6 Jun

Home Hardware – LED Retrofit from neon

Home renovation is not complete until you have visited a Home Hardware store for all your hardware and furniture needs. Their signs – as pictured above and below – are at the heart of their brand and the best indicator of their locations all across Canada.

LED Solutions had the privilege of working with a Home Hardware store in Hamilton to retrofit and re-locate their neon sign to a different location. Re-locating a neon sign is never a great idea, units of glass break very easily, and old high voltage neon transformers pose electrical problems.

We retrofitted the sign with LED’s as we re-located the sign to a different unit in the plaza – as each letter was removed ,we gut the neon and installed the pre-fabricated LED inserts. Home Hardware now enjoys a brand new looking sign and 78% savings in their energy cost along with maintenance savings as LED Solutions’ sign retrofits come with a 5 year warranty.

Have a look at it when you are at the Home Hardware store in Hamilton (Fennell & Gage), super bright and professionally installed. Plus you may be surprised how low cost these high quality retrofits are  – the best components in the world & highly trained and skilled staff – and enormous energy and maintenance savings that can you your money back in months!

ENHANCE YOUR BRAND

NOT JUST ANOTHER SIGN COMPANY – OUR VALUE EQUATION WORKS!!

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31 May

LED Solutions Completes Another Custom Sign Fabrication

When one of our a regional signage partners needed a sign for the Royal LePage real estate brokerage in downtown Smith Falls, Ontario they turned to LED Solutions, Canada’s custom sign specialists.

LED Solutions completed the project which featured acrylic push through lettering that was precisely cut using a CNC router at LED Solutions state of the art manufacturing facility in Hamilton, Ontario.

Couple custom cut acrylic lettering with the cost savings of high efficiency LED modules and you have yourself an all around attractive sign that really stands out – all done on time and on budget.

The client was extremely pleased with the finished product and apparently so is the whole town as this sign went in only two doors down from another one of LED Solutions custom sign projects completed last year at an H&R Block location!

 

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16 May

Very Proud of Our Work!

I stayed at the Westin Harbour Castle-Toronto for a business matter. As I enjoyed the spectacular city view from my room, the iconic Toronto Star building at 1 Younge street stood out. We had retrofitted the Toronto Star sign to LED about year and a half ago. Check out the picture above, looks bright like its brand new. I felt very proud of the work our team does, especially high rise buildings, we excel at it! And latest LED technology means the signs barely fade out, require little maintenance and are highly energy efficient, providing exceptional value to our clients.

Keep an eye out during Hockey Night in Canada on City span – Toronto Star sign really stands out!

Check out some more of our projects here: ledsolutions.ca/news/

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Author: William Large

large@ledsolutions.ca

4 May

High Rise Sign LED Retrofit at Delta Toronto East

Check out another LED retrofit of a high rise sign at Delta Toronto East. High rise signs are among the most visible in any commercial setting, provided that they are big enough, bright enough and are working. Traditional fluorescent lit or neon signs can do the job but require frequent service and consume a lot of energy.

At LED Solutions we work hard to solve these problems for our clients like Delta Toronto East. This high rise sign is over 14 storeys high and required frequent maintenance while contributing handsomely to an increasing electricity bill. We retrofitted it with high quality, bright LED modules that come with a 5-year warranty. Our technicians used repelling ropes to reach the sign for the retrofit, and we placed the power supply for the modules inside the building instead of putting it within the sign as it is usually done. This means that if the power supply needs any service, it can be done easily from within the building while the ultra durable LED modules in the sign virtually last a lifetime – reducing maintenance cost to a fraction of the original. Also, since LEDs use a fraction of the energy than traditional lighting sources, a reduced electricity bill is an added bonus for our client.

This is a true win-win for us, our client and our shared environment!

If you happen to be in east Toronto area, check out our work at Delta Toronto East. Check out their website www.deltatorontoeast.com for more information, it is a very nice place for a stay! And feel free to reach out to us for consulting regarding retrofitting your existing sign to a more durable and energy efficient LED one!

 

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28 Apr

Fluorescent to LED: Internal Driver vs External Driver vs Plug and Play

Linear fluorescent tube lamps are one of the most commonly used lamps in commercial settings. Offices, shopping malls, schools, warehouses, restaurants etc. have hundreds if not thousands of linear fluorescent lamps lighting these facilities. These facilities can benefit enormously by switching to linear LED lamps or T8s (Or T12s, T5s etc). In fact, many have already switched and others are in the process of doing so.

Before you switch to LEDs, you will face one tricky question: What type of linear LED T8 lamp is the best option for retrofitting? Below is my attempt to simplify and describe some of the options available in the market.

There are currently three types of linear LED lamps in the market:

  1.  Type A (Plug and Play): Lamps which operate using the existing fluorescent electronic ballast.
  2. Type B (Internal Driver): Lamps that require line voltage to be wired directly to a fluorescent fixtures sockets.
  3. Type C (External Driver): Lamps that require an external dedicated driver to operate. Similar to Type B, but the driver is outside the tube

Some of the pros and cons of these products are listed below.

