manuellynch

I agree with YYZ on this one - not a lot of value to do this. We will participate but I doubt there will be much interest. I would think a tutorial on different color temperatures of white may be better.

So what if you could have a canopy wrap on the front of your retail store that normally incorporated a bunch of recessed lights and you could swap out one of the lights to incorporate the new TuneLite product? No need to run audio cables - just use the existing light socket. Or imagine integrating audio into the signage for an ATM machine with paid advertisement audio - damn, banks might be able to make some money.... Axiom officially launches www.tunelite.com --- audio anywhere

Great feedback - thank you. I appreciate what you have added.

If you are working on a large sign program and you have to recommend to the end customer which product to use between two different choices and it is brought up that one of the suppliers clearly violates some existing intellectual property/patents...would you caution the end customer away from using that supplier? After all - if in fact there is a legal issue it is well known that even the end customer (the sign company) could be held liable and pursued legally for using the patent infringing product - right??? I am just curious how intellectual property plays a part in a sign company's decisions.

Oh no - will be at much higher prices....retail pricing is usually 50-60% higher.

I bet we start seeing some smaller "quality" brand stores that arent too much more money...it would be nice to see some quality again.

lets see - there are a few more banks going under...a few casinos in Las Vegas having horrible problems...and a lot of smaller businesses like dry cleaners, etc going under. And if I was you and Erik I would make an illuminated "FIRE SALE" or "GOING OUT OF BUSINESS" sale sign that people can hang on their buildings and draw crowds...possibly rent the sign...but get paid in advance.

Our business is up almost 400% and growing faster than we had ever expected. We see people seeing the economic advantage of our products versus the other companies. And we are even seeing some of the big box retailers (Home Depot, Lowes, etc) as interested in carrying our products on their shelf to allow sign companies to go to local hardware stores to buy LED sign and lighting products...expect this in 2009. Met with California sign company this morning that said that their business in "budget" type stores is booming.

this is going to be tough for companies that made a sign business out of doing their signs. http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=9722 Hayward-based retailer Mervyn's will close its stores after the December holidays, according to the San Francisco Chronicle and other media outlets. The retail chain had filed for bankruptcy protection in July and announced plans to close 26 stores. Now, its other 149 stores will be closed, too. Mervyn's will bring in an outside liquidator to sell its remain stock, according to the website marketwatch. The 59-year-old company has 175 stores in seven states, including one on Showers Drive in Mountain View. "We are disappointed with this outcome but the company's declining liquidity position and the extremely challenging retail environment, together with the fact that we have exhausted all other possibilities, requires that we take this action," John Goodman, Mervyn's chief executive officer, said in a statement.

Damn - I thought everything in life was free...I tried to convince all the pretty girls of that the other night at a club here in Las Vegas...thanks for the education and the tutorial section. :)

AXIOM is looking to expand its rep sales force in Northern California. You can do this job as a part time or full time job - that is up to you. We pay 5% commission on all sales at the time customer places order - not upon shipment. Our focus areas are Oakland and San Francisco. Our products range from LED products for sign companies and general lighting products for lighting designers. Email me if interested at: mlynch@axiompowercorp.com with SUBJECT: No Cal Rep

I just confirmed with UL - using the Ventex system requires that the sign company use a polycarbonate or glass face to the channel letter. I think there are a lot of companies that have thought it would be great and low cost to offer a product like Ventex is proposing but I know that UL has very strict issues with non-class 2 systems in signage. I am sure Jim from UL will jump on here and clarify it for you. The condition of acceptability of the VENTEX system is if you use a polycarbonate or glass face....kind of pricey!!

would love to know Ventex specs per part (lumens, price, power)... Also at the end of the string of 10 modules what is the voltage? if they are in series it should be above 33V. We had this problem with our CCFL for letters - voltage was beyond Class 2 levels so we had to have way of obscuring wires behind metal back. If they are using Nichia this will be even more interesting - Nichia LEDs can fail open (wire pops) - if this happens the rest of the string fails. And seriously on Class 2 - Bank of America letters caught on fire in a few locations - a very large sign company has nothing positive to say about using non-class 2 power supplies. They are a bit cheaper but not worth the risks.

Yes...and that purple bra looks great on you...but I am not sure about the earrings and the lipstick.

They will have an interesting time not using a Class 2 power source with an LED - after Electraled non Class 2 systems caught a few buildings on fire I am not sure UL will look to fondly on this. For example, as soon as they have more than 10 LEDs in a string the voltage will be beyond 32V and they will have a shock hazard issue and there will need to be protective conduit sleaving between each LED module. But probably more interesting is how they will prove fire resistance issues. At least the early GE system had all running in parallel...different story in that case. There are about 3 major sign companies on this board that should chime in about their experiences with non-Class 2 LED systems - lots of lessons learned. UL should chime in as well. Good job on the project Erik - I forgot how big the Advance Transformer power supply is versus our IP68 power supply.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/tec_techbit_youtube_spoofing

Women would be impressed with the size of that Marko!!!

THere was a large set of channel letters being built for the top of Mighty Ducks stadium in Orange County, CA so the planes flying over could see the stadium - they were about that big - was pretty crazy.

No insurance would be major problem - dog ate my homework....dogs always seem to get a hold of my phones.

Thanks for sharing this. It clearly shows that in the "old days" this country didnt rely so heavily on "credit". I am not sure people really evaluate how much less it really cost to purchase things upfront when work is done or products are purchased. Whenever I am brought in to do consulting for businesses I always recommend reduction of accounting functions and overhead by paying vendors in advance (get discounts) and attempt to get customers to pay in advance by offering prepay discounts. THese companies almost immediately had better cash flow and happier vendors. Hell - you can get vendors you prepay to do a lot more for you when you need them to. I think you will see a lot more companies start abandoning credit terms in these shaky economic times.

He is correct - I would stay away from this - could be a legal snafu.

If anyone wants to try one of these on a fan blower or router motor - we are selling one http://cgi.ebay.com/Variable-Speed-Drive-C...tem290262859795

It is amazing what everyone saves if they pay upfront. Hell - if you pay your vendors upfront for the materials you can get the same discounts. Extending credit to everyone hasnt seemed to work too well - there are a lot of people in Las Vegas that have lost their homes and their cars...some should have never even received credit. I met a guy the other day that was so proud that he has $185K in credit card debt that he was never going to pay...he spent it on cash advances for gambling...and yes, he lost it all...but now he gets "comped" everywhere....what a messed up system.

That is awesome...you might also try throwing up the $12 meal and say that "it didnt work out" - you wouldnt have to pay. But your birthday concept is awesome. Why cant you all ask to be prepaid - the credit crisis seems to have affected our whole nation.

It will not "increase" blower output. It is like an electronic speed controller but it is done through low tech mechanical means. Plus - if you need to service the fan blades you dont have to shut off the motor...it is the motor turning off and on that uses mass amounts of power. This ends up being a huge savings in power. For example on the electric motorcycle I developed I increased the battery life by 1.5 times by using this instead of an AC or DC motor control