Surely you have heard about low-voltage lighting networks, but the meaning of their use remains unclear. In this article we will explain why the use direct current for household lighting makes sense, as well as in what cases and how you can retrofit the wiring in your own home.

The use of low voltage to power lighting and other electrical appliances has been practiced for more than half a century. This trend originated in industrial plants, where, for a variety of reasons, voltages of 36 volts and below were considered safe. When the contacts open in such a network, no sparks are generated, and the effect of such a low magnitude on the human body does not entail serious consequences.

Today, with the development of more efficient light sources, the use of low-voltage networks in residential premises has become not only possible, but also very rational. It can be argued that the installation of a low-voltage lighting network in conjunction with the use of LED lighting sources is an integral component of modern renovation.

Benefits of Low Voltage

As many people know, such a dangerous voltage value as 220 volts is used in household networks due to limited bandwidth wires and requirements for small size household appliances. For example, an electric kettle of the same power, but powered from a low voltage network, would load the wiring with about ten times the usual current.

Few people know that a significant part of modern household appliances have an operating voltage much lower than the mains voltage; they are powered through built-in transformers. Lighting networks can also be included in this category of consumers. In the era of total abandonment of incandescent lamps, it has become possible to run low-voltage current through the lighting network, but why do this?

1. Electrical safety. Such a small voltage is not capable of harming a person; most will not even feel this effect.
2. Fire safety. Especially for lighting networks, where fairly long sections of cable lines are laid in a flammable environment with open access air - in suspended ceilings. A short circuit in such a network is more likely to damage the transformer than to burn the wiring.
3. Reducing the number of transformation steps. It is known that it is cheaper to install one powerful transformer for the entire network than to supply each lighting fixture with it.
4. Energy savings when using low-voltage light sources can range from 10% to 30%. Needless to say, lighting devices low voltage ones are more durable and do not have to be replaced as often.

Problems and disadvantages of low-voltage networks

The most obvious disadvantage of low-voltage networks is the potential voltage loss when transmitting electricity through a conductor. Density plays a significant role in solving this issue. electric current. If there is a conductor with a sufficiently large cross-section, the losses are not so high.

As practice shows, the length cable line from source to low voltage consumer is rarely more than 20 meters, if we're talking about about household electrical networks. If you lay these sections with a standard 1.5 mm 2 copper wire, the losses will not be noticeable.

This may seem questionable for larger properties such as cottages and multi-storey mansions, but wiring on them is carried out according to distributed circuits and takes into account the requirement of selective protection. This means that nothing prevents you from installing one transformer in each group panel.

Note! Here, not only the conductor cross-section is important, but also the quality of the material. Cheap Chinese cable products of the ShVVP or PVS brands are not suitable for these purposes. It is necessary to use cables of the GDP or VVG brands, in the cores of which there are no impurities of brass and silumin.

Optimal solution to the problem

Like any innovation, low-voltage lighting networks are best introduced at the building design stage. This will help avoid problems such as cable overuse or incorrect junction box layout.

Scheme for assembling modular panels from distribution boxes

First of all, you need to take into account the additional space in the group panels for installing modular transformers. Devices like the ABB TS25 or HAGER ST313 take up four modular slots, while the more powerful HAGER ST315 takes up 6 modular slots. The cost of such transformers is up to 3000 rubles, quite high price due to the possibility of mounting on a DIN rail. Free-standing devices are cheaper, easier to find, and have a much higher power range. For example, devices such as TASCHIBRA can output up to 250 watts, which is enough to connect 30-40 halogen lamps.

If you plan to use LED light sources, conventional electronic transformers will not suit you. To power the LEDs you need a stabilized current transformer. To obtain it, you can use devices like the Deluxe NV1236C LED driver (costs about 1000 rubles) or popular power supplies for LEDs made in China. If you need to mount the device in a group panel, it is better to purchase an LED RGB controller, such as Supernova LED Dimmer for 2,500 rubles. It has multiple pulse width modulated channels and can operate in offline mode. This means that you can also configure it to control the brightness and color of the LED RGB strip.

House panel layout diagram

As for the connection diagram and wiring of such a lighting network, you most likely will not encounter any difficulties. The transformer is connected to the mains voltage, further wiring is carried out independently of the system. Lighting switching is carried out using conventional switches; for halogen lamps, polarity does not matter. But in the case of LED lamps, especially those operating in RGB mode, you will have to maintain the polarity and place only the positive wire in the gap.

