Sondia Lighting - From marine light fittings to global market

Thursday, 01 January 2009 00:00

Sondia Lighting began by manufacturing marine light fittings for shipyards and marine electrical engineers based in the UK with the occasional export contract to supply complete ships lighting packages.

In the mid ‘80s Sondia Lighting used its experience in the marine market to develop a weatherproof sign illuminating fitting, in response to the needs of a local sign manufacturer for a contract supplying signage to MFI. MFI liked the product and specified Sondia’s fitting for use on all its stores, providing exposure throughout the country that later led to the fitting being selected for commercial and industrial premises of other major companies across the UK.

In the late ‘80s with the marine market in decline and shipyards around the country closing, Sondia Lighting diversified, firstly undertaking general sub-contract sheet metalwork and secondly the design, manufacture of standard and bespoke light fittings to other established lighting companies. The diversification proved successful and in the early ‘90s the company invested heavily in market leading CADCAM system and CNC machinery.

The experience gained in designing robust, well engineered light fittings for the marine and sign industries and responding to changing markets has served the business well. Today Sondia employs more than 20 staff and manufactures fittings for a variety of applications. As a sub-contractor has developed its own comprehensive range of catalogued products and is currently working on the next generation, which includes a colour change LED trough light.

Customers include UK and foreign based companies and a recent project involved producing stainless steel LED floodlights on extended arms to illuminate the name boards on a luxury super-yacht.

One of Sondia’s best selling lines at the moment is Recessed Modular Fittings. The standard range of 600 x 600 and 1200 x 600 fittings are available in three and four lamp versions incorporating switch start, H.F. and H.F. dimmable control gear.

Sondia recognises the new challenges presented by the global market and remains determined to take the business forward by increasing it customer base and moving into new markets.

Go to www.sondialighting.co.uk to view the full range and find out more.

OMC Flexistrip: Solving the problem of misleading LED prices.

Thursday, 01 January 2009 00:00

LEDs for signage are often sold on a "price per metre" basis. OMC found that a large number of users therefore compare LED products metre for metre, on the assumption that a metre of one product is roughly the same as a metre of another, and will illuminate one metre of letter edge. But many LEDs are sold in module form, consisting of blocks of LEDs joined up into strings separated by wire - so with prices being compared on a "per metre" basis, it is very tempting for manufacturers to put bigger gaps between LEDs in order to reduce the apparent unit cost by reducing the number of LEDs in one metre of product.

The problem is that in order to achieve a bright, even beam, products with large spacings must often be fitted much closer together inside a letter, bunching up the wire to reduce the gaps between the LEDs. This means that a metre of product "as sold" does not give a metre of illumination around the letter, as this illustration shows.

In the example pictured below, the letter has a perimeter of about four metres and needs to evenly illuminate around the edge with a halo effect. If the modules are spaced out as sold (left hand figure), the illumination will suffer from bright and dark patches, as well as a low overall brightness. To achieve a satisfactory effect, the LEDs need to be bunched much closer together (centre figure), which in this example results in about 2.5x the LED meterage being required, as well as a considerable increase in labour cost.

OMC says it has solved this problem with the Flexistrip™ range of LED signage illumination components. Originally introduced to the sign market by OMC in 2004, Flexistrip now has more than twice its original brightness at approximately half the original cost.

The core OMC Flexistrip range consists of flexible strips of ultrabright LEDs which can simply be fitted in a single run to the inside letter return. With up to 90 LEDs per metre, this product achieves a brightness and beam uniformity that is very difficult to match when using modules. Simplicity of pricing as a key benefit, as one metre of Flexistrip equals one metre of illumination around the letter (see right hand figure).

As a result of its study, OMC has two important pieces of advice to give to signmakers when obtaining quotes on LEDs. The first is to ask for the number of LEDs per metre and to work out the price per LED. The second is to ask for the light output in lumens per metre, this will tell how bright the product is, to be sure that the LEDs are of a good brightness grade. As an example, OMC’s front-firing Flexistrip in white offers about 300 lm/m.

View the OMC range at www.omc-uk.com or telephone 01209 215424 for more information.

Robert Horne - New Year brings more.

Thursday, 01 January 2009 00:00

With the success of the Enlite and Enlite Grid there is now a growing acceptance of the huge benefits of LED technology to lower energy bills and reduce maintenance costs. The sign and display industry now understands that the initial higher costs of LED based lighting can be far outweighed by payback times of as little as 12 to 18 months. So for that reason new products will be added to the Robert Horne Portfolio to replace old technologies like fluorescent tubes for back illumination of signage and displays.

The first new product will be a direct fluorescent tube LED replacement called Green Tube. The new LED Green Tube will come in the same sizes as standard fluorescent tubes but offers all the benefits of LED technology.

The second new LED product will be Bright Green Matrix and Bright Green Edge from Bright Green Technology Ltd. An innovative LED solution which is extremely easy to install, it lasts upwards of five maintenance-free years, before requiring simple and safe LED replacement. Better still, when the system eventually reaches the end of its natural life, it is 98 per cent recyclable.

These new product additions will widen the already impressive LED solutions, which include Philips LED range, the Robert Horne Group offers to the sign and display marketplace.

For further information, go to www.roberthorne.co.uk

Walls + Forms - New Lights Alive displays

Thursday, 01 January 2009 00:00

Lights Alive features an exclusive low profile aluminium framing system that enables the production of virtually any size high quality lighted display. The simplicity of design allows for matching to any store décor or corporate colour scheme including marble, wood grain, and more.

The Lights Alive backlit floor stand displays are available in two, three and four sided formats at a budget price. They feature slatwall panels that can be used for merchandising product or for literature holders, and offer easy changing of advertising images. Black is the standard colour, with alternatives also available.

Lights Alive floor stands offer a variety of options by tier. They can feature a permanent tier logo or product section at the top “tier” or alternatively in the middle or on the bottom. This is ideal when the floor stand is used as a standalone POP display or as an attention grabber alongside a kiosk or store entry. Any of these tiers (or panel sections) can be built with a permanent insert. This insert can be a silk screened or print graphic containing the customer’s logo, company name, or product name.

The permanency of the panel is important to many product sellers who want the display to be used exclusively for their brand or product and don’t want to worry about a dealer or retail store converting the display for other purposes. A changeable graphic tier is the same as the permanent tier description, while allowing any or all the tiers to be made to receive graphics from the side or top of the frame. A merchandising tier allows you to insert pegboard, slot, panel, or slatwall into the frame.

Lights Alive offers a multitude of options at the point of sale, also featuring standard sizes of single and double-sided light boxes with free standing and hanging options and a ceiling mounted model that steals existing light from the fixture.

For further information, go to the website www.wallsforms.com or telephone +1 972 745 0800.