms of power, they begin planning. The main thing is to correctly distribute the devices over the area so that each area is fully illuminated.
Most often, lamps are mounted on ceilings and walls, although recently garage owners have preferred to install autonomous lighting that can work from a car battery. This is quite convenient, since you can work in a continuous mode without fear of a power outage, which often happens in garage arrays.
The connection diagram looks like this:
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LED strips must be attached to shades; - the wiring is fixed to the ceiling;
- then the switch is installed, it is brought out to the shield;
- then it is necessary to connect the wires to the battery device, and already it to the charging.
Many people prefer multi-level lighting, when a large lamp is installed in the center of the ceiling, and a small lamp is installed in each work area. But during installation work, it is necessary to correctly divide the walls into several levels.
In this case, it is necessary to hang the lamps so that the shadow from the car does not fall in one direction or the other. It is advisable to fix the luminaires installed on the walls on brackets, in which case they can be easily adjusted and turned over. Stationary appliances must also be hung correctly so that they do not dazzle the eyes. And it is better to choose shades for all bulbs, then they will not create glare, which greatly irritates the eyes.
Installation work
The main lamp is mainly fixed to the ceiling, it is best to choose a location above the hood, then the shadow will not fall. At the same time, it should be lowered below the eye level of the garage owner, in which case the light will not dazzle. In addition, spotlights are fixed in all workplaces.
Lamps of low power are most often installed in the inspection pit. As a rule, there is always high humidity in this place and ordinary devices can be electrocuted during use.
Lamps with a protective metal mesh are recommended to be fixed on the sides, moreover, special holes are dug out in the wall for them.
As for the wiring, it is recommended to make it hidden. But such a recommendation can only be fulfilled during the construction of a garage, more precisely, at the stage of plastering the walls. The wiring itself is laid parallel to the ceiling.
If the wire is installed secretly, then all actions must be carried out with particular accuracy and accuracy. Otherwise, the plastered walls above the wiring will soon simply crumble. It is best to carry out this exercise under the close supervision of an experienced electrician.
Further, all actions are performed according to the instructions:
- At the initial stage, you need to draw up a power supply diagram, on which the exact locations of each individual lamp are drawn.
- After that, you need to purchase distribution boxes, lamps themselves, switches, sockets.
- Now you need to start calculating the length of the cable. If the wiring is open, then you need a VVG ng LS cable, if plastic pipes are used for protection, then VVG ng will do.
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At this stage, they proceed directly to the installation of electrical appliances, strictly following the previously drawn up scheme. - After installing the sockets and switches, the distribution block must be fixed above them.
- Now you need to lay the cable, connect it to the panel and other electrical appliances.
- All that remains is to unsolder, turn on the devices and check the system for operability.
As you can see, it is not difficult to equip the lighting in the garage. You don't need to be an experienced electrician to do this yourself. It is enough to draw the diagram correctly, follow all the recommendations, observe safety measures and it will always be light and comfortable in the garage.
