I am having a light box sign made for outside of my game room building. This kind of lighting was suggested to me:
But at over $4 per module and a 50 module minimum I'd be looking at well over $200 plus the power supplies are $40 or $50 on top of that! I'm ultimately planning on doing 3 signs (1 outside, 2 inside) which would put lighting alone at probably $125 per sign!
The second recommendation was LED light bulbs. However, they seem to be prohibitively expensive too. I'm not really sure how to shop for them though because there seems to be a million varieties so I'm not exactly sure what would be good for a light box.
One thought I had was 1 or 2 fluorescent tubes, although my concern there would be getting even lighting, particularly since my outside sign isn't a simple rectangular shape.
Another thought I had was to use LED rope lighting. Looks like I could buy 150' for about $0.50 per foot which sounds appealing. Excess could be used for Christmas lighting, above cabinet lighting, etc. The concern with this is whether I'll get sufficient lighting for a bright sign though. I figure I could just put as much rope lighting as needed to get the proper brightness, and possibly put chromed poster board at the back of the sign for reflection. However, I'm not sure if that is super practical in terms of looping the rope multiple times in a somewhat narrow space (I'm guessing roughly 1/2'). Instead of looping perhaps I could just do multiple strands. That would require more power connectors and/or splitters.
I suppose I could also try a hybrid approach like a fluorescent tube for the bulk of the lighting plus rope lighting going around the perimeter to even it out.
I guess I should also say that incandescent is out due to heat generated.
Am I overlooking a better approach? Anyone have a link to the perfect product to use? Any opinions on the ideas I've presented?
But at over $4 per module and a 50 module minimum I'd be looking at well over $200 plus the power supplies are $40 or $50 on top of that! I'm ultimately planning on doing 3 signs (1 outside, 2 inside) which would put lighting alone at probably $125 per sign!
The second recommendation was LED light bulbs. However, they seem to be prohibitively expensive too. I'm not really sure how to shop for them though because there seems to be a million varieties so I'm not exactly sure what would be good for a light box.
One thought I had was 1 or 2 fluorescent tubes, although my concern there would be getting even lighting, particularly since my outside sign isn't a simple rectangular shape.
Another thought I had was to use LED rope lighting. Looks like I could buy 150' for about $0.50 per foot which sounds appealing. Excess could be used for Christmas lighting, above cabinet lighting, etc. The concern with this is whether I'll get sufficient lighting for a bright sign though. I figure I could just put as much rope lighting as needed to get the proper brightness, and possibly put chromed poster board at the back of the sign for reflection. However, I'm not sure if that is super practical in terms of looping the rope multiple times in a somewhat narrow space (I'm guessing roughly 1/2'). Instead of looping perhaps I could just do multiple strands. That would require more power connectors and/or splitters.
I suppose I could also try a hybrid approach like a fluorescent tube for the bulk of the lighting plus rope lighting going around the perimeter to even it out.
I guess I should also say that incandescent is out due to heat generated.
Am I overlooking a better approach? Anyone have a link to the perfect product to use? Any opinions on the ideas I've presented?



