The Lipo packs probably have a voltage of 12.6 at full charge.
So, because I don’t like leaving threads unfinished, here’s the final update.
I never really answered why we couldn’t use mains, but the root of the problem is that the garage needs pulling down. It has an asbestos roof and water finds its way through. The walls are prefab sections, but basically, it needs pulling down and starting again and at that point, I’ll have mains power added. For now, I just wanted a cheap and easy solution.
Also, excuse the state of my garage…. much clearing out to do, but it has potential to be a good space for me.
So all I’ve done is buy a 5m strip of 5050 LED’s, cut it in half and add a plug to connect to the lipo batteries I already had. I also picked up a lipo alarm in case I run them too low (anyone know how long a 1300 mah will power these led’s?)
The picture was taken late at night - there’s plenty of light for me to work with 
super pleased with a budget result!
What’s wrong with it?
I can still see parts of the floor 
Actually as you said, all you need is larger garage.
When it comes to either throwing stuff out, or building a larger garage.
I vote for the larger garage.
Nice simple solution.
As for how long a runtime, just measure the draw in milliAmps and divide that number into 1300. That will give you the runtime in hours.
Say it draws 1000mA (1A), then the runtime would be about 1.3 hours.
And I am guessing that 5M strip draws about 1A
That looks like a nice cave, but you need full main power for a fridge there mate
Get on that roof, I repaired our roof myself and it was not only very gratifying but also dirt cheap. For me it were tiles, if you have a flat roof it xantbe more tricky, use some water dissolving food colorings to mark suspect areas so when the water enters you know where the problems are.
Do cover the asbestos with paint for safety.
Nice garage, my garage aint much better
The only difference is that mine is brick and mortar with bitumen roof, and fitted with 8 double Tld armatures
Filled with bikes, kids toys, tools and so on
Will use the light strip idea over my work bench in case of power cuts.
I have 2 8’ high output fluorescent fixures, and 2 4’ers. Highly inefficient I must say, but super bright. Near the front of the garage I have a couple of standard E26 style fixtures with Cree 100 watt LED bulbs installed.
Wow, you actually have your car in the garage!
My car should fit, only tried it once with my last car
My garage will fit one car, but it has an extra 5 feet on the right side for whatever I want to put there. Plus I had a 9’ garage door installed so I don’t hit my mirrors when pulling in or out. lol!
My car would technically fit if the garage was totally empty, but you wouldn’t be able to open the door wide.
No head space either - I have to duck to avoid those beams my leds are on.