Neon FAQ's
I HAVE SEEN THE SAME SIGN ON OTHER SITES BUT YOURS ARE MORE EXPENSIVE...WHY?
MY NEON SIGN IS DIM
MY NEON SIGN FLICKERS
MY NEON SIGN HAS NO POWER
MY NEON SIGN FLASHES (FLICKERS) WHEN CUT ON AND THEN IMMEDIATELY SHUTS OFF
I HAVE A SIGN AND I BROKE THE GLASS. DO YOU SELL JUST THE REPLACEMENT GLASS SETS?
HOW DO I FIX A NEON SIGN?
Ya know, there are times when we ship our neon bar signs and beer signs and it just does not make it our customers in 1 piece. Accidents happen, UPS can and will break things and FedEx has been known for kicking boxes to the curb. Either way, there will be times where you will have to replace the glass in your neon sign with a replacement piece of glass. I hope these instructions will help for those instances.
Before we get started, lets go over some a few things first.
1. Unplug your sign! Most neon signs have transformers that range from 4-12,000 volts which is enough to knock you right on your butt so be sure its unplugged before you begin.
2. Glass neon tubes are extremely fragile and you must treat them as such. Pretend you are holding a full glass of water in which you cannot spill a drop and you will be OK.
Now lets get into replacing a broken piece of glass. If you receive a sign that is broken, we will either ask you to take a picture of it and send it to us or we will send you a neon diagram that shows the different sections of your sign. (see below) Look at your sign and then at the diagram and identify which part or parts of your sign is broken so we can send you the replacement glass.
Once you receive your part(s) open carefully (and pray to the shipping gods that its not broken) and unwrap your replacement glass and set it aside for now.
Grab your neon sign and place it face down on a table or work bench or even the floor is fine. You just want to make sure its flat for a stable work area. You will see on each end of your broken piece a rubber end cap. The end cap basically slips over the ends of the electrode where the wires are wrapped together. Be careful when removing these end caps. If you need to, feel free to use an Exact O knife or box cutter to cut the end caps off. (usually they will pull off easy enough with firm steady force)
Once the end caps are off, you will be able to see where the GTO wire is wrapped around the wires coming from the end of the electrode which connects to the glass tubing. You simply need to untwist the wires (just like untwisting a bread tie) apart, repeat on the other side and be careful as to not break anything else on your sign and don't cut yourself.
Once you have the end caps removed and wires untwisted from each other on both ends of the break, you are ready to remove the clips. All pieces of neon glass are mounted onto neon tube supports. They are usually spring loaded and have a little clip at the top. The glass itself, kinda snaps into the top of the clips. These tube supports provide stability for the actual glass and allows it to be mounted to a backing. When looking at your broken piece of glass, you may have upwards of 10-12 clips on each major piece of neon glass that you will need to carefully pop the glass up on.
Now that you have popped the glass upwards from the clips, the broken piece should easily be removed and discarded.
We are in the final stages now...
Grab the replacement piece and lay it on top of the clips to line everything up and then gently push the tubing down into each little clip. After back in the clips, you simply twist the wires back together on each end and push the end caps back on. If you had to cut your end caps off, just use black electrical tape to tape up the ends.
Ok, now test time. Plug your sign in and see if it glows!
Feel free to download and print the Neon Replacement Tube Instructions
- Firstly, we use 12mm and 15mm neon tubes which takes our master tube benders a little more time. Most companies use 10mm because its faster and easier to work with but the smaller the tube diameter, the more power it consumes.
- We also use 9k and 12k transformers on our signs. Most companies use a 6k transformer. This means that your sign, from other companies may last a few months but having a smaller transformer powering your sign is like driving a car at 85mph in 3rd gear. Eventually something is gonna give.
- We use 15 gauge insulated GTO wire in our signs and most companies use 8 or 10,000 volt GTO. Again, just bad electrical practices.
- Lastly, and this is sad, but there are tons of sites that steal our images.
- You may find it slightly cheaper somewhere else but you will be sorry you did later. Properly manufactured, a neon sign can last you a lifetime.
MY NEON SIGN IS DIM
- Use your hands as a cup to look at each piece of glass individually as you turn on the sign.
- Inspect the sign to find the beginning and the end of the neon tube not working or is dimmer than others.
- Pull up the rubber cover at the beginning and at the end of the glass piece.
- Untie the wires at each end of the rubber cover to remove the wires from the bad piece of glass. Next tie back the good wires. If the wires do not reach from the beginning and end of that tube of glass, just tie the wires together and make sure they are not touching any part of the sign. This will bypass this piece of broken glass and allow the rest of the sign to power.
- Plug in the sign and look at each piece of tube separately to make sure it all lights up properly.
- If the sign does not light up then there may be another piece of glass broken and you will need to repeat these steps to find the damaged piece of glass.
MY NEON SIGN FLICKERS
- Because argon gas requires a small touch of mercury to make it brighter, sometimes there is some loose mercury that has yet to turn to vapor in your neon sign. Simply leaving the sign on for a few days usually solves the flickering problem.
