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.....Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light..... Neon's not dead, in fact it's missed! This was a job that we completed back in February of 2012 for Lucky's Lunch Counter located in East Village right across from Padre's PETCO Park Downtown San Diego. Lucky's Lunch Counter is probably what you could call the first as a reboot of Neon back to Downtown San Diego. Exposed Neon has been banned throughout downtown San Diego especailly in the gaslamp district. Too bad, it's much missed and I'll tell you about that part a little later. But for right now only halo illumination and backlit lighting for signs is allowed, or unless you plan on putting a Neon Window sign behind your store glass pane. The East Village district of Downtown thankfully is more open to change, and more incline to allowing the traditions of what downtown San Diego used to look like in the Hay Day. Exposed Neon is one of those jobs that West Coast Sign Company likes to surge at. It's not that often that exposed Neon jobs are asked for due to regulation of review design boards & civic historic commissions. Neon fabrication & installation is one of West Coast Sign Company's specialties. With the huge influx of LEDs for illumination talented sign shop help who understood how to handle Neon has been lost & the tradesman that had the proper knowledge of "know how" is gone or short on hand. The only answer is to replace a classic art and tradition with LEDs. We know how to handle, measure, load, fabricate & install Neon signs. This is what separates us from the lopsided choice that a lot of sign shops that will ONLY offer you a one choice option for sign illumination....LED's and statements filled with misinformation and mis-characterization of Neon or Fluorescent lamps as "inefficient & high maintenance". These are marketing statements handed down from light source manufacturers all in the name to sell a product. As you can see, no other light source can replace the sheer brilliance of Neon lights, or beat the wide palette of colors to choose from for your electrical sign identification. SHOT 1. Getting our sign pattern on the wall and drilling for structural mounting and the electrical needs. SHOT 2. The Neon glass being used for "Luckys" is custom mix rare-earth phosphor called B.A.M. A good close color would be EGL's Horizon Blue. Rare-earth Phosphor lamps are about 40% brighter than the conventional single halo-phosphate coated neon lamps and have a better lumen maintenance, or will stay brighter over time and keep their brilliance. The lower cabinet "Lunch Counter" is a white custom coated white Tri-Phosphor lamps. The Orange clover is glass produced by Tecnolux. SHOT 3. Early installation shot. Just finished applying the weatherproofing silicone caps to the Neon receptacles. These silicone caps are important because when it rains or on high moisture days this can cause the housings to crack or cause a short. SHOT 4. A day shot after completion. As you can see, using Rare-Earth & Tri-Phosphor coated lamps the intensity is so bright it makes for good identification even by day competing against the sun light SHOT 5. Our night shot. This is one of those signs where a photo does no justice and where only a visit in person can justify. We are very proud of this sign that will last the ages and hopefully one day turn into a classic. When properly loaded, installed well with the shortest possible leads, quality components, this can easily turn into another one of our signs where we will never need to replace anything for 18+ years. West Coast Sign Company, San Diego CA, 92131 (858) 689-0080 • info@westcoastsignco.com

Erik Dario Gastelum, owner of West Coast Sign Company is featured in Sign Builder Illustrator Magazines November 2010 issue and featured in the "Tale of Two Signs" article. A discussion on the practicality of both Neon and LED illuminated channel letters, the pro's and con's of both light sources.

Erik Dario Gastelum, owner of West Coast Sign Company is featured in Sign Builder Illustrator Magazines September 2010 issue and featured in the "LED Retrofit" article. A discussion on the practicality of retrofitting existing signs to LED lighting, the pro's and cons of doing so. Is it worth it? Sign Builder Illustrator Magazine Septemper 2010 Straight from the quotes and comments A big picture of Solare Ristorante which is located in the NTC shopping center in Point Loma - San Diego

Erik Gastelum, owner of West Coast Sign Company is featured in Sign Builder Magazines August 2010 issue of "Lighting a Channel Letter" Sign Builder Illustrator Magazine Cover Upper left top, production picture of Solare Ristorante More Production Pictures of Solare Ristorante

