Hexagon Lighting

Hexleds kits are modular and plug into a standard 3-pin socket, so many customers fit them themselves. The method is the same whatever size grid you buy.

1. Lay it out on the floor first. Build the whole grid on the floor before anything goes near the ceiling. You can check the pattern, make sure every tube and connector is there and see the finished size. If your kit has a border, build that first using the longer tubes with the straight and 90-degree connectors.

2. Push every tube fully home. Each tube must sit all the way into its connector to make a solid electrical contact. If a section won't light later, a tube that isn't fully seated is the first thing to check.

3. Build the hexagons into rows. Join the tubes with the elbow and Y-connectors to form each hexagon, then link them into the rows or columns of your layout.

4. Add the power feeds. Fit a power cable at every point marked on your kit diagram, on the border as well as the main grid. Bigger grids use more than one feed so brightness stays even from end to end, and every cable you need is in the box.

5. Test before you lift. Switch the grid on while it is still on the floor and check that every tube lights evenly. Reseating a connector now is far easier than doing it from a ladder.

6. Fix it to the ceiling. Lift the grid up whole or in sections. Screwing through the holes in the connectors is the most secure fixing, while suspension wires give a floating look and bring the light closer to the work under a high ceiling. Then connect the power.

For large grids, or if you would rather hard-wire the lights than plug them in, ask a qualified electrician to check the setup and make the final connection.

Measure the area you actually work in, such as over the car, the bench or the chair, and choose the grid that covers it. Sizes below are the finished width and depth of each grid.

• Small rooms, home offices and utility rooms: 3 Grid (1.7 x 1.7m) or 5 Grid (2.4 x 1.6m)
• Part of a garage, a workbench or a gym corner: 8 Grid (2.5 x 2.4m) or 11 Grid (3.4 x 2.4m)
• A single car bay: 14 Grid (4.1 x 2.4m), or the 14 Grid with Border (4.8 x 2.4m) for a framed finish
• Larger single garages and workshops: 18 Grid (3.8 x 3.4m) or 23 Grid (4.1 x 3.8m)
• Double garages and commercial units: 28 Grid (4.9 x 3.8m) or 46 Grid (5.8 x 5.2m)

If you are between two sizes, go bigger. A grid that is too small for the room leaves the edges dim, and that is the hardest thing to fix later. Need a different shape or size? We design custom layouts for any room, so send us your measurements and we will plan the grid for you.

A small angle error at the first hexagon carries across the whole ceiling, so it is worth spending 30 to 60 minutes setting out properly before you drill.

Don't measure from the walls, because garage walls are rarely square. Pick the line people see most, usually the garage door opening, then use a self-levelling cross-line laser on a tripod to project a line parallel to it and mark it with masking tape. Fix the first hexagon on that line and measure from the laser to two opposite corners to check it isn't rotated. As you work outwards, check the leading edge against the line every three or four hexagons.

Before drilling, find the joists with a detector and check for hidden cables and pipes. Taping card hexagons to the ceiling first is a quick way to test the size and position. For a small kit in a square room, a tape measure and chalk line will do.

Yes, as long as the grid is sized to the room. As a rough guide, parking and storage need 100 to 150 lux at floor level, general workshop use around 300 lux, and detailed mechanical work or paint correction 500 lux or more. A garage lit by one old fluorescent tube often sits at just 80 to 120 lux.

The lumen figure on a box only tells you total output, not where the light lands. A batten concentrates its light in a strip under the tube, while a hexagon grid spreads it across the ceiling. Light reaches the doors, wings and bumpers, and you are not working in your own shadow.

Three things make a grid feel weak: a kit too small for the floor area, a high ceiling, and dark walls and floors that soak up light. A suspension kit brings the grid closer to the work, and light-coloured walls are the cheapest brightness upgrade there is. Keep an inspection lamp for wheel arches and engine bays, which no ceiling light reaches.

Colour temperature is measured in Kelvin. Around 2700K to 3000K looks warm and golden, 4000K is a neutral white, and 5000K to 6500K is the crisp cool white you see in most detailing studios. Neither is better; they suit different jobs.

Choose cool white for garages, workshops, detailing bays, gyms and anywhere accuracy matters. It shows swirl marks, holograms and scratches that warmer light hides, looks clean against grey floors and black cabinets, and helps you stay alert.

