NEON Signs have a Twenty-Year Lifetime (40,000 Hours Of Use)

 

NEON Signs have a Twenty-Year Lifetime (40,000 Hours Of Use)

Neon is a hand-made "light bulb", and all neon is not created equal!

Unlike most sign companies, Signs Manufacturing manufactures neon (and Cold-Cathode lamps).

We use the highest quality glass and nickel-flex electrodes with Dumet alloy inner leads, heavy-gauge solid-nickel corrosion-proof 7-strand exterior leads and ceramic collars, the best we can buy, because except for heat-cracking, most neon failures are electrode failures.

Our artisans carefully charge each neon tube for optimum brilliance using the most sophisticated of neon pumping systems because the third most frequent cause of neon failure is improper pumping.

Even though all neon dims in cold weather, neon manufactured by Signs Manufacturing will dim less because we use gases specially formulated for cold weather, which are unaffected by hot weather.

Employing an old "trick-of-the-trade" we place our neon electrodes in the bottom of channel letters wherever possible.  The heat rising off the electrodes heats the neon and causes it not to dim so greatly in cold weather.  Another reason our signs are usually brighter when the weather is cold.

The most common cause of neon failure is heat cracking.  This is caused by improper installation (too much or too little neon footage for the size [secondary voltage] transformer used), or by the effects of high voltage on the shorter neon pieces.

It is critically important to the long-life of both the neon and the power transformers that each transformer has the proper resistance in neon (loading) for its secondary voltage.

 

Well-made and properly installed neon should average a twenty-year lifetime (40,000 hours of use). 

Neon is affected by voltage.  For instance, standard neon will burn nearly 100% brighter if you double the power feeding it.  The neon  will last about ¼ as long, however, making this alternative quite expensive in total cost.

Our challenge is to give you a brighter sign which attracts more customers, without increasing your sign, energy, or maintenance costs.

 

Channel letters are usually illuminated with neon.  Our artisans individually manufacture the neon for each letter after the letter base is manufactured to insure a proper fit that will evenly and brilliantly illuminate the entire face of the letter without "shorting" against the metal.  Sign companies that buy their neon pre-made from neon manufacturers cannot do this.

 

Multiple neon strokes are added as required to insure even illumination.

 

We automatically employ neon intensity control to give our customers the brightest sign possible without increasing energy costs.