Discussing the different types of signage letters is a good place to start. An easy distinction is to split all signage letters into two groups based on the light source:
- Neon Letters
- LED Letters
This covers about 80% of all letters used in the sign industry. However, there are many types of neon letters and many styles of LED’s. But, before we get to the distinctions, let’s discuss the primary pros and cons of each of these two categories.
Neon Benefits Neon has obviously been around a lot longer than LED’s and using neon in signage letters has been (and continues to be) popular for several reasons. First, the brightness and color of neon is brilliantly attractive. If you want to capture your customers attention, nothing quite has the brilliance of neon.
You can make LED’s as bright as neon behind a plastic sign face, but you can not use LED’s to replace “exposed neon”.
Here is an example of exposed neon. There are LED products that can simulate this look by enclosing the LED’s inside a plastic tube or “rope” to get the same look as real neon tubing but it’s just not the same. For this kind of application, the brightness of real neon wins hands down.
The other place where neon can not be replaced by LED’s is in “open channel” letters. This is where there is no face on the letters (or a clear face) and the neon tubing is seen from the front of the letter. Here’s an example:
Before I go on to the negatives, there is one last piece of good news about neon. Once it’s installed and it’s been working for a few months, you can safely assume that your chances of needing maintenance will drop substantially. Installed glass does not break on it’s own and once transformers burn-in for a few weeks, they are not likely to fail for a number of years.
Neon Negatives Now for the downside of neon, for all it’s brilliance and good looks, it’s easy to break glass tubing. If you have it made locally, that’s not too much of a problem as a local sign company can fix it. But, be cautious. As LED’s become more and more popular, fewer sign shops actually make neon in-house. Neon bending is becoming a lost art. More frequently, your neon will have to be shipped from another city.
And, did I mention that glass tubing is fragile? Shipping neon is difficult at best. If I had to make a guess, I would say that about 5% to 10% of all the neon I’ve shipped over the years has been broken in transit. It all depends on the packaging and how it’s shipped but you have to know that shipping bent glass tubing is a difficult proposition.
The other downside of neon is the power consumption. They don’t cost a fortune to operate but they do take many times the power of LED letters. If power consumption is a concern, neon may give you heartburn. Installing neon in California is getting very difficult due to energy usage restrictions. And, of course, most things that start in California eventually spread across the country.
LED Negatives I want to start on the negatives of LED’s because most of them are going away. Some are still lingering but slowly they become less and less of an issue.
For example, the limitation of just a few colors is a thing of the past. Ten years ago you had red, green and white. That’s it. While neon has hundreds of colors, LED’s are beginning to catch up. However, don’t expect too many exotic color choices in LED’s. There are about two dozen colors and at that I’m taking about 3 shades of red, 3 shades of blue, 3 shades of green, etc. There’s really about 8 colors in multiple shades.
Regarding color, you need to understand that white is not always white. Just go paint shopping and you will see what I mean. It’s the same with LED’s. There was a problem with the white LED’s that has mostly been solved.
Initially, they all had a blue tint to them. If you were putting them behind blue plastic, no problem. But, if you put them behind white or red plastic, they did not look right. The white plastic had a blue tint and the red plastic shifted to the bluish-red spectrum. If your company had a specific red in their corporate image, a different shade of red was a problem. The good news is that this issue is mostly resolved. However, if you are buying LED signs, be aware of the issue and require a prototype viewing both in the daylight and at night.
Another issue that was addressed early on in the use of LED’s was the problem of “hot spots”. LED’s are very bright and when they are behind a plastic sign face, you can see each individual LED as a bright spot. This issue was easy to handle by doing two things: (1) the sign cabinet can be made deeper to move the LED’s further from the face, and (2) a diffuser film can be used on the inside of the face to spread the light more evenly.
A diffuser film is made from translucent vinyl that looks like frosted glass. An issue to watch for is to be sure that the diffuser film does not change the final color of the illuminated letters too much. The amount of transmitted light can change the color.
Cost is the last issue to discuss. It used to be expensive to put LED’s in signage letters. But, as with all new technology, that’s a thing of the past. LED’s are so ubiquitous that the pricing has come down substantially.
Note that there are many LED “systems” on the market. Every manufacturer has their own proprietary system of transformers and LED’s. Just know that some are more expensive than others. And, most are good but some are better than others. If your manufacturer strongly recommends one brand over another, I would take their advise. For one thing, they will likely stock the replacement parts that you might need for a service call on down the road.
LED Benefits For all the challenges that LED’s had to overcome, they have arrived as the predominant source of lighting for signage letters. The reason is that all of the negatives are slowly going away. Almost everything about LED’s is positive.
Since everything about them is positive, I’ll just mention a few things that LED’s can do that neon can not do. For one, it’s very difficult to put neon in small letters. Depending on the font style, anything smaller than about 8” tall creates a problem for neon. The issue is that the neon tubing can not be bent to such a tight radius without collapsing the tube. On the other hand, fitting LED’s into a tight space is no problem.
I already mentioned the power savings that comes from using LED’s. Most LED systems are 12 volt DC and they use very little power. Another benefit of low voltage is that they can be used in outdoor applications that UL would not approve for high voltage neon.
The final benefit that I will mention is the safety of LED’s when compared with neon. Even though UL regulations make neon safe for the public, working on neon has some dangers. The transformers that power neon range from 5,000 volts to 50,000 volts. The amperage is very low (30 ma or 60 ma) but a shock from live neon can be a deadly jolt. As a business owner, safety of workers at your property is always a concern.
Conclusion So, which is better – neon or LED’s? Well, it depends on the application. There are certain things that neon can do that LED’s can not. But, all things being the same, LED’s are definitely the top choice for most applications. It just depends on the look that you require for your business.
