This book will help electric sign companies compete for extra income by servicing parking lot and security lighting for existing customers and new ones. The book includes merchandising planning, servicing ...
Avoid MMMs to improve, or prevent, a love-hate relationship.
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For general and accent lighting, architects love neon/cold cathode's color variety, efficiency and longevity, which other light sources can't achieve.
Conversely, architects hate neon/cold cathode, which must be customized and engineered for each application. Thus, installation problems occur when tubes aren't properly specified.
However, proper planning averts trouble - and architects' aversion. I'll discuss some successful architectural, cold-cathode installations that show why certain prejudices exist.
What I call "MMMs" (Most [frequently] Made Mistakes) begin when architects don't know that technical and installation code requirements regarding cold-cathode tubes aren't the same as those that govern ready-made lighting fixtures. Neon/cold cathode is one of the few light sources in which the lamp can be the luminaire (the complete lighting unit, which comprises the lamp, or lamps, and the parts designed to distribute the light, position and protect the lamps, and connect the lamps to the power supply) and, thus, a component of internal architecture.
Cold cathode can be even more spectacular on building facades, where it becomes a part of "art in architecture." In these situations, architects/planners often specify custom-designed fixtures that push neon far beyond its technical limits — and far beyond electrical-safety rules.
Industrial buildings repurposed as cultural centers and theaters are often retrofit with architectural, cold-cathode, accent lighting. In 2003, the Colosseum Theater, in Essen, Germany, was completely rebuilt in a 1906 brick building that formerly housed a heavy-machine shop. Warm-white and yellow cold cathode now outline the façade.
All transformers were mounted indoors, almost directly behind the tube circuits; most were hidden in the building's steel-support structure. Where the silicone GTO penetrated the building, the GTO was installed in conduit (which the local electrical code didn't require).
Cold-cathode installations shouldn't cause any visible or structural damage to historic buildings. In this case, the tubes were directly mounted on the brick rims. Red, silicone GTO was fastened with small, acrylic, tube supports. The double-insulated electrodes (even the shrinkhose was rated for 284°F [140°C] continuous use) provided additional protection against accidental contact with live parts in the public area, in case the glass broke.
For similar U.S. installations, the National Electrical Code (NEC) requires more than in. between the glass tube and the nearest surface (other than the tube supports), independent of the voltage or current used in that particular circuit.
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