Only five or so years ago the light emitting diode was considered a mere flight of fancy within the sign industry as a primary sign lighting source. Now, LEDs light the majority of the nation’s new channel letters, and LED manufacturers now have their sights set on the market for backlit cabinet signs.

 

As many loyal readers may recall, the use of LEDs in channel letters—and as a general sign lighting source—met fierce resistance from the neon side of the industry. Part of that resistance was based on the tradition and aesthetics of neon. When it comes to signage, neon is an icon and icons die hard. Simply put, people love neon. Because of that, neon will never go away, and so a truce of sorts has been called in this segment of the lighting wars as sign companies sort out which lighting is best for which application and aesthetic.

 

LEDs allow for shallower channel letters and thinner fonts, providing more latitude with design. (Image courtesy of Computerized Cutters)

THE FINAL FRONTIER?

The next target for LED manufacturers and suppliers in the sign industry lighting realm is the backlit cabinet sign. This time around, LED companies are expecting little resistance since light is light, after all, and few people have warm and fuzzy feelings about fluorescent lighting.

 

“Our goal is to replace fluorescent one for one, so for one fluorescent tube you can use one row of LEDs instead of using rows and rows of LEDs. We’re pretty close to doing that with our APEX line, depending on the depth of the cabinet,” says Jeff Barton, director of sales for AgiLight, based in San Antonio.

 

Barton estimates that the price of white LEDs has dropped at least 50 percent since first introduced, while the efficiency and lumen output has increased in proportion to the price decrease. It’s a best-case scenario for sign and graphics companies that produce and retrofit backlit signs, not to mention the LED manufacturers that wish to change the backlit cabinet sign landscape.

 

That drop in price has also benefited the area of LED message centers, which follow the same trend of a brighter product at a more competitive price. As noted in a previous article about LED electronic message centers (Advertising Before Technology, April, 2011, SDG), manufacturers like Daktronics, Yesco and Watchfire, as well as sign companies that do a lot of the work in the field, report that LED technology for EMCs has improved significantly and the costs have come down, bringing full-color capabilities closer in line with monochrome (amber and red) displays for more flexibility and versatility.

 

The interior of a SloanLED cabinet lighting system. (Image courtesy of SloanLED)

Sylvania displays the varieties of ways its LED systems can be used. Sylvania has been working on optical lens designs that optimize the beam spread for more uniform and efficient lighting. (Images courtesy of Sylvania)

Basically, the LED toolbox gets bigger, better and brighter as the years, and even months, go by. As Jill Bonilla, marketing manager for SloanLED in Ventura, Calif., puts it, “LED technology keeps getting better while the price decreases. How cool is that?”

 

All of the manufacturers contacted for this report—AgiLight, Computerized Cutters and its GOQ Samsung LED line, LEDCONN Corp., SloanLED and Sylvania—are making inroads into the backlit cabinet sign market. At this point, it’s a matter of time as the fluorescent light sources reach their end of life and have to be changed out. Then, the decision will need to be made to continue with fluorescent or adopt LED as the alternative.

 

“There are places like the UK that are phasing out fluorescent bulbs because of the mercury in them and other environmental factors. LED lighting, when well made, has a long lifespan with little maintenance. With a pylon sign, for instance, it’s costly to hire a bucket truck to change the fluorescent tubes,” says SloanLED’s Bonilla. “LEDs are more expensive up front than fluorescent tubes. But if you add in the ballast, the wireway and the installation you start to even out the playing field. If you’re doing the tube versus the LED alone, it’s not a fair comparison because the LED is a full system.”

 

Bonilla adds that fluorescents will often change color as they age, creating unsightly “zebra striping” on the sign face. Plus, Bonilla says, LEDs can be dimmed for different lighting situations while fluorescents cannot, they consume less energy, they’re lower voltage and can be solar powered.

 

But LED technology isn’t the only thing that is improving in order to better serve the backlit cabinet market. In order to make LEDs more efficient for backlit cabinet signs, optical lenses may be employed to maximize light output by spreading the light beyond the beam angle of a typical LED. When coupled with a light enhancing vinyl or paint, optical lens technology can reduce the number of LEDs needed in a backlit sign.

 

It’s estimated that the price of white LEDs has dropped by around 50 percent since their introduction, while the efficiency and lumen output has increased in proportion to the price decrease. (Image courtesy of Computerized Cutters)

“One of the things Sylvania has focused on is optical lens design to optimize the beam spread,” says Sylvania’s Chris Palmieri. “A standard beam angle is like a flashlight on a wall, which concentrates most of the light in the center of the beam, resulting in a hot spot. In the case of a sign, you have to put more LEDs in the cabinet to push all those hot spots close together so they don’t appear. Or, you can use an optical lens that disperses the light for uniform brightness over a wider area. When you do that, you can use 30 to 50 percent less product and still get uniformity on the sign face.”