You can also experiment and run a four-way control circuit through a three-gang switch, opening the negative terminals in different colors. Such a switch must have three independent keys, so use Schneider Electric WDE 000331 or its equivalent. In this case, it becomes possible to control the shade of the glow without first adjusting the controller.

Examples of connecting junction boxes

Low voltage lighting in a residential apartment

The question involuntarily arises: is it possible to install a low-voltage lighting network in an already inhabited apartment? Yes, you can. Maybe not so economically and with the loss of a number of opportunities, but it is possible. It is most advisable to carry out such an upgrade during a major overhaul of the electrical wiring (this way you will avoid the need to install junction boxes). It is advisable to lay the power cables of the outlet lines along the floor, connecting the outlets in a chain.

The cavities of suspended ceilings can be used to lay lighting cables, thus almost completely eliminating the need for horizontal grooves. But there is also Alternative option circuit layout: if you replace distribution boxes with modular panels, you will not only provide selectivity of overload protection, but also gain space for installing transformers.

Little tricks for low voltage lighting

And a small life hack as a conclusion. How often have you encountered the need for emergency night lighting so that you can walk through a dimly lit room at night? If you have low voltage wiring, there are two interesting solutions to this problem.

The first is quite simple: put in each box with a switch a small piece of LED strip or a bunch of NE-2 neon bulbs connected through a current-limiting resistor from 100 kOhm to 5 MOhm.

In this case, you will get a rather interesting internal glow effect. Light will ooze out from all the cracks and gaps between the plastic parts, which looks quite unusual and provides the necessary level of illumination for orientation in complete darkness.

Second option: the backlight can be made brighter by installing super-bright LEDs directly into the frame, but this is a rather difficult job. First of all, you need to make a 1 mm groove in the bottom edge of the frame, removing a little plastic at the end with sandpaper. LEDs need to be soldered in series, optimal quantity of which there are three. A current-limiting resistor is also soldered into the circuit in series, the value of which is selected individually.

The entire garland is attached to the cavity of the switch frame with a glue gun or silicone sealant; it is advisable to orient the LED heads towards the edge of the frame. And if during repairs you make several thin strobes and insert a thin two-core wire into them, you can also illuminate the sockets.

For many men, the garage is not only a room for covered parking, but also a full-fledged workplace.

Car enthusiasts spend many hours of their lives in it every day, and not only for repair work. There are no windows in such places, so full lighting comes to the fore here.

However, this is where the main problem lies. Connecting your garage to power grids seems like an insoluble problem for most.

Either there are a lot of obstacles with documents, or there are simply no electrical networks nearby. But don’t be upset, because there are several simple ways illuminate your garage building, even without power lines nearby.

Selection of lamps

First of all, you should decide the following points:

• what kind of lamps will be used

• what kind of light bulbs will be in these lamps

• what lighting intensity do you need?

Firstly, lamps must be economical. After all, you won’t have a power line nearby from which you can easily take a few kilowatts. That's why the best option there will be low-power LED models or 12-volt bulbs.

Even with this supply voltage, they are quite capable of producing a full luminous flux no worse than 220V incandescent lamps. The lighting from them will be bright and uniform.

At the same time, energy consumption from an autonomous power source will be reduced to a minimum. They can be powered from batteries of minimal power. Not necessarily from automobile ones, even used computer UPSs will do.

Bulbs of different wattages for a regular 12V E27 socket can be ordered from the Chinese here.

You can also use LED strip as backlight. If you stick it around the perimeter of the room, or with tapes of several stripes in the center, you will get overall uniform lighting.

Also, pieces of such tape can be glued into an old spotlight, taking only the body from under it. Thanks to the reflector, the lighting will be more than bright and consumption will be minimal.

Short pieces of tape are convenient for organizing local illumination of a workplace or inspection pit.

Just don't forget about humidity. Because of this, for pits you need to buy not just a simple tape with IP20 protection, but models with a higher moisture protection class.

The same applies to the cellar. In general, the use of U=12V lighting in such places is the only the right decision. If it is not a tape, but a lamp, then it should also be chosen with moisture protection.

Once you have decided on the light sources, you next need to make a choice from what they will receive power from.