- You can also turn the sign off, shake the sign vigorously and then cut the sign back on. This will shake the left over mercury up and make it easier for it to turn to vapor form.
- Another option to get rid of the flickering is to simply pull the chain on the transformer to cut the sign on and off quickly about 10 times, rinse and repeat and that should eliminate the flickering problem.
- If the flickering persists for more than 2 weeks, please contact us.
MY NEON SIGN HAS NO POWER
- If you get no power at all or when you cut the sign on it does not flash on and back off immediately, you probably have a problem with the transformer. Call us so we can remedy the problem by sending you a new transformer.
MY NEON SIGN FLASHES (FLICKERS) WHEN CUT ON AND THEN IMMEDIATELY SHUTS OFF
- If power is getting to your sign but the sign only flashes once and goes off, its because there is a problem with one of the tubes. The transformer is intuitive and will shut down if it detects a problem.
- Trouble shooting your sign is usually the best resolution to identify the bad tube.
- Use your hands as a cup to look at each piece of glass individually as you turn on the sign.
- Inspect the sign to find the beginning and the end of the neon tube not working or is dimmer than others.
- Pull up the rubber end caps at the beginning and at the end of the glass piece.
- Untie the wires at each end of the rubber cover and tie the wires together. If the wires do not reach from the beginning and end of that tube of glass, just tie the wires together and make sure they are not touching any part of the sign. This will bypass this piece of broken glass and allow the rest of the sign to power.
- Plug in the sign and look at each piece of tube separately to make sure it all lights up properly.
- If the sign does not light up then there may be another piece of glass broken, repeat the steps above.
- Call and let us know which pieces are broken so we can send replacement glass (each neon tube is individually wired in so once you identify the tube(s) that are not lighting up or dimmer than the rest then we can locate the problem and send replacements)
- If you are not comfortable doing these steps, you can simply repack the entire sign back in its original boxes and we will send you a pre-paid shipping label to have the sign returned to us to fix/replace and ship back to you.
I HAVE A SIGN AND I BROKE THE GLASS. DO YOU SELL JUST THE REPLACEMENT GLASS SETS?
- There is no definitive answer for this one unless you purchased your neon sign from us. If not the best thing to do is call us.
- If we have the glass set in stock, we can usually get it shipped pretty quickly and the costs range from $75-$150.
- If we don't have it in stock, we can have it made for you in our factory in China and have it imported in with our regular shipments. The wait time is usually 45-90 days.
HOW DO I FIX A NEON SIGN?
Ya know, there are times when we ship our neon bar signs and beer signs and it just does not make it our customers in 1 piece. Accidents happen, UPS can and will break things and FedEx has been known for kicking boxes to the curb. Either way, there will be times where you will have to replace the glass in your neon sign with a replacement piece of glass. I hope these instructions will help for those instances.
Before we get started, lets go over some a few things first.
1. Unplug your sign! Most neon signs have transformers that range from 4-12,000 volts which is enough to knock you right on your butt so be sure its unplugged before you begin.
2. Glass neon tubes are extremely fragile and you must treat them as such. Pretend you are holding a full glass of water in which you cannot spill a drop and you will be OK.
Now lets get into replacing a broken piece of glass. If you receive a sign that is broken, we will either ask you to take a picture of it and send it to us or we will send you a neon diagram that shows the different sections of your sign. (see below) Look at your sign and then at the diagram and identify which part or parts of your sign is broken so we can send you the replacement glass.
Once you receive your part(s) open carefully (and pray to the shipping gods that its not broken) and unwrap your replacement glass and set it aside for now.
Grab your neon sign and place it face down on a table or work bench or even the floor is fine. You just want to make sure its flat for a stable work area. You will see on each end of your broken piece a rubber end cap. The end cap basically slips over the ends of the electrode where the wires are wrapped together. Be careful when removing these end caps. If you need to, feel free to use an Exact O knife or box cutter to cut the end caps off. (usually they will pull off easy enough with firm steady force)
Once the end caps are off, you will be able to see where the GTO wire is wrapped around the wires coming from the end of the electrode which connects to the glass tubing. You simply need to untwist the wires (just like untwisting a bread tie) apart, repeat on the other side and be careful as to not break anything else on your sign and don't cut yourself.
Once you have the end caps removed and wires untwisted from each other on both ends of the break, you are ready to remove the clips. All pieces of neon glass are mounted onto neon tube supports. They are usually spring loaded and have a little clip at the top. The glass itself, kinda snaps into the top of the clips. These tube supports provide stability for the actual glass and allows it to be mounted to a backing. When looking at your broken piece of glass, you may have upwards of 10-12 clips on each major piece of neon glass that you will need to carefully pop the glass up on.
Now that you have popped the glass upwards from the clips, the broken piece should easily be removed and discarded.
We are in the final stages now...
Grab the replacement piece and lay it on top of the clips to line everything up and then gently push the tubing down into each little clip. After back in the clips, you simply twist the wires back together on each end and push the end caps back on. If you had to cut your end caps off, just use black electrical tape to tape up the ends.
Ok, now test time. Plug your sign in and see if it glows!
Feel free to download and print the Neon Replacement Tube Instructions