Energy Efficient & Light Efficient Channel Letters Energy Efficient We can plan your next illuminated channel letter or electric sign project to be more energy & light efficient, cutting the energy consumption by up to 55% over conventional constructed signs. Also, at the same time the brightness will be 30% brighter and last two to three times longer than conventional CCFL illuminated signs. Please see an article on this job published in Sign Builder Illustrator Magazine LINK SAVING ON ENERGY West Coast Signs specializes in using only top of the line sign components into our custom fabricated signs. In most applications we can use energy efficient electronic transformers for our cold cathode illuminated channel letters over conventional electromagnetic transformers. Using electronic transformers we can reduce the input current anywhere from 60%-73% over conventional magnetic transformers and LED illuminated sign systems. Which also means you can save money by stacking more electronic transformers on a single circuit instead of having to pay the expense of running additional circuits from the panel to sign locations. In a recent proposed sign where energy consumption was a concern for a set of channel letters we laid out patterns for both Neon & LED’s for a light source. The results were staggering. For this typical sized sign after installation & measured, we had this single set with using electronic transformers at 260 watts of power and drawing 2.3 amps per sign. That is just 2 and a half 100 watt bulbs, that is just $68.00 to operate per year. With the same size sign using conventional electromagnetic transformers we got 532 watts per sign and drawing 6.75 amps. With an LED system we got 576 watts per sign and drawing 9 amps per sign. Not only are the electronic transformers energy efficient, but they will also illuminate the CCFL lamps higher than most conventional magnetic transformers. A conventional electromagnetic 30 MA transformer operates at about 24 MA. Our select electronic transformers operate at a constant current of 30MA, or 30 MA RMS which will give a higher light output. BRIGHTNESS How are our channel letter sign brighter than conventional systems and our competition? We are one of the few sign companies where our standard choice of CCFL lamps for channel letters is Tri-Phosphors for white backlit, light sources and Rare Earth phosphors for colored CCFL backlit light sources. These are both 30%-50% brighter than standard 6500 Snow White and conventional halo phosphate coated lamps. Over time, the use of Tri-Phosphor and Rare Earth Phosphor lamps have proven to keep their illumination twice as long as conventional CCFL (neon) lamps. A properly pumped CCFL lamp will last from 15-20 years. Please see an article on this job published in Sign Builder Illustrator Magazine LINK LIGHT EFFICIENT Don't take our word on brightness and longevity of our manufactured signs. We have a list of clients for you to call by day, and already installed signs for you to see by night. Bright long lasting signs are dependent on two processes, proper lamp processing and proper installation. Proper installation and loading is key for a maintenance free sign that can last up to 15 years and beyond. TRACTION TIRE Custom coated rare earth phosphor lamps. Traction Tire, Ramona CA YOGURT UNIVERSE Custom coated rare earth phosphor lamps. Escondido, Ramona CA This is our custom coated lamp we made specially for this project, we call it "La Jolla Gold". You can see for yourself but most importantly take a drive out for yourself to Escondido CA, and observe in person. You will notice how much brighter THIS halo illuminated sign actually punches out greater than front illuminated signs and our competition (which normally doesn't happen), see how it compares to the exposed neon sign of Panda Express. You can read about these jobs in a January 2011 issue of Sign Builder Illustrator LINK Visit our portfolio of channel letters LINK West Coast Sign Company, San Diego CA, 92131 (858) 689-0080 • info@westcoastsignco.com