Let’s make a reservation right away that we will not seriously consider such exotic species as solar panels, wind generators or the Philippine lantern.

Solar panel and wind generator

Although panels and wind turbines are no longer particularly rare in our stores, few people would risk installing a solar battery on the roof of a garage far from their home.

The factor of theft and vandalism cannot be ignored here. Moreover, such sources have a lot of disadvantages:

• high price

• direct dependence on weather conditions

Lighting from a Philippine lantern

The Philippine lantern for our latitudes is generally a rare exotic, unfamiliar to few people. It has one advantage - it is absolutely free.

The name of the flashlight came from the places where it was actually invented. By the way, there is a whole volunteer organization engaged in such lighting, with a very telling name - “Liter of Light”.

Everything is based on the refraction of natural light from the sun. This flashlight is made from a plastic bottle filled with water.

The manufacturing procedure is as follows:

• the bottle is thoroughly washed until shiny, all labels are removed

• a rectangular stainless steel screen is placed on top

• The water in the bottle is diluted with chlorine or bleach. These components are needed so that the liquid does not bloom and does not have to be changed frequently.

• the bottle needs to be filled with water 3cm above the screen itself

• a hole is drilled in the roof where such a lamp is fixed

To prevent leaks, all joints are sealed with silicone.

One such flashlight is comparable in lighting power to a 50-watt incandescent light bulb and covers an area of ​​up to 10 m2.

In order to increase the level of illumination, you will have to mount several such devices on the roof.

However, you need to be objective; this method of lighting is more applicable to some kind of shed with junk than a garage where a car worth several thousand dollars is stored. Nobody in their right mind would put holes in their roof for a water bottle.

Power supply from generator

One of the common cases of garage lighting is the purchase of a gasoline or diesel generator. Here you can get by with models of the most minimal power up to 1 kW.

In addition, if absolutely necessary, all power tools in the garage can be easily connected from such a power station - an angle grinder, a drill, a small emery machine, etc.

However, the disadvantages cannot be avoided here:

• traffic fumes

• constant noise and rattling

• problems starting in winter

• complaints from neighbors who will be inconvenienced by all this

Battery lighting

Having weeded out the original and less applicable options, let’s turn to the most popular power source for lighting in the garage. This is still a 12V car battery. The most common capacity is suitable - 55Ah.

For LED bulbs or ice strips, one charge in gentle mode can last for more than 10 hours of continuous operation and even more.

Naturally, this should be a separate battery, and not the one used in your car. After a voltage drop, the battery will have to be taken home to be recharged.

When using batteries, always monitor the discharge voltage.

Most batteries, after a drop of less than 10-10.5V, are difficult to restore to full operation.

Therefore, for monitoring, always place a miniature digital voltmeter in parallel in the power circuit.

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You can also use terminals with a built-in digital voltage meter.

Naturally, all lighting, even though it is 12V, will need to be connected through protection devices - circuit breakers 5-10A.

Such lighting is most effectively organized using LED strips.

Here is a good video about how a man assembled almost complete lighting in his country house using an LED strip and a battery, and used it for several months.

Some assemble similar circuits based on a battery and an inverter. But why waste the initial energy on operating the converter?

When you already have 12V light bulbs or LED strips, it is much easier and cheaper to immediately connect them to this voltage.

If you need to illuminate not the entire garage, but only certain areas, then ordinary lithium-ion batteries can handle this. You don't even have to buy a battery.

How to assemble such a structure and how long this illumination will last can be found in the article below.

Those who don’t have the desire to carefully make a circuit and lay out wires can assemble all the garage lighting literally “on their knees.”

Take a used battery from a UPS. Mount a minivoltmeter and an on/off button on thick cardboard.

Then you connect LED strips from this structure - daylight running lights. This design is especially justified in cellars and small rooms.

It is necessary to use running lights, because they are initially waterproof. It is advisable to insulate all contacts and connection points.

Here is a video on how to assemble such lighting in a few minutes.

Light bulb with built-in battery

Well, the most simple option, there will be the use of LED bulbs with a built-in battery.

Hang the cartridges in places where you need to get more light. Screw the lamps into them and that's it.

No wires, voltage level control, protection devices, etc. One such light bulb can work up to 12 hours. Output luminous flux up to 500Lm.

