Question Regarding Marquee light

[Yourname942]

Does anyone know what would be the better option? (asthetically):

LED or a hallogen tube light?


I know that leds typically last longer, but idk if it would be the better choice.

[lilshawn]

led's - unless designed for this specific purpose, tend to have "hot spots" of light that show through. The LED's are really directional. But, it may look okay with some marquees - you know add to the effect and all.

halogen - you mean Florescent. unless you don't, in which case then no, and don't. It's WAY too hot.

take your marquee to a lighting store and hold it up in front of various sources...about 3 inches away (since that's how far it will be) and see. maybe a simple socket with a compact flourecent bulb will do fine... maybe you'll find a colored light would look good. on, and on, and on.

[RandyT]

led's - unless designed for this specific purpose, tend to have "hot spots" of light that show through. The LED's are really directional. But, it may look okay with some marquees - you know add to the effect and all.

This isn't true of LED lighting in general,  rather some individual LED's.  LED's are produced in many different angles, for many different applications.  The leds used in the NovaMatrix light units we offer use a 180 degree angle, and there are many of them.  Therefore, the light overlaps and is dispersed.  Unless the marquee is too transparent, or too close to the LED's, which would be a problem regardless of the light source, "hotspots" are not an issue.

[Garza]

I would say flourecent bulbs work best for me, way cooler than just an old light bulb, and for me as far as what I remember it has a perfect glow just like at the arcades. The leds are really cool and low watts but just do not give a great show as flourecents does. My personnal opinion... 

[lilshawn]

if you had a marquee that was black around the outside and had lightning in from the sides towards the middle, LED's in a strip would probably work better in this case because the blacks would stay black and the graphics would light up good.

if it was a light color I'd push for florescent cause it would be way more even compared to LED's.

but, as Randy mentioned, LED's can be used in such a configuration (wide angle LED's) that provide a pretty even illumination.

what does your marquee look like?

[DeLuSioNal29]

I bought these and they work great!  $9.35 with free shipping (and you get 2 of them).

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LOGISYS-WHITE-12-DUAL-COLD-CATHODE-LIGHT-KIT-PC-Computer-CCFL-Inverter-Switch-/380401847045?pt=US_Computer_Case_Accessories_Tool_Kits&hash=item5891b78b05

D

[stan2323]

That is what I use and it works great.

I bought these and they work great!  $9.35 with free shipping (and you get 2 of them).
http://www.ebay.com/itm/LOGISYS-WHITE-12-DUAL-COLD-CATHODE-LIGHT-KIT-PC-Computer-CCFL-Inverter-Switch-/380401847045?pt=US_Computer_Case_Accessories_Tool_Kits&hash=item5891b78b05
D

[RandyT]

I don't know whether they have improved over the last few years, but a while back, the company I worked for put a bunch of those cold cathode PC mod lights in some commercial machines.  2 months later, we were replacing all of them because they were about a third of their original brightness.  Could be that the cheap transformers were putting out too much power and cooked them, or the transformers themselves got weak.  Hopefully they are better now and you guys don't run into this.  Not a big deal for the home user, but it cost that company quite a bit to go on site to replace them.

[lilshawn]

yeah, ive had mostly negative experience with Cold cathodes. sometimes they are good, run forever... others it seems like a couple of months and they burn out...running dim...etc.

[DeLuSioNal29]

Mine are still going strong after a year. These have molex connectors on them.  So installation was a snap and they run off of the PC's power supply, so no need to worry about a cheap power supply.

D

[RandyT]

Mine are still going strong after a year. These have molex connectors on them.  So installation was a snap and they run off of the PC's power supply, so no need to worry about a cheap power supply.

That's odd.  Don't they connect to a small transformer?  I've never seen a CCFL run straight from DC.