When I first noticed that LEDs were being offered as an alternative to neon for channel letters, I was immediately attracted to the idea. I have been in the sign
business for over twenty years and I have had all of the same experiences with neon every other sign man has had. So, the thought of having a light source that
would provide the same light color and brightness without all of the challenges neon poses was very attractive.
The immediate thought was to find the
right choice of product. In order to do that, I needed to know the right questions to ask. What I found was that none of the LED manufacturers that I talked to had
much sign experience and that, although nice people and willing to help, they were still on their own road of discovery. I also learned that some of the products
were complicated, some didn’t produce light equivalent to neon, others cost way too much to justify their use in place of neon and most had serious design flaws.
I called a friend who owns an electronics design firm to inquire about the process of developing a proprietary product. Our goal from the beginning was
to develop a product that would produce the most light for the least amount of power per dollar of cost to the sign company. The additional goal was that the
overall cost to the sign company for an LED-lit set of letters installed on the wall approximate that of a like set of neon-lit letters. We received our UL approval for
that product on March 19, 2002.
