Axiom AXLE9-XB - The Brightest LED In The Sign industry!

Erik Sine · October 24, 2014

The Sign Syndicate is now stocking and distributing the high brightness American Made Axiom AXLE9-XB LED modules at $2.00 per module or $4.00 per foot with Nichia of Japan diodes along with their military grade power supplies that we have been selling for some time now.

For those that don't know or are new to the site, The Sign Syndicate has been running the only public Neon & LED comparison tests since 2008 starting with The Great White Hope. We've been testing just about every Neon & LED Lamp that's out on the market throughout our various tests.

The Axiom LED was just about the winner when it came to the high powered LEDs, they were side by side with the GE Tetra PowerMax. What put Axiom at the the top was price, it was about 1/5th the price and ended up being slightly brighter by a few foot candles after 36,000 hours (12 sign years at 8 hrs a day) of operation and they were just a shy in brightness to that of the Tri-Phosphor Neon Lamps.

That was the class of 2008.....

Now.....we have the Great White Hope II which started at the beginning of this year, and Axiom just got better being added in this month September 2014. We now have a light source that is just a hair under the brightness of a 13mm EGL DL65 Tri-Phosphor Neon Lamp running at 60ma.....That's Sickly bright!!!

GWH II Test Comparison - Axiom AXLE9-XB (channel located on top)

Axiom%20GWHII.jpg

The Axiom AXLE9-XB is a very good alternative/option to Tri-Phosphor Neon & Fluorescent lamps for large channel letters and sign cabinets.

The wow factor to the Axiom LED module is that you get a two for one LED module with the Axiom AXLE9-XB LED. I demonstrated it in a video below. You can use the module with or in a 12 volt system/power supply under driving it and use it as a .5 watt module, and you just about have the brightest module in Project Tighty Whitey, and the highest Foot Candle per Watt.

Or...

You can use run it on a 14.7 volt system and really using it as intended and where it's driving the Nichia of Japan LEDs at optimum with the Axiom PS6012 Power Supplies which are manually adjustable from 10.5 volts to 15 volts and now use it as a 1.6 High Brightness LED as used in the Great White Hope II.

Axiom PS6012 60Watt Power Supply

The AXIOM LED AXLE9-XB Specs

Nichia of Japan LEDs For Maximum Lifetime
LM80 Tested
250-260 Lumens Per Module, 500 Lumens Per Foot
UL Recognized For Wet Locations & Listed in the UL SAM
Up To 60˚C Ambient Operating Temperature
Just as Bright As A 13mm 60ma Tri-Phosphor Neon Lamp
Under Driven on a 12v System, Optimum & Made For a 15v System
Measures at 1.325" Long x .75" Wide, 1/8" High

AXIOM LED AXLE9-XB Demonstration Video

You can order the Axiom AXLE9-XB Modules and Axiom PS6012 straight from our online shopping cart here. You can contact us by phone with any inquiries or questions and also to place orders (858) 880-1400 or by email orders@thesignsyndicate.com

mainlandsigns · October 29, 2014

What is the IP rating for these mods. They seem unlikely to have enough protection to withstand our very damp vancouver weather. Just with condensation alone here we require at least IP65. You mention rated for wet locations but no IP rating?

not sure how they change it over from .5w @ 12v to 1.6w @14.7v?

And a few little errors ---

A> the board says 1.4w not 1.6w

B> it says 1.4w @12v

C> it says axle9b and axle 9xb which tends to point to 2 different boards for 2 different voltages.

And lastly how do you work out the voltage of the transformer when you adjust it unless you hook up a voltage meter onto it. And adjustable transformers have a variance anyway due to a potentiometer being not accurate over time.

Hence keeping it at 14.7v is very hard to achieve.

I am very interested in cutting my illumination costs and 2 mods per foot with the claimed results almost seems too good to be true. If I am mistaken with my concerns please let me know as I would love to use such an economical product.

Erik Sine · October 29, 2014

The Axiom LEDs have been used from New Zealand to Florida some of the harshest wet and humid conditions and not required to be covered or protected from the weather (IP67). Have yet to ever hear issues since their existence and out testing since 2008, even by those large national sign companies who have their own environmental testing cabinets.

If you're looking at the picture for voltage that same Nichia chip is used on different boards and configurations.

The AXLE9XB is rated and labeled (Not the AXLE9) for .5 watts at 12v which is actually .42volts on a GW Instek (100% efficiency) meter and 2 watts at 15v which is actually 1.75w

These Nichia Diodes are made for 15 volts. But we have always tested the LEDs since 2008 at 14.7 volts, but now that you bring it up I should probably run a separate test cab at 15v to see where it goes over time along with the 14.7v cab.

On this AXLE9XB I get 1.57w at 14.7v, or rounded to 1.6w

You have two choices for setting up your system. Adjust all power supplies at 14.7 with a meter then apply, or apply to the modules first then adjust. I would always use a adjustable power supply for constant voltage LEDs, the slightest fraction of a volt can kill/degrade a 12volt system and as you know every power supply is different, you can get anywhere from 12.05 to 12.65. If you have a 12 volt constant current LED system you have nothing to worry about. It may sound like a little more time to do than just connect and walk away like a 12v system but it's really not, and like all good things done right...we need to spend just a little more time on small details. For the Axioms, it can take it all the way to 15v if need be.

These are truly amazing LEDs if you're looking for an LED system, and I always suggest trying something new if you're curious and if they have never used before try on a small project. Since 2008, and before we just started to stock these and get into light source sales this last few months I have yet to read/hear of a failure on this board. That doesn't mean they don't exist for various reasons, but I have just never heard of one and from our own testing here on the The Sign Syndicate, my own experience as a electric sign manufacturer who has used it in projects sent out of state I'm confident enough to have it here and to add it into out line up.

It's a very scary LED, for the right reasons.