I have some 10" carved HDU letters, with 1.5" strokes, I want to stud mount on an exterior sign and put LED's behind them for a glow affect. The sign is a two sided situation, with a 2" interior frame, power at the site. I assume I will drill through the MDO in several spots(?) for the individual lights to poke through...or do you run it like neon from one point on the left, behind the letters and back through on the right? Where do you get such critters, and is there a good exterior brand versus a bad one, etc etc. Do you hook them right to the 110 power, or do you need to dumb it down with something? Thanks. Phil.
Posted by Bill Wood (Member # 6543) on :
Phil,When using LED,you cannot power them direct to 110. You use a power supply which will convert the AC power to DC power.The size power supply is determined according to the amount of LED modules you use.You can purchase the LED modules from most sign supply houses"they're not cheap".How many letters do you have 10"?
Posted by Philip Steffen (Member # 2235) on :
3 letters on each side (...6 total then). 10" high, 1.5" stroke, about 7 inches wide each, individual letters (not connected at serifs). The letters are 'floating' above the sign on some stand-out studs: Do you mount the LEDs to the back of the letters, or the face of the sign?
Posted by Bill Wood (Member # 6543) on :
The LED modules will be mounted on the back side of the letters if you want a halo effect on the background.You need to decide where you mount the power supply so it will not be seen.
Posted by Brent Logan (Member # 6587) on :
Beware, if you mount Leds to the back of a solid HDU letter you will get a polka dot lighting effect. Most halo lit letters are reverse pan channel with a 3" depth and a clear lexan back with a diffuser vinyl. Halo lighting is tricky stuff and sometimes takes some experimenting. We made some 1 1/4" thick routed Medex letters a few months ago that had the backs hollowed out on the router. These had leds and an acrylic diffuser. This was for an interior venue sign. We still had to put a dimmer on it to keep it from polka dotting.
Posted by Brian Stoddard (Member # 39) on :
We do this alot but it took a lot of trial and error to work out. There are water proof LEDS (allinson storm RGB) but they are really expensive.
We route a channel into the back of the HDU and then route a piece of Dibond and 3/16" clear acrylic that fit snugly in that channel. The dibond fits flush to the letter back with the LEDS mounted there and then the acrylic is just inside the HDU channel - all mounted with a long screw and spacers. This allow you to install the HDU last and its serviceable.
Sloan V series are perfect for these as they have a wide angle and diffuse the hot spots but your background should be matte or semi gloss with some texture to diffuse it more - gloss will be hideous.
Posted by Bill Wood (Member # 6543) on :
Brent,I never thought about the poka dot effect, but you are right.We've used 1/8 red plex before and you could see the polka dot effect.Would the distance work if the letters were closer to the background.
Posted by Brent Logan (Member # 6587) on :
Good question. You'll just have to experiment. Our typical stand-off for reverse channel letters is 1.5".
Posted by Dan Sawatzky (Member # 88) on :
We use a brand of LED's called Heico Lighting. They are simple to use in that for this type of application you would use the small modules. The beauty of these lights is that there are no electrical connections... simply slide the modules over the wire and through induction the lights work perfectly. They are water proof and are guaranteed for five years not to fail. The transformer is also watertight and very small. The small transformer will handle up to 350 light modules.
