The Driver
Detailers Workshop
to light your garage. It's been two months now of searching all sorts of boards, 10 plus trips to home depot and 2 failed attempts at lowes (Sorry guys they blow compared to home depot). Anyway's Through the months I've been experimenting with all sorts of lighting, from heat lamps, halogens ,fluorescents to LEDS. After all this I have come to a couple of conclusions.
1. Natural light is always the best.
2. Every light serves a purpose, they all do an important job. One is not better then the other. (This is not a debate, these are based on fact)
3. To have the best setup you need a mix of light.
4. You CAN make a nice lighting setup for under 500 without Drilling 1058460x holes, + you don't need huge buzzing T8 fluorescents to mimic daylight.
From all the info I have found they all seem to point to fluorescents, thats fine and all but I didn't feel like spending the time nor money to hang huge metal fixtures above the cars. Instead I looked into the best place to look for lighting, photography. The results were nothing short of awesome...
Here are the Four bulbs will be comparing + Threw in a stock 65 watt halogen just for fun.
On the far left is the Ecosmart Par 30 5000k rated at 1100 lumens.
The close left is the Ecosmart Par 38 5000k rated at 1250 lumens.
The close right is the Alzo 45 watt 5500k rated at 2800 lumens
The far right is the Alzo 84 watt 5500k rated at 4250 lumens (Yes, you heard right)
Here's a stock 65W (I'll say 2700k, but honestly I'm not sure)
Here's the Par 30 by eco smart - 1100 lumens... Extremely focused as these are actual single DIODE, not multi diode like most of the cheap floods.
Here it is in the bay running.
This is it on the test setup.
Shadow
If you go LED's they are always focused even the so called wide angle. Led's serve there purpose, that purpose is blasting swirls and deep defects. I apologize, I'll try an get a clearer image of how crisp the LED's really are even positioned 6+ ft away, it's very impressive.
Next is the Par 38, 1250 lumens and just awesome "cutting" ability as far as light goes. Again one single diode is better then many small one's. An LED light is mean't for cutting just as a yellow pad is to polish.
Again lit up in the bay on the over head position, very handy when doing heavy corrective work on hoods. Having your hands free is the most important thing as a detailer. It's honestly like having someone hold a sungun for you as your going.
Upclose, you can see how large the diode is. +The bulb shape acts as a heat sink. These bulbs give off almost no heat, which most of us dread! Cooler work environment = more productivity. They also use less juice to run.
All fired up.
Shadow
So the LED's are great at what they do, now it's time for the actual work light. First up is the Alzo 45 watt rated at 2800. Honestly this was my least favorite of the bunch. The results were ok and correctly placed they are effective.Here it is indoor's, which is pretty effect as a daily use lamp.
Here it is on the setup.
Shadow
On the plus, they give off alot less heat and consume alot less juice. If you have housings for your bulbs these are just about the biggest you can go as the 85's are just massive and need to hang.
Here's the big boy of the bunch the Alzo 85 watt 5500k.
The shadow is just huge. With fluorescence's size does matter and this definitely shows it.
Here's all four on in the bay...
Here's 3 shots of the bay lit.
First is just Led's on, key for spotting imperfections. Sorry I accidentally took two shots and it merged an extra frame.
Next is the bay full lit, frontal.
Bay lit, Door access.
Hope this helps guys, I know how annoying it can be to find the right lighting setup.
1. Natural light is always the best.
2. Every light serves a purpose, they all do an important job. One is not better then the other. (This is not a debate, these are based on fact)
3. To have the best setup you need a mix of light.
4. You CAN make a nice lighting setup for under 500 without Drilling 1058460x holes, + you don't need huge buzzing T8 fluorescents to mimic daylight.
From all the info I have found they all seem to point to fluorescents, thats fine and all but I didn't feel like spending the time nor money to hang huge metal fixtures above the cars. Instead I looked into the best place to look for lighting, photography. The results were nothing short of awesome...
Here are the Four bulbs will be comparing + Threw in a stock 65 watt halogen just for fun.
On the far left is the Ecosmart Par 30 5000k rated at 1100 lumens.
The close left is the Ecosmart Par 38 5000k rated at 1250 lumens.
The close right is the Alzo 45 watt 5500k rated at 2800 lumens
The far right is the Alzo 84 watt 5500k rated at 4250 lumens (Yes, you heard right)
Here's a stock 65W (I'll say 2700k, but honestly I'm not sure)
Here's the Par 30 by eco smart - 1100 lumens... Extremely focused as these are actual single DIODE, not multi diode like most of the cheap floods.
Here it is in the bay running.
This is it on the test setup.
Shadow
If you go LED's they are always focused even the so called wide angle. Led's serve there purpose, that purpose is blasting swirls and deep defects. I apologize, I'll try an get a clearer image of how crisp the LED's really are even positioned 6+ ft away, it's very impressive.
Next is the Par 38, 1250 lumens and just awesome "cutting" ability as far as light goes. Again one single diode is better then many small one's. An LED light is mean't for cutting just as a yellow pad is to polish.
Again lit up in the bay on the over head position, very handy when doing heavy corrective work on hoods. Having your hands free is the most important thing as a detailer. It's honestly like having someone hold a sungun for you as your going.
Upclose, you can see how large the diode is. +The bulb shape acts as a heat sink. These bulbs give off almost no heat, which most of us dread! Cooler work environment = more productivity. They also use less juice to run.
All fired up.
Shadow
So the LED's are great at what they do, now it's time for the actual work light. First up is the Alzo 45 watt rated at 2800. Honestly this was my least favorite of the bunch. The results were ok and correctly placed they are effective.Here it is indoor's, which is pretty effect as a daily use lamp.
Here it is on the setup.
Shadow
On the plus, they give off alot less heat and consume alot less juice. If you have housings for your bulbs these are just about the biggest you can go as the 85's are just massive and need to hang.
Here's the big boy of the bunch the Alzo 85 watt 5500k.
The shadow is just huge. With fluorescence's size does matter and this definitely shows it.
Here's all four on in the bay...
Here's 3 shots of the bay lit.
First is just Led's on, key for spotting imperfections. Sorry I accidentally took two shots and it merged an extra frame.
Next is the bay full lit, frontal.
Bay lit, Door access.
Hope this helps guys, I know how annoying it can be to find the right lighting setup.
