Illuminated Signage: Regulatory issues for LED retrofits

by all | 31 October 2014 10:31 am

[1]By Peter Saunders
There are many business opportunities in Canada’s sign industry today to retrofit older electric signs with new light-emitting diode (LED) illumination systems. While these systems may be much easier to install than their fluorescent and neon predecessors, it is important to keep in mind a revamped sign in the field will need to be professionally inspected again and recertified for future use.

“Sign companies have been pulling out the old T12 fluorescent lamps and ballasts from provincially certified electric signs,” says Jonathan Calderwood, general manager (GM) of Grant Illuminated Signs in Campbell River, B.C. “The new components have to meet certification standards, which is why a new inspection process needs to happen with each retrofit. You can’t just take out the old components and put in new ones yourself without recertification, even if those new components are listed by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) and stamped by the Canadian Standards Association (CSA).”

“We are constantly monitoring new technologies as they appear on the market and at installation sites,” says Brad Sullivan, an electrical safety officer for the British Columbia Safety Authority (BCSA) who specializes in requirements for the certification of signs. “We are watching to ensure the work being performed in the field is by licensed contractors under permit, with qualified people doing the work, using equipment that bears evidence of approval.”

[2]This work must be inspected by a field safety representative of the local authority, to confirm all components are approved and to ensure the whole modified sign meets the applicable codes and standards.

“When you modify an approved sign, the original certification mark becomes null and void or no longer valid,” says Sullivan. “This is when the sign requires recertification.”

The in-house alternative
That said, some sign shops have been inspected and approved by CSA, allowing them to manufacture and label signs in-house that meet the relevant standards without being individually inspected each time. Calderwood points out this arrangement can be applied to LED retrofits in an indirect manner.

“A CSA-approved shop can manufacture a new sign box—including the LEDs, wiring, junction box, ground connection, driver and switch—as a finished assembly in-house that can then be installed in the field, so long as it is not altered or modified any further once it is in the field,” he says. “You can pull the T12s and ballasts out of a sign and put in the whole new CSA-certified assembly, bolt it into place in the old cabinet and then you don’t need to have it certified again, since the assembly is an approved sign as per CSA’s specifications. The old housing is no longer considered the sign cabinet, so all you’re doing is using a CSA-approved connection between two panels. There are several companies doing this now and it works very well. The assembly must be pre-certified in the shop, not in the field.”

This can save significant time and money if the sign shop no longer needs to pay a field inspector to test and recertify the sign after it has been installed.

“The certification and inspection bodies are always working on programs that will minimize the financial impact of recertification,” says Sullivan. “Our regulatory obligation is to recognize a valid mark on the product, as per requirements supported by the Canadian Electrical Code.”

“You still need to display the standard manufacturing decal on the face of the sign panel,” Calderwood agrees, “and you also have to remove all of the old external decals, because the cabinet is no longer considered a sign.”

A changing market
These distinctions are increasingly important to be aware of as more LEDs reach the market as modules, prefabricated trays—carrying both LEDs and drivers—and ‘neon replacement’ kits, which may be certified by UL, but which signmakers can mistakenly assume are components approved for installation in the field, so long as they have the right permit. Even if these products inherently pose no fire or safety hazard, their implementation will change a sign in a way that requires recertification.

“Our biggest challenges with respect to the equipment are twofold,” says Sullivan. “First is the use of ‘component’ approved parts in the field. These are not actually approved for installation in the field under permit. They are intended for sale to an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), which can place them into an approved assembly. The components are only ‘approved’ as such because they have certain terms and conditions placed upon them that only the certification body can release. Our second concern is with counterfeit equipment, which is an increasing problem in the sign industry.”

For sign shops, meanwhile, the distinctions can represent competitive advantages in the market.

“Some sign shops are big enough that they’ll do 10 retrofits in a week and have them all field-inspected in one day,” says Calderwood, “but it’s harder for us smaller shops or if a sign installation is farther away. All of these factors affect the price for the customer. That’s why we want to be able to manufacture assemblies, ship them out and have them bolted in place.”

Even CSA-approved shops, he points out, do not behave identically.

“Some will send everything out assembled, but others will send a pile of wires and LEDs to the site,” he says. “So, people in the industry need to be more aware of both what they must do and what else they are allowed to do.”

The benefits of harmonization
Calderwood and Sullivan agree the issue highlights how more needs to be done to build consensus among signmakers, installers, electricians and inspectors throughout the country.

“There have been cross-Canada meetings between electricians and engineers, playing catch-up with all of the LEDs out there today,” says Calderwood. “It takes time to acknowledge new technologies and the testing to meet standards is rigorous, but rules can change very quickly. And everyone’s trying to understand each other’s regulations. BCSA follows CSA here, but people can interpret rules differently. The provinces are aware of this issue, but they haven’t all tackled it yet.”

“Standards for LED safety are harmonized by CSA, which continues to develop standards for all of Canada, but also bilaterally and trilaterally with the U.S. and Mexico,” says Sullivan. “Some of the sign associations across Canada have become involved and worked with the regulators. Others could become more active and get involved in the regulatory process.”

UL, too, has encouraged sign associations to help their members with educational programs focusing on LED retrofits and efforts to certify installers as ‘testers.’ One of the problems facing Canada-wide efforts, however, is the provincial nature of safety regulations. Some provinces let sign technicians perform LED retrofits, but others require licensed electricians to handle the work.

This issue has been top-of-mind for both Calderwood and Sullivan, as British Columbia currently falls in the latter group, requiring certified electrical contractors, but previously allowed sign installers to connect the wires themselves.

“BCSA wants the provincial sign association to come together and develop a new certification program for electric sign installers,” says Calderwood. “We had a program like that until 15 years ago. Getting the current law reversed would allow installers to become certified again. You need the industry’s interest. It would really open up what people in the sign industry can do—and not just with LEDs.”

With files from Grant Illuminated Signs and BCSA. For more information, visit www.grantsigns.ca[3] and www.safetyauthority.ca[4].

Source URL: https://www.signmedia.ca/illuminated-signage-regulatory-issues-for-led-retrofits/

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