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Programmable LED Sign

M

Mel(NC)

Member
The road side sign at my self serve needs work. Half of the bulbs are blown and the plastic faces on both sides are cracked. Last time I had it repaired it was around $2500. I am wondering if anyone has used a programmable LED sign as their main sign? It would be much cheaper and I like the idea of changing the text once and a while. Here is one I am looking at amazon signcar wash.jpg
 
We have something very similar. Works really well, displays current temperature, and I put up messages relevant to the time of year (Christmas, Easter, summer, spring etc.)
 
14 inches X 77 inches isn't a very big sign. Where do you plan on putting this sign on your car wash? We have a digital at one of our car washes, I think it's about 5' X 5'. At one of the other car washes the bulbs burned out years ago and we turned it off, it had no affect on business by turning the sign off.
 
We had a local sign company give us a quote on a replacing our reader board with a double sided 3' X 8' LED and it was about $55K. It was a small pixel though but still we were really surprised at the price. We didn't go for it. We did have our post painted, new reader board faces, new flex faces, and new LED bulbs and cost over $10K. That was at one of the least expensive sign shops around.
 
I would consider doing a double sided cabinet sign with led lights. You won't have to worry about pixels going bad plus even if a light goes bad you can find a replacement light cheap at your local Home Depot. Ive used signmonkey.com in the past and they make good products. Cant imagine it will be more than 2K for that size.

If your going to buy the amazon one that has a message board you should see if they sell replacement parts and pixel panels. It is cheap so if it lasts at least a few years thats great but you dont want to be replacing the entire unit every 6 months.

Also not sure how that one looks cause I never seen it but you can definitely tell the difference of those message signs by just driving by one. Some looks like they belong above a smoke shop window and some look like they belong at a 5 star restaurant road sign. There is quite a difference in quality.
 
Etowah
I put Led's in my monument sign myself when the "sign company" innards went kaput seven years ago. 52"x48". Rope light and 2x4's, two-sided. Never looked back. I do like your sign and would repair it if possible. Can't buy retro.
 
Mel(NC) said:
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I might be alone on this, but I love a vintage looking sign that's not busy.
Your sign as shown looks cool and established, not like a hookah shop as Blanco stated.
Just to make it look fresh, maybe make the arrow red or yellow, put a small stamp indicating when the business was established in the arrow, and lose the bubbles as they make the sign look like it's been struck with rocks or a sideways hailstorm at first glance.
I think there are too many things trying to compete for our attention and it personally annoys me. If I want information such as time, weather, etc.., I look at my phone because I don't trust Bob's Tire Shop to be on top of daylight savings time changes or other information. Those kinds of signs actually make me look the other way.

Simple, clean, quality.
Like In-N-Out Burgers.

I really like your sign.
 

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edredtop said:
Simple, clean, quality.
Like In-N-Out Burgers.

I really like your sign.
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Completely agree on the classic looking sign. Some simple LED from Home Depot will light it right up and keep the vintage look.

More importantly though now you’re making me hungry. It's been years since ive had one of those. I hope one day they open up in my state. Until then I just stare at the picture I took the last time I had one. or two.
 

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Blanco said:
Completely agree on the classic looking sign. Some simple LED from Home Depot will light it right up and keep the vintage look.

More importantly though now you’re making me hungry. It's been years since ive had one of those. I hope one day they open up in my state. Until then I just stare at the picture I took the last time I had one. or two.
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😆 What'd you get there, a Double Double with Animal fries?
Oh yeah!
 
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