Seting up Lighting for your Work Area Ok, I'll step in here and be very specific. You need good lighting or you'll always have to have aux. lighting to see what you are working on. Do exactly what any supermarket or office building would do: Use fluorescent lighting and be smart about it. Look for 0 degree F shop lights with electronic ballasts that can accommodate T-8 fluorescent tubes. Get 32 or 40W T-8 tubes for the shop light fixtures and never need a flashlight again. One other nice thing about these fixtures is that they do not hum or buzz. Instant fluorescent light with good color regardless of garage temperature. * More on T-8 tubes at the end of this mail... Placement: use at least two fixtures in the center of a large two car garage to take advantage of a center mounted light. For a very well lighted work area, consider mounting them at 45 degree angles where the wall meets the ceiling as follows: ____________________________________________________ | [UUUUU] ^ | | | | | 8 | | F | | t | | | | |_ V_| |U| |U| |U| |U| |U| |U| |U| |U| | | | ---------------------- 20Ft---------------------- | | | This will provide nice even light on all sides of the work area and the high placement will keep you from shadowing the work area. My garage door opener only allows 60W bulbs. This is about worthless for 475 ft sq. I converted the Garage door bulb sockets with screw in outlets and now run two T-8 Shop light fixtures from the garage door opener. 10,800 lumens for 128W. If I'd used 60W halogen bulbs with fragile filaments it would have been 120W for 1680 lumens. I also replaced the center mounted single light bulb in the garage ceiling with a third fixture. Locally, I can get the fixtures for $20 at Menards ($15 on sale such as this week) and the bulbs are about $3ea. Thus, with no rewiring, $63 for bulbs and fixtures (on sale) provides get the functional equivalent of light from 19 60W bulbs. All for about 200W. If you still need/want a spot light, do one of the following: 1) Get one of those cheap clamp on spun aluminum reflector floodlights and put in a 75-100W halogen flood light. This will cast sharp shadows and blind you in close quarters but will provide gobs of focused, intense white illumination. 2) Get one of lighted extension cords from sears that uses a 13 or 26W compact fluorescent tube. These put out nice light and don't cause the glare of halogen lights. An added plus is that they don't burn your hands in close quarters and leave the full rated amperage of the extension cord available. Most have a grounded socket in the handle and the fluorescent tube has on an on/off switch. See these Sears Craftsman items: #03483891000 is the 13 W light with no outlet - On sale, $10 till 3-16 #03483911000 is the 13 W light with an outlet. ( = 50W incandescent) #03483893000 is the 26 W light with an outlet. ( = 100W incandescent) Search for "fluorescent worklight" at http://www.sears.com/sr/homepages/sears_homepage.jsp * As promised - more on T-8 tubes: Fluorescent tube diameters are measured in 1/8ths of an inch. The standard size is 1.5 inches in diameter, ergo T-12 (12/8"). All T-12 flourescents are about 4 times as efficient as an incandescent bulb which put out only about 14 lumens/watt. T-12s put out about 60 (or less) lumens per watt, typically T-12s light slowly when cold. They also loose 30% or more of their light output over their useful life - which is shortened considerably in cold climates. T-8, or 1 inch diameter, tubes are installed in most new office buildings and supermarkets. T-8 tubes are more efficient than T-12 at 80 (or more) lumens per watt. As a result, they put out about 33-40% more light than a T-12 at any given wattage. T-8 bulbs also loose less of their light output over their useful life and start instantly - even in in the cold. You can use two 32W T-8 48" tubes and get the same or more brightness you'd expect from two 40W T-12 shop light. Or, put in 40W T-8 tubes for 33% more light than a 60 lumen/watt T-12. Kind regards, -Leland