Interior halo lit sign battery powered LEDs?

[Texas_Signmaker]

Let see here... Signage comes on here complaining that people are asking questions on things they should already know... yet time and time again he responds with advise that is completely wrong and off base. I'm starting to think the guy who just bought a plotter and has no experience in this industry, has more common sense with signs than signage's "years of experience" does. Sounds like you're just an old drunk that is really starting to loose it after years of drinking.

 

[Zendavor Signs]

View attachment 158209
Look ma, no wires! This guy is 100% solar, 5x10 with pushthrough copy (it's also about 6' taller now because nobody thought about the fence being in the way...).


Oh that's a bunch of bull. We had the same issue, except additionally they were concerned with routing around existing gas lines between the sign and the building. Sold them a setup with 2 99AH batteries and an 85 watt panel, $2,000 extra on the original sign for over 8 hours of run time. Funny thing is, it ends up making the sign cost slightly less, since you don't have to route electrical during install, no photo eye, no power supplies. The panel and controller act as a photo eye, the batteries are the power supply, and shy of connecting the wires to the solar panel (because the eyebolt hole was under the panel), nothing to connect on site. Just weld it to the pole and leave!

That's awesome! Could you be more specific on what exactly you used. What's a reliable source for solar panels?

 

[Scotchbrite]

View attachment 158209
Look ma, no wires! This guy is 100% solar, 5x10 with pushthrough copy (it's also about 6' taller now because nobody thought about the fence being in the way...).


Oh that's a bunch of bull. We had the same issue, except additionally they were concerned with routing around existing gas lines between the sign and the building. Sold them a setup with 2 99AH batteries and an 85 watt panel, $2,000 extra on the original sign for over 8 hours of run time. Funny thing is, it ends up making the sign cost slightly less, since you don't have to route electrical during install, no photo eye, no power supplies. The panel and controller act as a photo eye, the batteries are the power supply, and shy of connecting the wires to the solar panel (because the eyebolt hole was under the panel), nothing to connect on site. Just weld it to the pole and leave!

Are the batteries and solar panels mounted in/on the sign?

I never said they did the trenching and installation! Maybe you need to remember to talk your MED's! But to work on electrical signs you need to be licensed in most area and almost all insurance companies require it. If your not and something goes wrong and you were the last to work on it, good luck the insurance they will not cover and you will be liable.

Being a licensed electrician is a different license than a sign contractor's license. There's also UL certification for signs, but that doesn't apply to the electrical service to the sign.

 

[Scotchbrite]

Hmm, I might have to look into solar a little more the next time someone asks. I've just been assuming the space requirements would be too much.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

We use a solar panel to charge the battery on our diesel pump. Solar is ok but you can't beat electric. No batteries to water or go bad, no chargers to go bad and no birds shitting on the panels. Keep in mind too that for 24v you will need 12v batteries in groups and 2 12v batteries @ 24v don't increase ah capacity. 2 200ah 12v batteries will give you 200ah @ 24v. To get 400, you would need 4 batteries. A decent 12v AGM 200ah deep cycle is probably $400-500. If you used 6v deep cycles, which seem to be more common, an AGM will run around $300 and youd need 4 to get 24v and have about 200-250ah out of the group. It's not really cheap unless you had some stupid long homerun to get to the sign. Not that wire is cheap right now either. You could skimp out and use lead acid but they will be trash when everyone forgets to keep water in them.

 

[gnubler]

Thread took a different turn, interesting info about solar power. Wouldn't work for my sign in question though (an interior office entrance sign). Three site visits and multiple emails now and my customer has no idea what he wants, so I'm not pursuing the job.

 

[Notarealsignguy]

Found the 'invoice' for these parts (list of prices in an email). We went with a pair of 12v 99AH gel batteries, wired in series for the 24v system, and then opted for 24v led modules and sticks. $220 each. The panel was actually 120 watt, not 85 like I originally stated. Overall the modules were figured to draw 134 watts @ 24 volts. 24v x 99ah = 2376 Wh, theoretical maximum runtime of 17 hours...
The bigger issue was having someone route the cable under gas lines, wasn't but 150' or so from existing power, but I guess they were very worried about digging around the lines?

No issues with voltage drop over 150'? That's a long run for DC

 

[Scotchbrite]

Ah, actually that is the part I left out. (honestly I thought the picture illustrated the sign's depth better than it does.) Overall the cabinet is about 32" deep, the panel itself required 26.5"x49", and since we used signgineer extrusion, so we had to go up from that depth to have the panel sitting flush on the filler. I'll try to find a picture showing the depth...

I had a feeling that might be the case, but I wasn't sure. I was looking at the picture trying to figure out if I could see any indications how deep it was. But still I think it's worth more consideration than I have given the idea in the past.