 

Palmieri adds that a common problem with double-sided LED solutions for box signs is that they must be centered in the box. Typical box signs can be as deep as 14-24 inches, which places the LED modules 7" to 12" from the sign face. In order to achieve enough brightness on the sign face, he says, the LEDs have to be much brighter or there needs to be more LEDs installed, resulting in higher wattage and a more inefficient system.

 

“It is more ideal to place LEDs with an optical lens about three-to-five inches from the sign face with standard spacing. Placing the modules closer to the sign face will keep manufacturing costs lower all while providing the end user with more energy savings and a beautifully lit sign,” says Palmieri.

 

As with improvements in channel letter lighting, LED manufacturers are diligently developing solutions that will provide the same basic benefits for cabinet signs—lower upfront costs, brighter signs and uniform lighting. AgiLight, for instance, offers seven different color temperatures of white so that you can match the LED more closely to the graphic and the sign’s lighting environment.

 

LEDs are an excellent alternative to traditional lighting in showrooms, at retail and at trade shows, either backlit or edge-lit. (Image courtesy LEDCONN)

Manufacturers are creating systems engineered specifically for cabinet signs that make it easier to install a row of LEDs. Sylvania, for instance, has created a track system that holds the individual LED modules so that you can simply screw the track in on two sides.

 

Computerized Cutters in Plano, Texas, recently partnered with GOQ LED to offer Samsung LED lighting systems to its customer base and the wider sign and graphics markets. Carl Ondracek, president of Computerized Cutters, says that replacing other lighting sources like fluorescents is the next logical step for LED technology and represents another great opportunity for sign companies.

 

Still, says Ondracek, there’s plenty of opportunity on the channel letter side of the market since LEDs are not only getting brighter, they’re getting smaller. 

 

“The returns and cans have gotten shallower and don’t require a deep return any more. LEDs allow you to light up more intricate, smaller shapes than in the past,” he says.

 

TO BOLDLY GO?

Interior LED applications represent another big area of opportunity for sign and graphics companies. LEDs make it possible to provide end use customers with a value-added product and service that graphics companies have not traditionally offered… lighting.

 

“At retail, more LEDs are being used in new stores and store renovations to better highlight the brand, to lower the total cost of ownership and provide a more sustainable light source,” says Hanna Huang, project manager for LEDCONN in Brea, Calif. “LED lighting can also be integrated innovatively with other technologies, such as LCD touch screens or moving signs, to create further consumer interaction and involvement to the brand itself and boost sales.”

 

Mix and match: Here’s an example of LEDs being used to light the channel letters, cabinet and tubing for a nice retro look. Lighting cabinet signs is the next big growth area for LEDs, and manufacturers are well on their way to providing practical solutions. (Images courtesy of SloanLED)

Huang adds that she’s seeing a spike in the use of LEDs at trade shows for both edge-lit and backlit cabinet applications, particularly since LEDs are lighter, more durable and easier to install than other light sources. The benefits of outdoor LED applications translate to indoor applications as well.

 

“For trade shows and retail graphics you don’t have to ship lamps cross-country that are more likely to break,” says AgiLight’s Barton. “Because LEDs are getting physically smaller, you can fit them into a lot of different applications that you couldn’t fit traditional lighting sources. It really expands the ability of designers to do whatever they can envision using graphics and lighting.” 

 

LEDs for indoor applications give graphics providers an additional avenue to work collaboratively and consultatively with the client and the designer. Instead of simply providing a service that’s one component of many, it puts the graphics company more directly into the process, boosting the overall value they bring to the table.

 

Providing lighting through LEDs as part of a graphics package is a lot easier than it was with traditional light sources. LEDs can be easily integrated into a program in a variety of configurations, depending on the application.

 

“At the point of sale, for instance, you don’t want a fixture that needs to be plugged in. With the advent of LED, there are more possibilities to run the fixture off a battery source. It’s more portable, and provides more design latitude. For one point-of-sale promotion you wouldn’t want an entire light fixture. Instead, with LEDs, you can use one portable module to light it,” says Barton.

 

Moreover, LEDs are offered in a variety of configurations beyond channel letters, cabinet signs and edge lighting thin graphics panels. They are also offered in both flexible and rigid tubing for accent and architectural lighting.

 

“You can install the tubing product under a bar, for instance, and customers won’t feel the heat because it’s low voltage and actually cool to the touch,” says SloanLED’s Bonilla. “And, with LEDs you’re just peeling, sticking and using a fastener. It’s very simple.