Type A  – Plug and Play: This is the easiest way to retrofit. These LED lamps are compatible with most electronic ballasts found in fluorescent tube light fixtures. The plus side is simply the installation side, just take out the old tube and put in the LED one. No rewiring needed and you do not have to be an electrician to do this. These are also eligible for saveONenergy incentives in Ontario.

Drawback: These only work with the ballast. Once the ballast malfunctions or reaches its lifespan, these tubes won’t work until a new ballast is installed.  By choosing this option which retains a used ballast of unknown quality, the fixture may continue to need costly and frequent maintenance.

Type B – Internal driver: The integrated driver approach is fairly straightforward but requires some rewiring of the fixture. Depending on the type of control gear that is in place, electrician will simply need to modify the existing fluorescent control and bypass electronic ballasts completely to wire the lamp end caps directly to mains voltage. Basically the ballast is by passed and removed from the fixture.

Drawback:  the internal driver approach also requires that all the electronics must be housed within the confines of the LED tube. The lifetime of the LED driver could be negatively impacted by using smaller components to fit in the restricted space. In addition, the excess heat generated as a result of putting the driver into the LED tube raises the overall temperature of the tube and reduces the lifespan of the LEDs. Extra weight of the internal driver could also pose some risk as lamps might fall out of the sockets.

Type B LED tubes are no longer eligible for saveONenergy incentives in Ontario!

Type C – External Driver: that is based on the fluorescent concept where a single external LED driver runs one or more LED tubes, can comfortably include any dimming and smart features required.

The external-driver approach should offer better reliability, a longer life span and a safer product. Choosing a complete luminaire solution with an external driver means any safety or lifespan concerns are removed. The entire system – the lamp, the lamp holder and the driver will be designed to work together.

Drawback: Retrofitting with external driver Linear LED tubes means there is extra hardware, i.e. in a typical situation, you would need one driver for every two tubes. Basically, this option will cost more than the first two.

Author: Onkar Gill

onkar@ledsolutions.ca

25 Apr

Introducing LEARIE: Energy Savings & Incentive Calculator

Hamilton, Ontario – April 25, 2016 – LED Solutions is pleased to announce that LEARIE – An online incentive calculator and energy audit tool for your LED retrofits – is now live on their website.

Check it out: https://ledsolutions.ca/learie/

Businesses across Ontario are looking cut costs to become more competitive in their industry and improve their bottom line. Switching to LED lights is one easy way to achieve that goal. LED Solutions created this tool to help building managers, energy managers, electricians and contractors to quickly estimate their energy savings and rebate incentives, so they are aware of the financial benefits that LED lighting can bring and also the incentives government is providing to achieve those goals.

“We work with many nationally recognized real estate, property management, franchised and chained business among others. Most of our clients ask the same questions regarding LED Retrofits, that is, what are the energy savings and what incentives are available? So we have created a user friendly tool to answer their questions. Anyone with the basic knowledge of lighting systems can utilize this tool on the computer or their mobile phones,” said William Large, a partner and CEO of LED Solutions.

“LEARIE is not a substitute for a comprehensive energy audit, it is a good estimating tool that can help getting you started for budgeting and awareness purposes” said Onkar Gill, who lead the development of LEARIE. “We are currently developing LEARIE II, a more sophisticated version of the program that will include comprehensive energy audits and cost/benefit analysis. It will be shared with our partner electricians and contractors,” added Mr. Gill.

Development team at LED Solutions hopes that users find this tool helpful to discover energy efficiency opportunities in their businesses that help not only their bottom line but also the environment.

LED Solutions welcomes any comments and feedback relating to LEARIE.

 

Media Contact:

William Large

large@ledsolutions.ca

 

13 Apr

CAA – New Location in Pickering, Ontario

Congratulations to CAA for opening up another location in Pickering, ON. LED Solutions is a proud partner of CAA for their display signage needs and we are happy to be have contributed to their new location. Check out the pictures of their new sign and display items that we helped producing.

  • Re-skinned the awning and LED illuminated
  • Interior sign boxes
  • World map
  • Exterior LED oval Logo

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7 Apr

Investors Group – LED Retrofit of Channel Letter Sign 

LED Solutions completes another impressive LED retro-fit of a neon sign.
Neon signs are energy in-efficient and require regular, costly maintenance. With today’s high energy prices this presents a real problem to a company’s bottom line.
When the Investors Group location in downtown Brampton, Ontario was tired of dealing with the high cost of powering their neon sign and the maintenance hassles that come with it they called Canada’s LED retro-fit specialists.
LED Solutions technicians removed the offending neon and installed super bright, energy efficient, commercial grade LED modules that are guaranteed maintenance free for 5 years!
High efficiency lighting technologies mean more savings for your company.
Contact LED Solutions today to find out how we can save you money and make your business more profitable.

1 Apr

CAA – New Location in Guelph, Ontario

LED Solutions recently completed  signage and display project for CAA at their new location in Guelph.  Project included illuminated oval logo, blue backer with white LED channel letters.  The world map, as seen on pictures below, was manufactured using CNC machine out of 1/2″ PVC. Also check out the interior illuminated box with digital print.

We took care of the project from beginning to end including permits so CAA can focus on what they are the best at: Insurance – Travel – Roadside – Rewards!

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