Featured Project: Fremont Street Makeover

This featured project comes from Danville, Illinois-based LED sign maker Watchfire Signs, and it’s one we first reported on last summer.

Watchfire has begun construction on the new LED canopy for the iconic Fremont Street display in downtown Las Vegas.

The company says it shipped the first crates filled with LED panels for the upgraded canopy to Las Vegas at the end of March. There will be about 59 shipments, each containing two crates, for a total of 118 crates. Each crate contains nine to ten frames, which the company says reflects one night of work for installers. Each frame contains 64 modules that were tested and calibrated prior to shipment. The frames were designed to allow for faster installation. A total of 1,054 frames will be built and shipped.

The Fremont Street Experience is in charge of the installation. The work is being done during late night and early morning hours to avoid inconveniencing tourists and surrounding businesses. Current light shows on Fremont Street will still happen as the new canopy is being installed in small sections, replacing one-eighth of the canopy at a time.

Watchfire says its uniquely designed modules for this project use a patented latch system that allows for easy installation and secure fastening. Before they are installed, they can be custom-cut to fit around pillars, wires, etc. Michael Cox, senior manager of electrical engineering at Watchfire, explained how the brackets and wiring were designed for easy installation. “The brackets have slots instead of holes, which allow for adjustment during installation,” said Cox. “We designed the wiring so that most of it is done here and there isn’t much to do in the field. There is a power cord on every subframe that gets terminated on the canopy. All data connections are designed with waterproof quick-connect fittings so it is easy to install. The old system had large transformers that needed to be mounted and hardwired on top of the canopy and we are removing all of that; now everything is in or on each subframe.”

Quick Facts regarding the renovation:

• $30 million-plus price tag
• 27mm custom-made modules
• More than 66,000 modules being used
• 1,054 subframes will be populated
• 118 crates used to deliver subframes
• 16.3 million total pixels
• Four times the resolution of the old canopy
• The height of canopy is 90 feet
• It’s 1,377′ long or a little bigger than 4½ football fields
• Installation will be completed by the end of the year, with the grand unveiling on December 31, 2019, during New Year’s Eve celebrations.