Choose a warmer white where people are the focus rather than the work: barbershops, salons, tattoo studios and garages converted into bars or games rooms. It is kinder to skin and suits timber, brick and leather.

If the room does both, keep cool white overhead and add a warm, low-level light such as wall lights or LED strip. Avoid mixing colours within one grid, because it looks like a fault. Colour temperature makes no difference to running costs.

Less than most people expect. To work it out, divide the wattage by 1,000, multiply by the hours you use the lights, then multiply by your price per kWh. A typical domestic grid draws roughly 100W to 250W depending on its size.

Taking a mid-sized 180W grid at 26p per kWh, one hour a day costs about £17 a year, three hours a day about £51, and a working unit running eight hours a day about £137, before standing charges. An old twin fluorescent fitting plus a halogen work lamp can cost around £80 a year for worse light.

To cut the cost further, split a large grid into two zones, add a plug-in motion sensor, or paint the walls a light colour so the room needs less light. Business users should check their commercial tariff, which the domestic price cap does not cover.

LED battens give the most raw light per pound and are fine for a storage garage nobody sees. Hexagon lighting wins on almost everything else: softer, more even light with fewer shadows, a ceiling that looks finished, and modular parts, so a fault means replacing one section rather than the whole fitting.

Battens are usually wired into a fixed circuit, which often means paying an electrician, while Hexleds kits plug into a standard socket. Both start at full brightness in a cold garage, unlike old fluorescent tubes.

Plenty of customers use both: battens above the shelving and a hexagon grid over the car or the bench.

Yes. A modular grid can grow, but it pays to plan for it from the start.

Power: every system has a driver with a maximum load. Tell us when you order that you plan to expand, and we will specify a power supply with headroom. Matching parts: tubes from different makers vary in size, diffuser and shade of white, so buy from a supplier with a stable range and keep a note of the exact kit and colour temperature you bought. Layout: sketch the finished grid first and fit the first kit where it will sit in the final pattern, so an 11 Grid grows evenly into an 18 Grid shape rather than looking patched.

If the next size up costs only a little more and you will want it within a year, it is usually better to buy it now. Many customers add wall or tunnel lighting next, to light the sides of the vehicle.

Yes, and they often suit them well because of the high ceilings and open spans. The golden rule is never to fix into the roof sheet itself, because every hole is a potential leak.

Hang the grid from the steelwork instead. Beam clamps on the purlins grip without drilling and are usually acceptable in leased units. Where the grid doesn't line up with the purlins, a length of channel spanning two of them gives you a fixing wherever the layout needs one.

Eaves in steel units are often 4 to 6m high, so a suspension kit that drops the grid to around 2.5 to 3.5m gives far more useful light than adding more hexagons. Uninsulated buildings can drip condensation, so keep drivers somewhere sheltered and run cables in trunking. Hard-wired commercial installations need an electrician.

Marketplace hexagon kits can cost well under £100, and many work fine on day one. The difference shows over time.

The driver is the part most likely to fail, and cheap drivers run hotter and cope badly with damp, cold garages. Budget panels often have a CRI of 70 to 80, which can make a red car look brown and spoil photos. Poor diffusion leaves bright dots in the reflections on bonnets and roofs, and cheap drivers can flicker on camera even when your eye cannot see it. Listings also disappear, so matching parts to repair or extend a grid later may be impossible.

A cheap kit makes sense for a rented space, a storage garage or trying the look. For detailing, barbering, filming or a ceiling you plan to extend, buying once usually works out cheaper: a £90 kit replaced twice is £270, plus a ceiling that may no longer match.

A 50,000-hour rating works out at around 45 years at three hours a day, or about 17 years at eight hours a day in a busy unit. LEDs rarely fail suddenly. They fade slowly, and the rating usually marks the point where output has dropped to 70% (L70).

The LEDs themselves are rarely what fails first. It is usually the driver, a poorly seated connection or heat, and aluminium-backed tubes shed heat better than plastic ones. Garages are tough on electronics, so keep the space ventilated, don't mount the grid directly above a heater, and check the IP rating suits the location. On a modular system you can replace a single section rather than the whole ceiling.