Anyone make a 12v DC high output ceiling light for a garage?

Hello, Gary from South Africa here, intro over.......Here's my dilemma, well not really one, but I've made it one. All the lighting in my house runs off a 12v dc deep cycle battery that's powered by a 150watt 12x DC solar panel. I live in South Africa so I'd be stupid not to tap into the solar power.

Even with 26 lights and 3 outside homemade spot lights, I still have room to expand as I have extra storage capacity as well as generation capacity. Battery is fully charged by about 08:20.

I want to light up my garage and my music room, which are mainly used during the day anyway, so something that pulls a bit of current is fine by me. I was initially thinking of using the 12v 3watt pot lights that I'm running in my house and making a chandelier type of macgafter that would house 10 of these globes, (220 Lumens each) and use that to light my garage, (single garage).

I did find this guy http://led.hypertriangle.com/lamp/design.php but I want something brighter.

Anyone have any ideas or links to something that would inspire me?

Requirements:
- Must run 12v DC
- Can't pull more than 60watts total
- Must give about 2000 - 3000 Lumens (total)
- Must be diy-able as I'm in South Africa and buying anything off the counter in the US is just a no-no.

At 50 lm/W you should be able to pick up something off aliexpress or the like.

A quick search there showed me several 5630-based strips that would ship to South Africa. One I looked at was under US$5 for 5 meters, "free" shipping to South Africa and 60 chips/m. I can't speak for the quality or the vendor, just one of the first examples I found. At 40-45 lm/chip spec-ed, that would probably around a "real" 1500-2000 lm/m.

Edit: See, for example, http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?407212-Shed-lighting-project

If you are interested in high CRI lighting, then take a look at this company:

http://store.yujiintl.com/

The shipping is fast but expensive, so buy a bunch of stuff at once.

Note: I don't have any experience with their products.

Awesome, thanks for the input. I was looking into high CRI lighting and actually found a company last night locally that can supply but their prices are what's going to sink me as I'll be in this light for about $200. I think that ribbon lighting is the way to go though, but everyone is trying to punt me 22-25 lm/W stuff

If you want a fixture to run off of a battery, why not look at any old MR-16 fixture? you should have a fairly wide choice of bulbs you can use. Unless of course you cant get MR-16's in south africa...

beley said:

If you want a fixture to run off of a battery, why not look at any old MR-16 fixture? you should have a fairly wide choice of bulbs you can use. Unless of course you cant get MR-16's in south africa...

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That is a good option, and yup we get them over here, pricing is fair, I just never thought of going for halogen as that's the option that I'm getting, draw is 20-50watts.

I think their point was that MR16 LED bulbs are fairly easy to find.

MR16 led bulbs are easy enough to get hold of as that's my original plan, but I need more than 220 lumens, which is where I'm maxing out this side.Is there a bulb for the MR16 that is rated higher?

Soraa which seems to be popular here has some that range up to 500+ lumens. I'm also finding similar from other brands on other north american LED bulb sites. Whether they can be found in South Africa, I have no idea.

The biggest I can get so far locally on the GU5.3 MR6 is 300lm (5w) globes.

http://www.eurolux.co.za/lampproductdetail.php?lmp_id=491#.Ve_yZ_mUd8E

Will have to look around a bit more, 500lm would be the target.

CoveAxe said:

I think their point was that MR16 LED bulbs are fairly easy to find.

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Correct, should have been more clear about that.

All the "big" brand bulb makers seem to make a 500ish lm MR16 Led, Cree , Philips, Feit etc. Of course, that doesn't help you if none of them sell in your area.

No worries. Yup, 12v MR16 GU5.3's aren't really that popular over here and so we max out at 300lm units. No-one locally brings in anything bigger. I'm probably going to have to go the overseas route.

This UK supplier offer a number of 12 volt lighting products and might be worth a look.
They ship worldwide.
http://www.onsolar.co.uk/12-24v-dc-lighting-products.shtml

They have 12 volt LED and CFL lamps, several of those in a chandelier type fitting would serve. Or perhaps a couple of the 12 volt LED floodlights.
I have no connection with them.

Contacted a few places and after shipping I'm going to be in this thing for well over $150. Found a local place that will supply 400lm test bulbs that I can use and if they work then I can pre-order them for Nov. No-one sells anything locally, this blows.

Well, I had some time this weekend so I decided to try the easier store bought option and went ahead and plastered 7 x 220 lumins 6w led 12 volters to a wood panel and sent it skyhigh. Que banjo's now..............Yes this looks really really REALLY hick, but.........it works. It actually lights up the garage better than my 2 x 8 footer florescence tubes that I have up there. Total pull: 42watts.







Next step is to actually make a housing for the globes, it'll probably be an old 6 foot case that I have left over from 2 old florescent light fixtures that I kept. I already gutted out the internals as they were shot, but knew that the housings would come in handy someday. Will also fit the standard diffuser. I still have to pull my 12v wiring from my battery into the garage for this room and my music room, so I have time to play around a bit. Total cost......about $30.