LED Sign Brightens Up The Beach After Dark

Beach Sign

[Warrior_Rocker’s] family bought a fancy new sign for their beach house. The sign has the word “BEACH” spelled vertically. It originally came with blue LEDs to light up each letter. The problem was that the LEDs had a narrow beam that would blind people on the other side of the room. Also, there was no way to change the color of the LEDs, which would increase the fun factor. That’s why [Warrior] decided to upgrade the sign with multi-colored LEDs.

After removing the cardboard backing of the sign, [Warrior] removed the original LEDs by gently tapping on a stick with a hammer. He decided to use WS2811 LED pixels to replace the original LEDs. These pixel modules support multiple colors and are individually addressable. This would allow for a wide variety of colors and animations. The pixels came covered in a weatherproof resin material. [Warrior] baked the resin with a heat gun until it became brittle. He was then able to remove it entirely using some pliers and a utility knife. Finally, the pixels were held in place with some hot glue.

Rather then build a remote control from scratch, [Warrior] found a compatible RF remote under ten dollars. The LED controller was removed from its housing and soldered to the string of LEDs. It was then hot glued to a piece of cardboard and placed into the sign’s original battery compartment. Check out the video below for a demonstration.

3 thoughts on “LED Sign Brightens Up The Beach After Dark

    1. It’s just logical that people apply the stating-the-obvious method known from labels on consumer devices (“hi fi amplifier”, “hands free soap dispenser”, dog food bowl etc.). Labels do make sense though for (selling) things otherwise not related with a theme (“beach mug”).
      Then again, I might be wrong with my sarcasm, as I unfortunately don’t own a beach house. Maybe they just got the house or are simply enhancing/reinforcing their joy about it by adding some colorful lights (in some text shape).

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