Fluorescent History
荧光灯的历史
Twelve years ago, sign cabinets were predominately illuminated just one way—with fluorescent lamps. There were some exceptions, like HID lamps with baffles, but most sign guys used fluorescent lamps.
十二年前，绝大多数标识制造商制作灯箱都是使用荧光灯照明，当然，也有一些例外，例如，有的就使用HID灯带挡板，但是，制作灯箱的照明依然以使用荧光灯为标准。
The process was well understood and the standards were agreed upon by most in the sign business. One row of lamps placed down the center of a double-faced sign on one-foot centers; with two rows being used only when the cabinet was exceptionally deep.
通常情况下，一排灯条放在双面标识中心一英尺的地方，而只有当灯箱特别大的时候，才使用两排灯条。
Early Cabinet LEDs
早期的LED灯箱
Then in 2005 the LED upheaval that was assaulting the neon-lit channel letter began to visit cabinet lighting. White LEDs were then already available but the lifetime of those products made them impractical. They produced too little light, and dimmed to uselessness much too quickly. The move to lighting sign cabinets was made possible with the introduction of the first one-watt white LED by Lumileds—the first white LED with a long enough life to make using white LEDs worthwhile.
早在2005年，灯箱内部的照明初步开始使用LED，包括白色LED，但是，这些产品的使用寿命相当短，并且产生的光线少，很快会随着时间弱化。一直到Lumileds推出了第一款单瓦特白光LED，从这一技术的诞生开始，LED的寿命就开始逐渐变长。
By today's standards, those first white LEDs and their delivery systems were crude and costly. In the summer of 2005, even for a purchase of 10,000, just the LED emitter at the manufacturer’s cost was $4.25. And that was a large buy at that point. Worse yet, there was a requirement to take six color bins, only two of which were truly white. A two-LED module with two emitters and on-board power source producing only 50 lumens sold to distribution for $27.50. It seems incredible any were purchased but there were buyers even at those prices and performance levels.
跟今天的LED相比较，过去的白色LED及其照明系统的做工简直粗糙太多。在2005年，即使购买一万台LED发射器，标识制造商拿回的成本也只有4.25美元。更糟糕的是，在六个LED彩色盒里，只有两个是真正的白色LED。除此之外，具有两个发射器和板载电源的双LED模块仅仅只能产生50流明，售价却达到了27.50美元，即使是在这样的价格和性能水平，也还是不缺少买家。
All of that changed quickly, when South Korea-based Seoul Semiconductor came to America that Christmas introducing a similar white LED emitter costing $2.75. That cut the module price substantially and soon there were modules below $10. That began to make lighting cabinet signs with LED modules much more practical. The rapid reductions in prices are a blessing bestowed by those intrepid first movers that fund all innovations, and demonstrate the power of the free market.
随着技术和需求在迅速更新换代，在圣诞节期间，美国推出了一款类似白光LED的发射器，成本为2.75美元，这款产品大大降低了模块的价格，很快就有了10美元以下的模块产品，价格的快速下降使LED灯箱变得受欢迎，为所有LED产品的创新整合了资金，并展现了自由市场的力量。
Today: Lower Costs, Higher Quality
今天的LED产品：成本更低，质量更高
Here we are a dozen years on and LED modules for channel letters cost so little that it is hard to remember what white neon used to cost. Or, that neon took so much work to install, that it tended to dim in the cold, and would often break in transit.
过去，我们做了十几年的灯箱，发现LED灯箱的成本相比之下较低，但仍需要花费很多的时间来进行安装的工作，并且它在寒冷的环境中依然会容易变暗，变得没有利用价值。
LEDs have made lighting channel letters simple and inexpensive to produce. And, that includes inexpensive to run. A customer recently asked what it costs to power a set of their five-foot letters per hour. If run for six hours a night, the cost is less than $14 per hour per year. That means to run that sign six hours per night only costs $7 per month. Who imagined the full effect of the transformation in 1999 (the first year I remember seeing LEDs at the ISA)?
但随着改进，LED灯箱的制作变得更加简单，价格变得更加便宜，运行变得更加方便。最近，一位顾客询问“制作一套五英尺标识的费用是多少。”我们的答案是“如果每晚运行六个小时，每小时的费用低于14美元，这意味着每6个小时运行一次，每个月只需支付7美元。”
What's Next?
LED应用在灯箱的发展趋势
That simple calculation is an insight into the oft-asked question, “What comes after LED lighting?” It is unclear what the incentives are to introduce a competing technology. What are the weaknesses of LED lighting that the new technology would overcome to justify the development and marketing costs?
这个简单的计算是我们在深入了解LED照明技术后所得出的，目前，LED作为照明与其他照明相比，应用在灯箱中非常有优势，但仍需要开发和营销手段来解决LED照明的弱点问题。
LED costs are low and trending down. They are reliable, hard to break, safe to use and require little energy. A new technology has little initial purchase price to work with and even if it would save half the energy of an equivalent LED solution, the savings would be insignificant. And energy savings accrues to the end user, not the lighting purchaser. So the incentives to consider a replacement for LED sign lighting are weak at best. But my money bets that incentives do exist, and that at some point it will start with channel letter lighting first, just as LED lighting did.
LED成本低、耐用、难以破碎、使用安全，也不需要多少能源转换。一项新技术的初始购买价格一般很低，即使它能节省一半的能源，节省的成本也是微不足道的，因此，考虑替换LED照明的想法不太现实，就像槽型发光字一样，他们已经变得不可或缺了。
It is instructive to recall the initial resistance to the introduction of LEDs as a replacement for neon—lest some reader out there holds that reluctance to moving from the use of fluorescents in cabinet signs. Though it is doubtful many in the industry retain any resistance to this change when the economics make sense for them.
