This is the final update on the Rheingold beer sign project (originally covered here: A beer light to guide us).
Rather than do anything drastic, I opted to retrofit the sign with LEDs and call it a day. A new cord with a polarized plug was also fitted and all the sockets were wired properly. There was a fair bit of corrosion under some of the original wire nuts, so I’m glad to have nice, clean connections now. That also serves as a reminder to inspect the connections on these old signs.
There’s a photo of the finished job below. I left a note on the inside for the curious person that pops this open in the future. Maybe they’ll decide to restore this sign to its original glory. Until then, I’m enjoying the warm, constant glow.
Pondering next steps on this Rheingold beer sign repair…
Nicely done.
Thanks! And thanks for the advice. It’s nice when a pro doesn’t totally disagree with what you’re thinking about doing.
The Rheingold beer sign retrofit I started last week (or three years ago, depending on when you start the clock) is finished. I ended up…
I have one of these signs and only the big bulb and 1 small bulb lights up (no blinking). I’d probably do the same thing you did so was hoping to get an idea where you picked up the new lights and how tricky they were to install…
Changing the bulbs is an easy upgrade. The big bulb is a standard base, and the small ones are candelabra bases. I used 3W, warm-white LED bulbs for all of them, which I picked up on Amazon. Rewiring was slightly more involved, but also easy.