Garage: lighting for ingress and egress

[mattc]

The light switch and mains sockets are t'other end from the main door of our garage. So when I turn off the lights, there is then a perilous stumble past the (badly arranged) bikes to get out.

I've tried those push-button lights (with rechargeable cells), but the ones I've bought were made of cheese, and I don't know what "good" ones look like. And of course there's the hassle of charging yet-another-set of cells.

I was also thinking that a motion-sensor setup might be better - triggered when I saw some Osmand OSRAM-branded ones that were very affordable. But how well do they work?


How do YACFers cure this problem? (apart from putting a light-switch in a sensible place!)

[orienteer]

Two-way switches, one at each end of the garage. There's a personal door to the garden at the far end of the garage.

[Feanor]

Yes, I'd just add a second light switch by the door.

[fruitcake]

The OSRAM LED lights with PIR motion sensors are fine. I have a ceiling one - that's actually on a wall - that takes AA, and a few smaller ones that take AAAs. They're in a corridor at Fruitcake Towers. I like not having to switch the light on and off when I'm carrying something. Batteries last a few weeks in the AA unit, perhaps 10 days in the AAA unit.

We also have an inline PIR which adds a motion sensor to a normal light. One end goes into the light socket, the other end is a new socket for the lightbulb. It makes an audible click when it comes on though, so it's not for any lights within earshot of a bedroom in case it wakes people up. It looks a bit like this:

[mattc]

Not a bad response, 3 replies:

1 corrected my spelling of OSRAM - thankyou! And some useful suggestions
The other two chose to ignore the last paragraph of my post.

(i'm sure they did read it in fact

[fuaran]

I recently fitted a cheap PIR sensor in the shed. One of these: https://led.me.uk/black-pir-infraed-motion-sensor-light-switch-st15-for-led-and-energy-saving-bulbs

It can be wired up to any sort of light. I replaced a fluorescent tube with an LED tube. The LED is a lot quicker to turn, the fluorescent could be a bit slow, especially on a cold night.
So now the light turns on as soon as I open the shed door. A lot easier than trying to reach the light switch in the dark.

[grams]

I have a cheapo Chinese LED bulb with integrated PIR in the end. It works fine. Beware some of the cheaper ones have no light sensor to inhibit them in daytime. They also work by detecting movement, so if you’re still for too long they’ll switch off.

There are also bulbs with some sort of crude radar system instead of PIR. These are cheaper than PIR and don’t need line of sight to movement, which may or may not be an advantage.

[Frank9755]

I have a PIR motion sensor.  It's great, especially if carrying stuff.
We have three doors into the garage so simpler than multiple switches
Only downside is if I keep unusually still while doing something I have to wave my hands every 10 minutes.

[Arellcat]

Two-way switches, one at each end of the garage. There's a personal door to the garden at the far end of the garage.

My garage is similarly in need of a second light switch.  The only switch is by the main door, while the only working fluorescent tube is by the back door.  How should the wiring be set up?  I can bash metal and carve wood till the cows come home, but electrics were never my strong point.

[andytheflyer]

I wired a PIR in my garage a couple of weeks ago - largely to save the wife having to remember to turn the lights off.  It works brilliantly.

Took me a while to work out how to wire it but sorted with a bit of thinking.  Effectively, its a switch in the switched live from the switch, which is now permanently on.  It triggers as I (or the dog) walk into the garage and you can set it to stay on for a specified period after you leave, about 30s in this case.  Works day and night time.

Should have done it years ago.  The PIR was about £15 IIRC.