回想起最初引入LED作为霓虹灯的替代品时，是非常有阻力的，起初，有些标识制造商不愿意使用LED，即使有许多专业人士认为这一做法非常经济科学，但让他们仍然保留引入LED作为霓虹灯的替代品这一变化的抵制思想。
LED Economics
LED经济学
It doesn’t need to be stated that the material cost of fluorescent lamps and ballasts is less than that of the LED equivalent in most applications. But, as any journeyman sign builder can attest, the labor savings can often offset the additional cost of the LED components. There are enough programs where LED lighting is specified that many sign shops have experience with LED-lit cabinet signs, even if they still prefer to light their own cabinet signs with fluorescents.
在大多数应用中，荧光灯和镇流器的材料成本比LED的成本低。但我们清楚的是，任何熟练工所节省的劳动力，通常可以减少LED组件的额外费用。尽管许多标识制造商都有制作LED灯箱的体验，但是他们还是喜欢用荧光灯照亮自己的标识。
The justification equation is almost too simple to need explanation. It is just the comparison of the total cost of materials, plus labor and its attendant overhead burden for each lighting type. Obviously, the labor to produce and install wiring raceways with sockets for a fluorescent-lit sign takes far longer than attaching any of the many LED lighting products for cabinets and running 24-volt secondary wiring. If the cabinet has an other-than-rectangular shape where a more complex raceway construction and multiple fluorescent tube lengths are required, LED lighting becomes an even more compelling choice. The same is true as the cabinets get larger, especially if one dimension is over 10’ and stacked raceways are required.
但实际上，生产和安装荧光灯灯箱的劳动力远远超过安装LED灯箱的时间。如果灯箱是一个不同于矩形的形状，体积很大，尺寸超过10'，需要复杂的轨道结构和多个荧光管长度，并且需要堆叠的滚道，那LED照明必然是最好的选择。
Most sign shops have long since developed the standards necessary to maintain the precision required to meet the tolerances of the choices of fluorescent tube lengths. But LED lighting has no such requirements. Generally, LED lighting products are flexible enough through their “cuttability” and lensing to accommodate pretty much any shape or size. One or more can even be placed on 24’ centers, adding to the inherent labor savings with LED lighting. Though less apparent, this can make a difference when hiring and training new cabinet builders. The new sign builder can become productive sooner than when being taught how to install fluorescent tubes. And, making a sizing error costs nothing, provided the faces still fit. Don’t laugh; you know it’s happened, just not at your shop!
大多数标识制造商早已制定好必要的标准，以保持荧光灯长度选择公差所需的精度，但是，他们对LED照明却没有这样强制性的要求。通常，LED照明产品通过可切割性和灵活的透视性来适应任何形状或尺寸的灯箱。一般情况下，单个或多个LED可以放置在灯箱中心24'的位置，能增加LED照明的固有强度，除此之外，如果面孔的大小合适，即使造成尺寸的误差，也不会对照明产生任何影响。
Less Maintenance
强大的可靠性
It’s well established at this point that quality LED lighting requires less maintenance than fluorescents. And though many sign shops rely on service for a sizeable portion of their revenue, this aspect of LED lighting gives a shop a selling feature that can differentiate their signs from those of another still selling fluorescent-lit signs. And, if the shop gives a 1-year labor guarantee, the customer is not the only one that benefits from the superior reliability. This becomes even more important when the sign is difficult to service or is at a remote distance from the selling sign company. The reliability of LED lighting has prompted some sign shops to offer a 5-year parts and labor warranty on their signs. And this writer is aware of one with a 7-year warranty, including labor.
实际上，LED照明比荧光灯所要进行的维护要少得多。虽然许多标识制造商的收入依赖于荧光灯的一部分服务，但LED照明的这一优势为标识制造商提供了一个出售功能，可以区分LED灯箱与荧光灯灯箱的区别。此外，如果标识制造商能提供1年的劳动保障，那么客户并不是唯一受益于这种可靠性产品的一方。除此之外，当灯箱难以维修或远离标识制造商时，这一点变得更加重要，LED照明的可靠性促使一些标识制造商能提供5年的人工保修。
Since the mandating of solid state fluorescent ballasts, the electrical savings offered by LED lighting is less substantial but nonetheless significant. That savings doesn’t accrue to the sign builder but is still a selling feature when presenting to his client.
另外，LED照明的电力节省量不大，但与荧光灯相比，效果仍然显着。虽然这种节省电力的功能不是来自于标识制造商，但在向客户展示时，仍可以作为一种出售功能。
Lastly, fluorescents now carry an inherent risk of becoming an endangered item. With demand shrinking, the costs of fluorescent components will rise and procurement will be more difficult, as has occurred with neon. Selecting the more-costly LED solution is a hedge against an eventuality which may come sooner than you expect. And when it does, your customer will appreciate your foresight, and your relationship with them will be measurably enhanced.
现在，荧光灯被看做是一种危险品，随着需求量的减少，荧光灯组件的成本将会上升，采购也将更加困难，除此之外，霓虹灯也是如此。因此，选择LED是应对这一情形最好的做法，加上LED应用在灯箱的效果尤为突出，这样做，会让你的客户更加欣赏你的远见，并增强你们之间的合作关系。
Perhaps the most important reason to at least offer your clients the option of LED lighting for cabinet signs is that if you don’t and your competitor does, you are vulnerable. ‘Nuff said?
Nuff说：“要最大化实现价值，最重要的是，标识制造商能为客户提供不同的LED解决方案，如果你和你的竞争对手思路一样，没有任何优势和特别之处，那么你迟早会被打败，沉溺于市场。”
