FAQs before investing in an outdoor LED display

Suppose you have only invested in indoor LED signs till date and are now looking to improvise on your outdoor signage by switching to outdoor LED displays, there are some entirely new challenges that you have to take into consideration. Your current hardware may have worked well in a controlled environment indoors, but when it comes to outdoors, it has to withstand heavy winds, snow, rain, sunlight and other external elements. You have to be thoroughly prepared for these factors while also keeping in mind your budgetary constraints.

To make your task easier, here are a few issues that experts suggest end users should address before making the investment in an outdoor LED sign.

1. What are some aspects that are often ignored when selecting outdoor hardware?

People often overlook the concern about how the display will look in a sunny, outdoor environment and how long it can perform in that kind of an environment?

What exactly does this mean…?

An outdoor display solution has to take in so much noise to survive the challenges of staying outdoors – vandalism, dust, extreme weather, etc. When more focus is given on these points, the actual visual quality of the display is often neglected.

It is not worth spending tens of thousands of dollars in hiring professional designers to come up with attractive content if your LED display is barely visible. It could be due to lack of luminance, the vandal glass being too reflective or the overheating electronics resulting in lower than expected performance levels.

What is even more disappointing in a display is when it looks top notch on day one and about a year later the quality fades away. Survival of that top notch display should be a minimum requirement. A display that looks great and continues in the same manner is a successful investment.

2. How to protect outdoor LED screens from rain and bright sunlight?

From rain – do not let water seep through the electronics inside the display. The engineers involved in installing the sign will decide what the best way to achieve that is.

Sunlight is the biggest enemy of a digital display – particularly an LCD. The screen absorbs sunlight energy and heats up tremendously. This heat needs to evacuate from the display otherwise the fluid boils up and results in black blotches being shown on the screen. Your digital signage solution providers have to figure out how to remove heat from the screen or reduce the energy absorbed by the screen, or a combination of the two. Finding the right balance between the heating and cooling is also very critical.

3. How to prevent displays from overheating?

All electronic signage devices have a recommended maximum operating temperature. When the device exceeds this temperature range, problems arise. To make sure your devices remain within safe operating temperatures in an outdoor environment that is always changing, you need to observe a clever mix of art, design, engineering and sophisticated analysis.

4. How to stick to a budget when looking for outdoor digital signage hardware?

When deciding a budget, do not ask yourself the common question – how much money is available to allocate for a digital sign. Instead, ask – what is the value of solving the ongoing business issue? What are the objectives? Are you looking for new revenue opportunities? Are you looking to reduce costs? Once you have the goals laid out, consider the value of achieving these goals and what would you lose if your solution does not perform as expected.

Now decide whether a low cost, technically acceptable solution would do or you need an enterprise solution that guarantees performance? If you go for the former, be prepared for some hidden costs such as maintenance, hardware upgrade and unexpected downtime. With the latter, we would advise to avoid compromise, risk failure, and go for the best hardware.