Can you change the print in a backlit art panel?
Short answer: on most backlit panels, no. The print is sealed in when the panel is assembled, and the artwork you buy is the artwork you own. On a Halo it slides out from the top edge, and changing it does not mean taking the frame apart.
It is worth knowing which kind you are buying before you buy it, because the difference does not show up in a product photo. Both look like a lit picture on a wall. Only one of them is still interesting in two years.
Why most panels are sealed
A backlit panel is a stack: a front surface, the print, a diffuser, an LED strip around the inside edge, and a back. The cheapest way to build it is to bond the print into the stack during assembly. It is faster, it keeps dust out permanently, and it means the manufacturer only has to make one thing.
The cost is that the panel becomes a single-image object. If you want a different image, you buy a different panel - and you now own a lit frame you no longer want.
Some panels are described as "interchangeable" and technically are, in the sense that the back comes off with a screwdriver and the whole stack can be rebuilt. That is not the same as changing a print. If a listing says interchangeable, ask how.
How the swap works on a Halo
The print is not bonded in. It sits between the tempered glass and the diffuser, and the top edge of the frame is open, so it comes out the way a card comes out of a sleeve.
- Easiest done flat - turn the panel off and lay it face up.
- Take the print out from the top edge, using the tweezers so you are not holding the film with your fingers.
- Slide the new print in from the same edge, image side towards the glass.
- Stand it back up and turn it on.
Use the tweezers, no dismantling the frame. The tweezer is stainless steel and it comes in the welcome kit with your first Halo - so if you already own a panel, you already have it.
Why tweezers rather than fingers: the print is translucent film, and film holds a fingerprint in a way paper does not. A thumbprint in the middle of the image is lit from behind every time the panel is on.
What you can put in
Any Halo print in the same size as your panel. The prints are A-series, so an A2 panel takes any A2 print - there is no artwork-specific fit, and nothing is keyed to the frame it shipped in.
That includes your own image. The Custom Print Halo is the same film and the same frame with a file you send us, so a panel bought with an artist's work can later carry a photograph of your own, and back again.
Every panel also ships with a second print of your choice, free, in the same size. You start with two images, not one, which is the point - you can see the wall change before you have spent anything more.
What it costs to change
| Size | Panel, for comparison | |
|---|---|---|
| A1 · 24 × 34 in | ₹1,495 | ₹5,699 |
| A2 · 17 × 24 in | ₹1,095 | ₹4,899 |
| A3 · 12 × 17 in | ₹895 | ₹3,599 |
So a new image costs roughly a quarter of a new panel, and you are not left with a spare frame. That ratio is the actual argument for a swappable panel over a sealed one, and it only matters if you intend to change it. If you want one image on one wall forever, a sealed panel is cheaper and there is no reason to pretend otherwise.
Two things to be careful about
Dust. An open top edge is what makes the swap possible, and it also means the inside is not sealed. Do the swap somewhere clean, and blow dust off the print before it goes in rather than after.
Don't force it. The film should slide. If it catches, it is usually a corner that has lifted - back it out and start again rather than pushing.
Before you buy any lit panel
Ask the seller three questions: is the front glass or acrylic, is the print on film or paper, and does the print come out. The answers tell you most of what the price is for. We wrote the longer version of that in what a backlit art panel actually is.
See the panels