Commercial: Aldrees petrol station canopies
The brief
Aldrees is Saudi Arabia’s leading petrol station chain, and it is renovating its stations across the country over two years. Every canopy gets the same treatment: a continuous line of light along the fascia edge in the chain’s green, with a white option for the sign surround and the lower edge.
The lighting it replaced was high-voltage neon from another supplier, and it was failing within 6 to 12 months. Across a national chain, that meant constant call-outs and re-lamping. The new specification had to last: low voltage, a body that survives the Saudi heat, high brightness, a flame-retardant build, and certification for the Middle East market.
The color was a project of its own. The green had to match the green of the Saudi flag, not a stock neon green. We built eight sample colors and the client chose one of them.
What we supplied
Unitop supplied a custom UT-N2016-TB top bend LED neon flex at 48V DC, in two builds: the flag-matched green with cool white at 12 W/m (3.7 W/ft), and single white 6500K at 6 W/m (1.8 W/ft).
48V was the deciding choice. After the high-voltage failures, the client wanted low-voltage DC, and 48V keeps the current low enough for 79 ft (24 m) runs from a single feed. A canopy edge needs fewer feed points and less wiring than it would at 24V, and no mains voltage sits in the fascia.
Long runs bring the usual neon flex risk: a cracked PCB. Long neon is normally built from strip segments soldered end to end, and the solder pads are where it breaks. Each 79 ft (24 m) run here is made reel-to-reel, so there are no solder pads inside the run.
The heat set the body material. The profile is extruded in a fumed-silica silicone that stays flexible, rated not to harden or go brittle for five years in that climate. The line is fixed with aluminum fixing clips, which hold it straight along the fascia and do not soften in the sun.
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Model | UT-N2016-TB top bend LED neon flex, custom build |
| Body | Fumed-silica silicone, flame-retardant |
| Cross-section | 20 × 16 mm (0.79 × 0.63 in) |
| Bend | Top bend |
| Colors | Custom green (matched to the Saudi flag) with cool white; single white 6500K |
| Voltage | 48V DC |
| Power | 12 W/m (3.7 W/ft) green and cool white; 6 W/m (1.8 W/ft) white |
| Max run | 79 ft (24 m) per feed |
| Construction | Reel-to-reel, no solder pads inside a run |
| Mounting | Aluminum fixing clips |
| Protection | IP67, dust-tight and waterproof |
| Certification | Meets the regional certification requirements of the Middle East market |
| Total quantity | About 853,000 ft (260,000 m) planned; about 197,000 ft (60,000 m) shipped |
| First shipment | 6 containers |
| Status | In progress, phased supply over a two-year national rollout |
The result
The first shipment was six containers. About 197,000 ft (60,000 m) has shipped so far against a program total of about 853,000 ft (260,000 m), with supply phased to the renovation schedule station by station. Each finished canopy carries one unbroken green line along the fascia, or white where the design calls for it, on a profile built for the heat it sits in.
For contractors, the lesson from a multi-site program is to settle the color sample, the run length and the voltage once, before the first site, and then let shipments follow the schedule. Send us the canopy drawings, the run lengths and the color you need to match, and we will plan the feed points and the phasing with you.
