The story of the development of Principal LED’s latest product release, the Fusion Freedom™, is one of classic American inspiration and innovation.
Principal LED’s two owner brothers, Blake and Bryan Vincent, built Principal LED from the ground up in the West Texas town of San Angelo. From the start, they decided to focus solely on developing LED products to serve the unique challenges of the signage industry. Over the years they have produced multiple trendsetting products that turned the sign industry upside down and helped push the evolution of fluorescent to LED retrofitting – the latest being the Fusion Freedom™.
In a leadership meeting at the company’s headquarters in San Angelo, Texas, Bryan came to the table with an idea that struck him in the middle of the night. It was an entirely new LED solution built on the company’s trusted Fusion Freedom™ technology. This product was primarily developed to solve the problem of inventory overload in the sign industry’s LED module sector. As a result, this module would give sign builders and sign designers more flexibility than they had ever seen before and at an economical price point.
The idea started out as a sketch, and he opened up the floor to ideas and suggestions. As the brainstorming grew, he knew he was on to something special as each individual lit up thinking about the possibilities and the challenges of bringing an entirely new module design to the industry.
“I knew that if we could turn this idea into a viable product, it would solve one of the sign industry’s biggest complaints: having to carry too many products on the shelf,” explained Blake.
The first objective was designing a module whose brightness could be adjusted without additional components to the sign system. The solution became a two positive wire system that could simply be wired differently to achieve different power outputs. They could both be used for high or used individually for low or medium level output and the unused wire could be secured with a wire nut. The three level system allows for simple control and easy flexibility if changes are needed at the installation site.
The second goal was to design a lens system that was economical, easy to configure, and secure enough to endure the challenges of outdoor display and multiple change-outs. This took careful engineering and working within strict quality controls at Principal LED’s manufacturing plant. It had to endure fade testing, weather testing, and then colors were selectively chosen.
Finally, the lens optic had to be perfected. Most modules in the sign industry either come with an optic lens pre-installed, or without. This new module would have a removable and replaceable lens that covered a wide range of depths, providing optimal light diffusion. As Bryan and a team of engineers tackled each of the challenges one-by-one the excitement grew in the company.
“This is the kind of product development I love to do.” Bryan said, “Anytime you bring something entirely new into an existing marketplace, you’ll have challenges, but it’s worth it if it resolves a customer pain-point.”
It comes as no surprise that this unique module takes a bit longer than your average product to describe and explain. However, once it clicks, it’s features open up a whole new world of creative expression and flexibility in the sign industry.
We have a product where we can confidently say, “this IS new.” What makes the Fusion Freedom™ a truly novel next generation LED module is the combination of its powerful features and smart design. It offers the best of both worlds: Freedom to innovate and peace of mind.
At Principal LED we have never stopped innovating. It’s one of the cornerstones of who we are and what we do – that, and simplifying the lives of our customers. To learn more about the Fusion Freedom™ and our many other innovative products, including The Original Retrofit Stik: The Qwik Stik visit our website at www.p-led.com or call (325) 227-4577.