After which, you unscrew it and take it home. There, again screwing it into the cartridge, which is under a voltage of 220V, you recharge it.

The cost of such lighting will be the most economical.

For many men, the garage is not only a room for covered parking, but also a full-fledged workplace.

Car enthusiasts spend many hours of their lives in it every day, and not only for repair work. There are no windows in such places, so full lighting comes to the fore here.

Either there are a lot of obstacles with documents, or there are simply no electrical networks nearby. But don’t be upset, because there are several simple ways to illuminate your garage building, even without power lines nearby.

First of all, you should decide on the following points:

• what kind of lamps will be used

• what kind of light bulbs will be in these lamps

• what lighting intensity do you need?

Firstly, lamps must be economical. After all, you won’t have a power line nearby from which you can easily take a few kilowatts. Therefore, the best option would be low-power LED models or 12-volt light bulbs.

Even with this supply voltage, they are quite capable of producing a full luminous flux no worse than 220V incandescent lamps. The lighting from them will be bright and uniform.

At the same time, energy consumption from an autonomous power source will be reduced to a minimum. They can be powered from batteries of minimal power. Not necessarily from automobile ones, even used computer UPSs will do.

Bulbs of different wattages for a regular 12V E27 socket can be ordered from the Chinese here.

You can also use LED strip as backlight. If you stick it around the perimeter of the room, or with tapes of several stripes in the center, you will get overall uniform lighting.

Also, pieces of such tape can be glued into an old spotlight, taking only the body from under it. Thanks to the reflector, the lighting will be more than bright and consumption will be minimal.

Short pieces of tape are convenient for organizing local illumination of a workplace or inspection pit.

Just don't forget about humidity. Because of this, for pits you need to buy not just a simple tape with IP20 protection, but models with a higher moisture protection class.

The same applies to the cellar. In general, using U=12V lighting in such places is the only correct solution. If it is not a tape, but a lamp, then it should also be chosen with moisture protection.

Once you have decided on the light sources, you next need to make a choice from what they will receive power from.

Let’s make a reservation right away that we will not seriously consider such exotic species as solar panels, wind generators or the Philippine lantern.

Although panels and wind turbines are no longer particularly rare in our stores, few people would risk installing a solar battery on the roof of a garage far from their home.

The factor of theft and vandalism cannot be ignored here. Moreover, such sources have a lot of disadvantages:

3 ways to light a garage without electricity
How to make lighting in a garage without electricity in a few minutes. Which is better, LED strips or 12V light bulbs? Rechargeable light, everything you need to know. Why is it impossible without a voltmeter?

Installation of solar panels

Whatever one may say, the most effective way is the installation solar panels, thanks to which you can not only make autonomous lighting in the garage, but also independent power supply to the entire area. Yes, this is an expensive option and you probably can’t do it without the help of specialists in installation. However, once you spend once, you can not only turn on the lights during a power outage, but also significantly save on your energy bills.

We talked about how to install solar panels with your own hands. If your budget allows, seriously consider this option.

Homemade wind generator

An alternative option for autonomous power supply to a garage and a dacha in general is to install a windmill, which can also generate free electricity. You can buy a ready-made device, but it will be quite expensive. For a 2-kilowatt model you will have to pay about 100 thousand rubles. That is why we suggest you make a wind generator with your own hands, thanks to which you can use light in the garage without electricity.

The only thing to consider is wind speed. If there are no strong gusts of wind in your region or site location, it is unlikely that you will be able to get free electricity.

Diesel or gasoline generator

You can also make light in the garage without electricity if you use a gas generator. In this case, as in the version with solar panels, it is possible to completely provide the site with electricity by connecting the generator to the power grid. It is rational to use this idea only if the lights are turned off for a short period of time, and if you use power tools in the garage.

Otherwise, 1 kW of electricity from a gas generator will cost you quite a lot, so using it constantly is unlikely to be profitable. We talked about how to connect a generator to the network in the corresponding article.

Battery use

LED lamps with battery

On the Internet you can now find many offers for the sale of battery-powered LED lamps. Inside the 5-12 watt light bulbs there is a battery installed that can maintain autonomous lighting for 6-12 hours.

Using such a lamp is quite simple - it is screwed into a standard E27 socket, charged from the mains throughout the day, after which it can provide lighting in the garage without electricity. The cost is about 600 rubles, so you can buy 2 light bulbs and forget about problems with power outages.

