In 2002 the company that built my house installed lighting fixtures unchanged from the 1920's, or perhaps Thomas Edison's time, to provide lighting in the garage. They've worked reasonably well for our three-car garage, but it's always annoyed me, especially in the summer, that the bulbs actually produce about 90 watts of heat and only 10 watts of light. In other words they are mini-heaters. Light's just a by-product. Since I'm storing the airplane wings by hanging them pretty close to the ceiling, and there's a good chance that the light bulbs will interfere with the hanging thereof, it was time for them to go the way of the horse and buggy.
So out they came. For replacement I purchased new LED lights from Home Depot for $129 apiece, plus tax. They install easily, don't flicker when you turn 'em on (although there is an annoying half-second delay), have a 50,000 hour life, and produce very little heat. They're also low profile, protruding just 2-¾ inches, which allows me to hang the wings a little bit closer to the ceiling.
So here's how it looks installed with the diffuser lens on. I put the lens on for this picture, but I'll actually be leaving it off, at least 'til the airplane's built.
Then I moved the airplane wings around with help from good neighbor Mr. G and did the same for the other light.fixture.
Here's the right wing sitting on top of the rolling dresser/workbench and then re-hung from the ceiling again. The lighting is now mostly indirect as the light reflects off the wing and back onto the ceiling (which is why I took the diffuser lens off - no need for it). To aid reflection off the shiny aluminum wing skins, I removed the blue plastic where the LED lights shine directly onto the wing.
Finally I installed a remote-control light switch so I could turn on/off the garage lights from inside the car. The ones on the garage door openers weren't cutting it.
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