1. 14 | ImageMakers
f e a ture
Jerry Pappa first became
enamored with light
emitting diodes back in the
seventies when, working
as a disk jockey, he, and a
technician friend devised
an indoor LED sign to
promote his business. “The
sign chased my company
namebackandforth.Every
time it hit the musical note
[at the end of the name],
the chaser pattern changed
direction—from right to
left, and from left to right,”
says Pappa, who is now
president of Sunitron Inc.,
a Concord, Ont.-based
supplier of indoor and
outdoor LED signs.
New Trends and
Technology – LED Innovations
By June Yee

2. 2009 RESOURCE GUIDE | 15
industr y interest
In the more than 30 years since that
rudimentary design first tweaked his
imagination, Pappa’s enthusiasm for LEDs
has grown, with many of his homespun
experiments presaging concepts and
applications that are now commonplace.
Creating coloured LED lighting with food
dyes and designing LED turn signals for
cars, for example, are among his pioneering
efforts to highlight some of the then-
underappreciated potential of LEDs.
Of the many advantages offered by
LEDs, energy efficiency is by far the best
known and most widely touted. LED
lighting is 95 per cent more efficient than
incandescent, and an LED sign uses just
10 watts of power, six to 10 times less than
a comparable neon sign.
A step beyond
Latest technologies merge digital display with
fixed graphics
Graphicsign-makersfacedwiththechallenge
of presenting real-time information in digital
format may now have a simple-to-use and
energy-efficient option. Among the products to
debut at the ISA International Sign Expo 2009,
North America’s largest sign industry trade
event, were Smart Signs from Albuquerque,
NM-based Tred Displays. The Expo was held
in Las Vegas from April 16 to April 18, 2009.
Smart Signs are based on the company’s
tredPANEL™ and tredLINK™ technologies.
Described by Tred as “ready-to-go,” tredPANEL
uses proprietary Electro-Magnetic Digital
Display™ (EMD2) technology to create a
reflective, digital sign panel with high-contrast,
large-format text that looks similar to ink.
Communications to the signs, meanwhile, are
handled by tredLINK, a wireless management
system with applications for Windows® and
for Tred’s own iN200 USB routers.
The company says its EMD2 technology is
80 per cent reflective, bi-stable and requires
very low power. Based on this technology,
TredPANELS allow sign-makers to add inkjet
or cut-vinyl graphics to produce a Smart Sign,
which is battery powered, wireless, and may be
hung like a poster. By eliminating complicated
installation, content management and high
power requirements that may be associated
with digital LCD and LED technology, Tred
believes its new signs will open the door to
digital signage for many graphic sign-makers
and their customers who were previously
constrained by price.
Dynamic applications expected to benefit
from this development include digital pricing
and point-of-purchase displays, as well as
numeric information that is updated on
an ongoing basis, such as interest rates,
temperature, and time.
Growing environmental consciousness
and widespread awareness about the
energy savings are fostering the quick
growth of LEDs. Importantly, not only has
this “green” aspect boosted the popularity
of LEDs for household use, it’s also
contributing to their growing acceptance
for bigger-scale, commercial applications.
Combining LEDs with solar power (which
is itself limited by available technology
and environmental conditions) for street
lighting, for example, makes perfect sense,
says Sunitron’s Pappa, so it’s not surprising
that some municipalities in Canada are
already doing it.
Low power consumption and overall
environmental friendliness aside, however,
technological advancements are also

3. 16 | ImageMakers
industr y interest
making LEDs more versatile and more
attractive, helping to encourage their
use in signage. One such improvement in
recent years is the angle of view afforded
by LEDs, which is now considerably wider
than before, says Pappa.
LED use in signage has experienced a
huge jump in the past three years and LED
signs have grown to account for a whopping
95 per cent of the market, according to Bob
Craig, president of Acme Neon and Plastics
Signs in Mississauga, Ont. “From a lighting
perspective, it’s the most dramatic change
we have seen,” says Craig, who has been in
the business for more than 40 years.
“LEDs are always changing. They’re
becoming bigger, brighter and more cost
efficient,” says Craig. In fact, it’s not
unusual to see significant changes in LED
technology every six to nine months, he
says. Craig notes that lack of regulation is
evidence and byproduct of this fast growth
by the LED industry.
Nonetheless, says Craig, the decision by
businesses to choose LEDs is a simple one,
especially in light of recent developments.
Not only have costs dropped significantly
over the past four years, LED signs offer
an inherent advantage of low maintenance
when compared with the alternative, neon.
“They’re easy to ship and easy to repair
in the field,” says Craig. That’s in part
because LEDs generate very little heat,
making LED signs easy to handle when
it comes to installation and repairs. They
are also more durable; an LED sign rarely
breaks down and, when fading does take
place, it’s barely perceptible to the eye, says
Craig. Further, the potential for breakage
is minimal when it comes to shipping and
installation, in part because LEDs do not
contain filaments or tubing. And since
LEDs do not use or contain the gases or
elements, there is no need to contain,
replace, or dispose of potentially difficult
substances, such as mercury.
Craig notes, for example, that repairing a
non-functioning neon sign would normally
require replacement of the entire structure
or, at least, sending the sign back to the
manufacturer’s shop to replace intricate
tubing or delicate gases. By comparison,
repairing a “broken” LED sign usually
requires no more than replacing some
individual bulbs.
As well, unlike a neon sign, which generally
represents a single glass tube, a typical LED
business sign comprises many separate lights,
making it suitable for animation and other
versatile design options.
From backlit advertising and displays, to
channel-letter and edge-lighting systems,
the popular applications for LEDs will only
expand as developers work to overcome the
limitations and improve the technology of
LEDs for signage. Refining the brightness,
power usage and cost efficiency of white
LEDs, for example, could facilitate the use
of LEDs in retrofitting existing signs.
For his part, Sunitron’s Pappa cites pylon
signs—large signs affixed to the ground
that offer high visibility—as a trend that is
destined grow as it capitalizes on emerging
LED technologies. “LEDs are getting better
and better all the time,” he says. “They are
the light of the future.”IM
“In terms of lighting, it’s the most dramatic change
we’ve seen.” Bob Craig, president, Acme Neon &
Plastic Signs Supplies Ltd.
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