Battery-powered light-up letters: halo letters with remote

Battery halo letters are halo-lit stainless steel letters that run from a rechargeable battery pack instead of a wall adapter, with a remote to switch them. They suit places with no outlet nearby, or where a cord would spoil the look: events, pop-up shops, shelves, photo walls and desks. How long they stay lit depends on the letters, the brightness and the battery, so we do not quote one run time for every sign; the drawing for your sign confirms it.

How battery halo letters work

Battery halo letters are built like our other halo-lit letters: a solid 304 stainless steel face and returns, a translucent acrylic back, and 12 V LEDs inside that light the wall around each letter. Instead of a plug-in adapter, a cable runs to a rechargeable sign battery pack, and a remote turns the letters on and off. When the pack runs low, you recharge it, or swap in a second pack and keep going.

Because the light comes out of the back, the letters need a surface behind them to glow on: a wall, a backdrop or a panel. Halo-lit letters explained covers how wall color and texture change the glow.

What changes run time

Factor	Effect on run time
Number and size of letters	More and bigger letters carry more LEDs, draw more power and run shorter
Brightness setting	Lower brightness draws less power and runs longer
Battery capacity	A pack that stores more energy (more watt-hours) runs longer
Temperature	Cold cuts the energy a battery can deliver until it warms up again; heat ages it faster
Battery age	Capacity fades slowly with charge cycles and years of use
Electronics	Some energy is lost in the electronics between the battery and the LEDs

The rough math is simple. Run time in hours is about the energy the pack stores, in watt-hours, less those losses, divided by the watts the letters draw. Turning the brightness down lowers the draw, so the same charge lasts longer. Two signs with the same pack can run for very different lengths of time, which is why we confirm the run time on the drawing for your letters instead of printing one figure for every sign.

Recharging and care

• Charge before every use. Start each event with a full pack.
• Charge indoors, at room temperature. Do not charge the pack below freezing (32°F). Charging lithium-ion cells while they are frozen can damage them for good, so let a cold pack warm up first.
• Keep it out of heat. Do not leave the pack in a hot car or in full sun; heat ages batteries faster.
• Use the charger made for the pack, not a spare from another device.
• Store it partly charged. If the letters will sit unused for months, store the pack at around 40 to 50 percent charge in a cool, dry place, and top it up before the next use.

Cold also lowers what a battery can deliver while it is cold. That loss comes back once the pack warms up, but it matters at a winter event held outdoors or in an unheated tent.

Battery or plug-in?

	Battery halo letters	Plug-in halo letters
Power	Rechargeable pack	Wall outlet through an adapter
Cord	A short cable to a pack you can hide	A cord to the outlet
Run time	Limited by the pack; recharge or swap	All day, every day
Moving them	Easy	Needs an outlet wherever they go
Best for	Events, rentals, pop-ups, shelves, photo walls	Permanent reception walls and signs lit every day

If the sign will hang in one place and stay lit every day, plug-in letters are simpler; see halo-lit channel letters and the plug-in sign power adapter. For a small sign that stands on a desk or counter, see desktop channel letters.

Where battery letters work well

• Weddings and events. A name or monogram on a backdrop, a stage or a cake table, with no cords across the floor. See events and weddings.
• Retail displays and pop-ups. Letters on a shelf wall, in a window display or on a temporary wall. See retail boutique ideas.
• Rented or shared spaces, where you cannot add an outlet or run wires through the wall.
• Photo walls and studios, where the letters move between setups.

They are not the right build for a permanent outdoor sign, or for one that must be lit all night, every night. For those, choose hard-wired letters with an outdoor LED sign power supply, connected by a licensed electrician.

Mounting and hiding the pack

Battery letters mount flush to the wall like our other letters, using the full-size paper mounting template and the hardware that ship with every sign. Before you hang anything, plan where the pack will sit: on a shelf behind the letters, in a cabinet below, or behind a backdrop. It should be within reach of the cable and easy to get to for charging.

For a backdrop or a temporary wall, make sure the surface is solid enough for the mounting hardware and light in color, so the halo shows. A dark or rough surface swallows much of the glow.

Getting the most from a charge

1. Charge the pack fully the day before.
2. Set the brightness only as high as the room needs.
3. Switch the letters off with the remote when nobody is there to see them.
4. For a long event, bring a second charged pack.
5. At a cold outdoor event, keep the pack sheltered and out of the wind.

Ordering battery halo letters

Send your text or logo and the size you want through the quote form, and tell us where the letters will be used and for how many hours at a time. We email a free drawing with a lit preview and an exact price, and the drawing confirms the run time for your letters. Nothing is built until you approve it. Browse the halo-lit letters and small letters and numbers collections for more ideas.