LED Chains Light the Way

EVERLINE® Flexible Chains and Drivers Provide Royal Wholesale Electric with a Custom Sign Lighting Solution

Royal Wholesale Electric’s customer Central Heating, Inc., in Orem, Utah, was in need of new internal lighting for its outdoor sign. Wire Utah—the licensed electrical contractor for the installation of the product—brought the opportunity to Royal Wholesale.

While the sign was initially designed to utilize fluorescent tubes—as most signs of its type are—Brandon Smith with Royal Wholesale wanted to offer a better solution that would provide longevity and low maintenance. He turned to the EVERLINE® flexible LED Chains and Drivers by Universal Lighting Technologies.

One of the challenges Central Heating had with lighting their sign was the lack of availability of 6-foot fluorescent lamps—an issue Royal Wholesale has seen for a lot of customers.

“After our customer told us what was needed, right out of the gate, my agent at GT Sales told him about the LED chain lighting,” said Otto Hottendorf, regional sales manager at Universal Lighting Technologies.

“As soon as he showed us the product, I knew it was the right fit.”

Universal’s EVERLINE LED Chains and Drivers allow for the creation of continuous lines, shapes, clusters or even wrap around corners. With the ease of low voltage wiring, they can be applied virtually anywhere 12VDC is available. Plus, the chains are available in daylight white for signage and backlighting as well as warm white for more architectural applications.

Because LED chain lighting allows for endless configurations, it was not only a fit for Central Heating’s sign, but it is also a solution Royal Wholesale recommends for other types of customers.

Utilizing two L12V60UNV-A Drivers and 75 feet of the LSA25-WH chains (or 144 modules), the system’s power consumption was reduced to 108W. The EVERLINE solution resulted in an estimated 51% energy savings over the electronic ballast and T8 fluorescent lamps originally installed.

“We talked to the owner about the benefits of chain lighting, and we learned he was already in the process of trying to convert all of the lighting in his company to LED,” said Smith.

“The LED chains were a no-brainer because of the savings in energy consumption, ease of installation, and long life.”

EVERLINE LED Chains and Drivers provided the flexibility Smith needed to create a custom solution for a sign, originally utilizing four six-foot lamps with T8 ballasts. And because the chains utilize active current regulation for consistent output from module to module, regardless of distance, they generate plenty of light to evenly illuminate the sign’s thick plastic at night.

Not only did the LED chain lighting meet the needs for the project, providing a lighting solution that could replace the old ballast tubes, it was also easy to install.

“We needed two LED drivers and three sets of the chains to fill the space left by the ballasts,” said Smith.

“Once we removed the old ballasts, the installation was easy. The adhesive that was already attached to the back of the chains stuck firmly. Then we just put a screw in the top and bottom of the chain modules.”

By using an LED solution, Royal Wholesale was also able to give Central Heating the longevity the company was looking for. Universal’s EVERLINE LED chains and drivers are rated for 80 percent lumen maintenance at 60,000 hours of operation. It will be a long time before Central Heating’s sign will need a new light source.