Electric Signs, LED Channel Letters, & Retrofitting West Coast Sign Company is a U.L. recognized custom electric sign shop and a electrical sign contractor in San Diego, California. West Coast Sign Company specializes in specialty lighting, for our electric signs that we build and manufacture. We build high end custom electrical signs using only custom light sources that are architectural grade. Everything from custom coating Tri-Phosphor & Rare Earth phosphor lamps, to custom LED specialty lighting. Light source components all vary and should be used according to the sign application one is building for their project. Not one light source is best used for all applications, every light source has their pro's and cons. Too many times statements are used such as, "Green" & "Energy Efficient", these are nothing more than "Marketing Statements", statements used to make the public feel "guilty", and in turn manipulating them to choose an alternative route that may/will cost them more in Return On Investment (ROI) than they will ever get back in order for them to "feel good" about themselves to. We can help in dispelling some energy & trade myths so you don't waste an initial investment in money thinking you can make that same money back in a short time in annual energy costs when comparing apples to apples. LED illuminated Reverse Channel Letters. Solare Ristorante Lounge, San Diego CA Please see an article on this job published in Sign Builder Illustrator Magazine LINK High Light Output LED Illuminated address numbers (Test Proven) If there is one think my industry is unfortunately guilty of, it is making their clients believe they can invest HUGE up front and make it back short "Return On Investment" (2 to 3 years) , NOTHING, can be further from the truth. Some may be reading this and I'm sure you are thinking, "This is rare, who is this guy, and I've never heard of such a thing before". That is true, you probably haven't, and that is because it's a very popular thing to throw around marketing statements, especially in tough economic times, but it's what sells. Think back to right before the year 2000, every marketing statement was "Y2K complaint". Buying "Energy Efficient", is just the nuance, it's the next "sexy" term. The TRUTH is, as discussed above, Neon, Fluorescent & LED's are ALL energy efficient products, and they are all SAFE, or as some like to label it, Environmentally Safe. If you run into a sign company and all they offer are marketing statements (by their chosen lighting component manufacturer) followed by "We use XY&Z because it's SAFE, it's Environmentally Friendly", then you are getting the wrong information from someone who because A - The sign company doesn't know what they're talking about. B - They are just very ill-informed themselves, and they are just repeating what they were told by Manufacturers and Suppliers. C - They don't do any kind of testing themselves, or perform energy audits Let's look at some common options used for sign lighting. Fluorescent & Neon lamps do contain mercury, very small amounts and these lamps are a closed loop system which means they are ALSO 100% recyclable, and recycle back into the lighting manufacturers. Both are high voltage and can cause fires WHEN installed with no metal conduit, and this is usually done by unlicensed contractors. Both are very reliable with neon tracing back with a proven history of over 100 years. Neon & Fluorescent lamps are very good and get brighter in warm temperatures, but light output lowers in very cold temperatures, except in red neon because there is no mercury for cold conditions to condense. Lamp life for neon depends on the quality and workmanship of the processing, lamp processing is very important. Knowledge & quality depends and varies from sign company to sign shop. LED's are low voltage, 12 or 24 volts, but the primary wiring from the panel to the power supply for LED's is still 120 volts same as other light sources. A large number of cheap low grade LED's are made in China. China has devastated and flooded a large part of the electric sign industry by low grade cheap LED's. Take a drive at night and you will see letters what have varying dim spots or shadows. Sign companies use these cheap Chinese products and claim "Environmentally Friendly", this is false because China has coal plants, coal plants put mercury in to the air. LED's are very efficient for small light applications, and very helpful in applications where other components are hard to retrofit or install. LED's are also good for very good for cold weather applications where they light the brightest, but poor for warm weather where light output lowers and circuity can fail. Recently installed sign using VERY low grade LED Modules (You get what you pay for!) Retrofitting has hit our marketplace lately. There is a lot of marking talk about retrofitting out existing signs that are illuminated with Fluorescent or neon lamps to LEDs to save energy costs annually and make the initial investment back in a short term ROI. Sometimes, I said "Sometimes" this makes sense. Majority of the time depending on the application it doesn't make sense. Because when you compare apples to apples in light output it can take 20 to 40 years to make the return on investment, and in that time you will have re-retrofit that same sign 4 to 5 times amping your original investment (These are studies and testing that we also conduct). There are a lot of national sign companies with mythical ROI claims of saving 60% to 80% in energy consumption and costs. Be VERY Weary! It doesn't make sense to spend 1.5 Million dollras to re-retrofit a sign that only lasts you 5 years just to save a claimed amount of $18,000.00 a year in energy costs. Out of 1.5 million, that is $300,000.00 per year just to save $18,000.00 in energy costs. Google "CITGO SIGN" Kenmore Square. You had a old neon sign that could have been re-engineered in it's existing light source, it got retrofitted in 2005 with LEDs that didn't last, now in 2010 it's getting Re-retrofitted again with amplified cost. Most of the time it makes more sense to retrofit your existing sign that may be having issues with better, newer components or upgraded lamps. Trade in your old halo-phosphate coated Fluorescent or Neon lamps to Tri-Phosphor coated lamps. These lamps are brighter and last longer with their illumination over time than standard conventional lamps. The basic circuitry is already in place in your sign, it's easier to re-engineer those raceways and installation plans with newer efficient transformers and ballasts. Newer SST transformers and ballasts can reduce your energy consumption over older magnetic transformers and ballasts by 40% to 50%. Installation is key, there are a lot of installers that never knew what they were doing, so if your sign has been having repetitive issues, find someone who knows what they are doing, we can help you with this too. Read up on an article where we are featured in Sign Builder Illustrator Magazine LINK Besides manufacturing electric signs I also run tests for the electric sign industry, testing Neon, LED's and Fluorescent light sources on energy consumption as well as light degradation. Every lighting manufacturers products, I've tested it! I run them 24/7 for 365 days a year continually. I only use what I've tested and to know what will last, I don't take the word of brochures, suppliers or vendors walking into my place of business saying "Our product is the best!" Just remember a rule of logic "You can only get out, with what you put in". West Coast Sign Company, San Diego CA, 92131 (858) 689-0080 • info@westcoastsignco.com

Interior Identification Signs, Lobby & ADA Compliant Signs Illuminated Lobby Signage What better place to show off your illuminated branding then right when your client walks through the door in your lobby / waiting area. It will appear brilliant, powerful and bright. This is a VERY powerful first impression maker. Illuminated with very bright rare-earth phsophor CCFL lamps (Neon) or LEDs. The curved lobby sign makes for a very elegant display ADA Compliant Room Identification We can custom build ADA compliant room identification signs that are built to code and compliance with building code requirements in the Unites States, as well as special California codes Title 24. View our interior sign portfolio West Coast Sign Company, San Diego CA, 92131 (858) 689-0080 • info@westcoastsignco.com