Jump to content

ELECTRIC SIGN SUPPLIES
If You're Looking For Premium Electric Sign Industry Components From Trim Cap, LED's, Neon Supplies, Power Supplies, Pattern Paper.  Then Please Visit Our Online Store or Feel Free To Call Us For Inquiries or Placing an Order!!
Buy Now

SIGN INSTALLER MAP
Looking for a fellow Sign Syndicate Company Member For A Sign Install or Maintenance Call?
Click Here

For Sign Company's Who Work As Subcontractors
Before You Work For A National Sign & Service Company You Need To Look At The Reviews Of These Companies Before You Work For Them. Learn When To Expect Payment From Them and What It's Like To Work For Them, The Good, The Bad, The Ugly. Learn and Share Your Experiences Yourself For Others

Click Here

Components


Recommended Posts

Just curious what brands of power supplies, ballasts, and led strips everyone uses. I import a lot of components from china so I pay a fraction of the cost.

photo-13.jpgphoto-21.jpg

Edited by Brady O'Keefe
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • !llumenati

well, the best way to find out is call the local distributors Glantz, Tubelite and Pan Am and ask what's the cheapest you have on the shelf and what's available. There has been a little joke in the sign industry for some years which seems to come true. "Its a race to the bottom".

Now, are you looking to use these products or just duplicate them, You did mention in an earlier post that you are starting to manufacture. Are you sticking with the EMC side or the run of the mill channel letters?

GOOD things happen for a reason......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • !llumenati

Sean You are correct.....

Yes It is a race to the bottom line. Buy ONE sign and get TWO Free. Its all about the dollar...nothing else

I was recently in Turks & Cacos and Aruba...The shit LED Signs are there too. Off the boat and on the wall.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think I have yet to see a Chinese Born LED even last in our testing. Sure some parts/elements are Chinese on a lot but yet to see a success story, maybe I'm wrong and someone can job my memory. You get what you pay for and that goes for cheap power supplies too, lot's of failures. The cream of the crop appear to be Korean, Tai, and Japanese, and of course some American, some.

As for race to the bottom, yep. 90% of the sign shops are 1 year warranty and walk away leaving a bad taste in the mouth of sign users resulting in a bad impression of the LED world.

The real quality shops are a 3 year with a few of us at 5+ year electrical warranties for our clients.

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. - Winston Churchill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am manufacturing LED signs still, but I've been sourcing components, mainly meanwell power supplies, for my local sign companies. I have been able to save them a lot of money on products they already buy. I was just trying to find out some good brands I can start stocking for them. I am not allowed to sell any of the components to you guys though, I already asked.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • !llumenati

Now there's a double negative. Help me source but I can not supply you. I don't understand?

Why meanwell, There is a by far much better one you can buy direct for cheaper and goes from 90-270 volt.

What majors do you have in your area that would dictate national distribution. or are they locals doing national work for the Majors?

GOOD things happen for a reason......

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I already asked the administrator of the board and she said that I am not allowed to provide any products to the memebers here because I am not a board vendor. Also, providing meanwell power supplies to the members will take away from the Axiom sales of the board, so I fully understand their reasoning and will comply. Maybe if I am able to provide other components to you guys that do not directly compete with anyone I will be allowed. I am not trying to make any money off of you guys, just trying to get a lower cost for me too. I retail power supplies on amazon and that's working well for me, I am the cheapest seller of meanwell power supplies on both ebay and amazon.

Also, you say they are cheaper than meanwell, but if you buy enough meanwell I am sure you can get the cost down low enough to be competitive. If I order 500 PCs directly from meanwell I can get LPV-60-12 for $10.

Edited by Brady O'Keefe
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Board Patron

Brady, on the LED's you posted the pics of. Where is the UL listing? I don't see it on the "face" of the LED's. Is it by chance on the side?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Board Patron

Just as long as it works until I leave the parking lot, that's all that matters to me. LOL I refuse to sell my customers something that I would not buy for myself.

Installation & Maintenance Services

Brian Phillips | expresssignandneon@sbcglobal.net | P. 812-882-3278

Express Sign & Neon | 119 S. 15th Street - Vincennes - IN 47591

express%20neon%20sig.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just ordered 3000 of these last night, they seemed to work pretty well from testing. I mean these are SMD5050 LED's, very common. I can't see them all randomly breaking. I'll send you guys some sample strips so you can try them out, I'll cover shipping costs, etc. Completely free. PM me your info.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For a UL listed shop, does every sign have to be UL? Can't you choose not to use a UL sticker for a smaller client? My friends shop uses MET, and he's using these things, but I don't recall him putting a met label on them when he finished. He said different cities have different sign requirements

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Board Patron

If you are a listed shop, UL or Met. All signs need to be listed. All your components need to be recognized. Not sure how MET does their field inspections. UL does un announced visits. Where they look at the signs you're currently building. As well as check out your paperwork on the previous signs you've made. You must document your parts/components on every sign you make. I don't release the UL labels until the sign is put into the system.

