LEDs can be used to illuminate channel letters or make signs with movie-quality video displays. Both types have been gaining in popularity and market share as the technology has improved and come down in price.

Customers can get LED modules that offer a wide spectrum of color, whiteness and brightness.

The bulk of LED modules are used to illuminate channel letters. The second biggest use of LED modules is in ground-mounted signs, says Ondracek, whose company sells small LED modules manufactured by Samsung.

Front lit channel letters are the most common. Strings of LED lights are encased in an aluminum backing, allowing it to shine through the acrylic face of the letters. 

Another popular option is backlit or reverse channel letters, meaning that the LED modules light up the wall behind the sign, creating a halo effect.

The improvements in today’s LED modules are the driving force behind the trend to make channel letters a shallower depth.

Traditionally, channel letters stick out from the wall about 5 inches. But because of the heat produced by newer LEDs is much less than previous lighting sources, channel letters can now stick out only 2 or 3 inches.

It’s all about perception, says Ondracek.

“Some people like it not as far sticking away from the wall. The majority are 5 inches deep. Some like the closer look. It is more of a conceptual visual thing,” he says. “Overall, it costs less to build those types because you don’t have as much material.”

Because channel letters are some of the most popular types of signs, that means LEDs have become one of the most popular forms of sign lighting.

Seventy percent of LED modules used in channel letters are white, Ondracek says. Others come in red, green and blue. With a little technological assistance, some LEDs can be programmed to produce different patterns of color from a computer or tablet.

“If you go online, there are 1,000 different controllers,” Ondracek says. They range from inexpensive, basic controllers that can rotate through eight different colors to very elaborate ones that can be programmed with a computer to produce different colors in a sequence.

LEDs can last up to 50,000 hours, depending on how often they are turned on, proper installation and having the right power supply. If they are only lit at night, properly installed LEDs can run 10 to 15 years before they need to be replaced, he says.

LED message boards also range from basic white to multiple colors and some offer video capabilities, but in comparison to channel letters, they can get very expensive.

These have risen in popularity as more municipalities have updated their zoning laws to allow them. Initially, the industry couldn’t get LED signs in certain communities because those in charge felt they would distract drivers and accidents would increase, says David Rycyna, CEO at Emeryville, Calif.-based Cirrus Systems, Inc., a company that manufactures LED modules. And there are still many communities where these signs aren’t allowed.

Rycyna says the sign or message center doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective. It just has to be noticeable. He spends a great deal of time getting his customers to realize that an LED sign will pay for itself quickly in its ability to attract attention and spread a message.

Cirrus recently built a sign for a wine store. Its first message advertised a wine tasting at the store.

“The guy had 60 people in the door because of the sign outside. It was displaying that event. Forget about future business. That day, how much did it make him? That’s why we see more and more people using them,” he says.

Cirrus Systems makes LED modules for large outdoor displays. It mixes interconnecting modules to make a much bigger message center.

Cirrus Systems’ LEDs come in the form of modular panels, which come together much like building blocks. Each module connects to numerous others so that building a larger messaging center is simple and only takes a screw driver to complete, Rycyna says.

Because people do balk at the high price of a sign, his company offers a financing package that spreads the cost out over a couple of years.

Depending on the size of the sign, some can cost upward of $20,000.

“That’s a huge investment for a mom and pop bakery somewhere. We have a lot of customers that run the gamut, but even for a restaurant, that is just a chunk of change to put out there,” he says.

Even if the cost of a sign is high, it is something every company needs to have, Rycyna says. Overall, regardless of who you are getting it from, a sign is something every company will invest in as part of its marketing budget.

A high-tech message center might cost a lot up front, but it costs pennies on the dollar to reach every car or pedestrian that passes by.

Cirrus Systems’ makes a 1-foot by 2-foot board that is covered in diodes. Each LED diode represents a pixel.

“The same way your iPhone has thousands of pixels, our tiles have 24 x 48 pixel outdoor screens. It is not as high of a resolution as other devices, but it is still a digital image,” he says.

It is the pitch or distance between pixels that determines the resolution of the LEDs. Most billboards are meant to be seen from a distance so the pitch doesn’t have to be as small. The average pitch is 16 or 19 millimeters.

For signs that are closer to a pedestrian’s eye level, a 9.5-millimeter pitch produces a high-resolution image.

“A 19 mm pitch would be too low. Nobody would see anything. It is all about viewing distance and where it’s going,” Rycyna says.

A full-color screen is going to employ red, green and blue diodes, for the most part.

“One of our models is all white; it can be 4,096 shades of white depending on the brightness. It can get a full video image. It looks like a black and white screen. It has the same effect. Some people prefer that,” he says.

“It is rare to have a single color screen with video capabilities,” he adds. “For us, it was like, why not? All of our technology is built around video, so why dumb it down if we don’t have to.”

Cirrus would rather build 10 smaller LED signs instead of one big one, but the biggest LED display it ever manufactured was 2,000 square feet.

“They get quite large. Theoretically there is not a limit, but the whole system is meant to be deployed quickly and inexpensively,” Rycyna says.

There are many LED options with different performance levels, he adds, which drives down costs.

Rycyna believes that LEDs will continue to decrease in cost as the LED package gets slimmer. They are also getting more efficient, which means they emit less heat, which makes engineering the whole display a lot easier.

The next evolution of the LED module will be in the integrated software arena; how a client can manage the content on an LED screen more easily. There already are cloud-based options and some allow a consumer to stream news headlines or comments from their social media feed onto their LED sign.

“The next five years will be all about that content, dynamic, connected content,” he adds. LED signs have moved well past just displaying the time and temperature.

“There are so many cool, connected things you can do that ultimately it is about helping that brand, helping them come across as being that much cooler,” he says.