LCD Enclosures for Controlling Outdoor Digital Signage Temperature

With outdoor digital signage, protecting screens from the weather is an obvious consideration for any outdoor campaign; however, rain and weather are not the only damaging elements in an outdoor environment.

LCD enclosure equipped with cooling fan

Most modern LCD and plasma screens are designed for use in warm living rooms and offices, even commercial grade screens, which tend to have wider operating temperature ranges, are still limited to the environments they can operate in.

With outdoor locations, temperatures can vary dramatically. In the summer months, an outdoor digital signage display may have to face heat of forty degrees plus, while in winter, sub zero temperatures, and ice and snow, can lead to components failing.

Maintaining a stable temperature for a screen’s operation is an essential part of outdoor digital signage. Outdoor digital signage enclosures provide the components that equip screens, normally designed for indoor use and mild temperatures, for use outdoors in varying conditions.

Outdoor digital signage enclosures contain an additional cooling fan. All screens get hot, even under normal conditions so require the transference of heat using a cooling fan. When enclosed in an outdoor enclosure, the cooling fan expels warm air through a modified vent, which permits air out, but not rainfall or splashes in.

In hot conditions, using additional fans maintains the optimum temperature required for the screen; however, in excessively hot locations, other measures need taking such as deployment of air conditioners, which can be very expensive to run, or an automatic shut-off system, turning the screen off before it overheats.

In cold conditions or seasons, keeping the screen warm becomes a priority. When temperatures plummet to the sub zero range, a screen can easily fail as components freeze and condensation expands.

In some cases, outdoor digital signage enclosures have insulation inside to trap the warmth that is generated from the screen itself, although in some cases, this is not adequate enough and thermostatically controlled heaters are fitted supplying extra heat.

Some locations have temperatures that vary from one extreme to the other throughout the seasons, so the enclosures are fitted with both hot weather systems and heaters.

Temperature control is a vital aspect of outdoor digital signage which is why so many outdoor screens are protected using an outdoor LCD enclosure equipped with climatic systems.