Also, you need to watch out for fake UL listed products. I have a friends shop who got burnt big time.

Saving a few bucks on cheap Chinese lighting components, and cutting corners. Is the quickest way, to not being in business for the long haul.

Not sure how FL. works. Here in Texas, especially in the DFW area. You can not install a non listed electrical sign. (except in a few cities).

Edited by alltex
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Brady no offense, but those cheap Chinese modules are the kind that the fly-by-nights and bottom feeders use for their signs. Quote me on that!

Brady, no reputable sign company would even come within 50' of that stuff. The LED salesmen wouldn't even get past the secretary.

I would probably only buy those modules if I was doing some sort of craft projects for my sons school and even then they would have to be about 30¢ a piece. In short, it's junk.

If you're selling this stuff on ebay and amazon then it's great for the "unknowing crowd" who see's LEDs and is wowed by the light if it's a first timer to the light source who can get it for a cheap price. I have a friend who is a vinyl shop and he's getting into electrical stuff but has no background and he calls me over to show me what he's doing with his signs where be bought LEDs and power supplies from ebay and I just shake my head and slap him over the back of the head. But like everything else, you get what you pay for. Same goes for the person buying the LEDs to the person buying the sign most likely based on the lowest bid, the two signs for one deal.

95% of the constant voltage LEDs are junk, especially when it's coming out of China, then it's 99.7%.

I hope you're not integrating that into your signs that you sell to your customers, or even as a wholesale basis.

On the MET thing, MET will only accept those parts that have been recognized by their lab or any other. But again, these are NOT the kind of components you want to pass off in your signs and use as a professional sign company who builds to last.

Just because it has a board, some resistors, soldered connection and some diodes (made by who knows who) doesn't mean it's going to last like the companies who charge $3 to $5 a foot let alone the higher ups. No one wants to get that call to re-retrofit a job that they put up using a lift or crane or a sign that they shipped out because they components they used failed

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. - Winston Churchill

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The cost I will sell these for is about 30 cents. My signs do not use these because I only do led message boards, not channel letters. I will carry the good ones and the cheap ones. I just ordered these because I have a sign company that wants them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Board Patron

Erik;

I would have to disagree with you about China and their products. I say 100% of the stuff coming from "Communist China" is pure, unadulterated CRAP!

And Brady, I think this whole thing sounds to me like you are treating this as a high school project because you are bored with computers and want a new means of fun and income. To most here, the sign industry is a serious business that we embarked on for many years as our profession. Signs and Electrical is all i have ever done and take extreme Pride in what I do. I know most on this board feel the same. So i would be careful when putting out a product that at the heart has components that are produced in "Communist China" and if like everything else coming from that country, will cause you grief in the future if your quest to build an enduring enterprise. Hopefully that is your end game.

Take this as constructive criticism and not a personal attack which I can promise you it is not.

Best

"Don't be afraid to see what you see" - President Ronald Reagan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Board Patron

This is not a good form for discussing the merits of selling cheap ass LEDs on ebay to the DIY crowd. We are professionals sign men and women and are proud of that fact. I don't think you know what you want to do, on one hand you are building EMCs to compete with the big boys and on the other you are selling non listed cheap LEDs to the hacks of the world. If you don't know all the rules for UL and MET you had better do some homework before building stuff that cannot/will not be used by the professional. Now if you want to build signs with non listed junk then you should look for the blogs for "Me speakie no English unlicensed sign hacks anonymous".

Installation & Maintenance Services

Brian Phillips | expresssignandneon@sbcglobal.net | P. 812-882-3278

Express Sign & Neon | 119 S. 15th Street - Vincennes - IN 47591

express%20neon%20sig.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah I wasn't trying to sell the leds on here, so I probably shouldn't have mentioned them. My only focus is being a high quality EMC manufacturer. I just thought since I have so many connections in china I should use it to my advantage. I know most people hate Chinese products but I'm sure you know the real products are made in china too. Not all china products are complete shit, although it seems that most are.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
  • Create New...