Garden solar lights

A similar idea is to purchase solar-powered garden lights and place them under open air on the territory, and in the evening, if the lights go out, bring it into the garage. Such lighting devices will last for 5-6 hours if they are of high quality.

The only drawback is that over time the brightness of the lighting will decrease, in fact, as will time autonomous lighting. However, many people use this idea, so there is a reason for its existence.

Philippine lanterns

Well last method, which allows you to create free light in the garage during the daytime - the use of Philippine lanterns that work on the principle of light refraction. Making a Filipino lantern with your own hands is quite simple - cut out part of a bottle (although you can use a whole one), attach it to a rigid base and mount it in the roof. If the roof is made of corrugated sheeting, you can simply cut a suitable hole in the sheet into which a bottle of water is installed, as shown in the photo below:

To prevent rain from getting inside the garage, the joints between the roofing material and the bottle must be well sealed with sealant. This idea is suitable for residents of regions where sunny weather prevails. Otherwise, the light will be dim and nothing will work. If you do everything correctly, the result will be something like this:

So we have listed all the popular ways to make light in a garage without electricity. Our opinion is that if you really only need autonomous lighting, and not a full power supply, it is better to purchase battery-powered LED lamps or make a windmill yourself. All other technologies are either too expensive or not effective enough.

Autonomous garage lighting - 7 simple ideas
How to make light in the garage if there is no electricity? 7 ideas for organizing autonomous lighting inside the garage with your own hands.

We have already talked about how to connect lighting in the garage. Of course, everything is written there well and clearly, but there are times when it is not possible to use electricity. This may be its complete absence or constant shutdown; in any case, it is unpleasant. Therefore, in this article we decided to tell you how to make lighting in a garage without electricity, we will tell you the main methods and talk about those that you should not choose at all.

What is better not to do

Solar panels

They can be called in a modern way, which can really bring results. But if you use solar panels in a garage, it can be called a disaster. Let's just remember how much average batteries cost now; to light a garage and get electricity for certain work, you will have to pay about 5 thousand dollars for their purchase and installation.

This amount is considered unacceptable, even if you are constantly in the garage. They also need to be constantly wiped from dust and their condition monitored. And of course, there is a very high probability that they will simply be stolen.

Wind turbine for garage

The method is good, but only in those regions where there is a strong constant wind. To generate electricity to operate devices, you need a wind of 6 m/s. A light wind can provide illumination, but there are easier ways.

Solar lanterns

Here we will simply write two main disadvantages:

1. The light is dim.
2. You constantly need to take it outside to charge, they also quickly break down.

You should forget about this option.

How to make lighting in a garage without electricity: effective ways

Here we will tell you several basic methods, all people have already tested them in practice. Each of them works, but has its own specific pros and cons, let's try to look at each one separately. Find out how to make garden path lighting.

Finnish lantern

This method is suitable only for those who do not have the opportunity to open the doors on a sunny day. The installation is simple, this is what it looks like.

The result is good, but only in sunny weather. Think about this option in advance, you will have to break down the wall, and this is already a disaster.

Car battery

You can safely use an old 65 A/h battery. We connect regular 12-volt LED strips or spotlights to it. Such lighting sources are considered economical if you need light, just turn it on, and everything immediately starts working.

This is how we connect the tape to the battery, do not forget to observe the polarity.

• Not a bad light, you can add light bulbs if you wish.
• An old battery is inexpensive.
• It's easy to connect everything together.

• The battery will have to be constantly charged while carrying it home.
• It will fail in a year or two.

You can also create light in a garage without electricity using a 2 Kilowatt gas generator. It's enough to make lighting or work with tools. This method can be called optimal. Of course, now the cost of generators is serious, but if you often find them in the garage, then you simply cannot do without one.

Combined garage lighting system

The essence of this method is quite simple: we connect the generator and charge the battery from it. The battery is connected to the LED strip and provides lighting; it needs to be charged infrequently.

If you need to turn on the tools, then simply start the generator and enjoy all the benefits. You can come up with several more applications, if you have your own ideas, leave them as a comment on this article.

How to make lighting in a garage without electricity
In this article you will learn how to make lighting in a garage without electricity with your own hands. We will tell you the main connection methods and options.