GARAGE: Datsun sign LED Tube Retrofit

The old Datsun Dealer neon sign which i bought two weeks ago, is simple  technology, but also a bit outdated and prone to failure. If you have a few FL-tubes in your garage, you know that always one of the starters or tubes itself is not working or starting properly. Also they consume quite some power. Luckily there’s an easy solution. LED Retrofit tubes. They come with a fitting starter (which is just a short-circuit unit, since LED tubes don’t need thyristor starters to ignite.)

So the retrofit is just to remove the old starters and FL-tubes and install the new units. The original inverters and wires remain. That’s it. I made sure the LED tubes have the same colour temperature and light intensity as the old ones, to keep the original vibe and look.
While at it anyway, i decided to clean the inside of the plexiglass front too, for a bit more shine…

And here we go. It looks exactly as the original from the outside. I hope this way it is much less maintenance intensive. Especially when hanging high up at the garage wall, where i plan to install it. The only thing i miss a bit now is the vintage flickering and noises it used to make during startup, hahaha 🙂