Outdoor Digital Signage Screens and the Perils of Severe Weather

The winter season often brings with it severe weather. In many locations, winter is one of the most challenging times of year for outdoor digital signage screens with various weather elements and hazards capable of disabling displays. Often, screens installed in milder climes are not always equipped to deal with the severity some locations experience during e winter months.

Ensuring outdoor digital signage screens can cope with winter conditions requires a comprehensive approach to protection. For many locations, this means having an outdoor digital signage enclosure capable of coping with the extreme weather conditions of winter.

Outdoor Digital Signage and Temperature

Winter is obviously the coldest period of the year, and while most outdoor digital signage screens are designed to cope with the problems of overheating, which is a main cause of screen failure during warmer weather, often not enough manufacturers place emphasis on dealing with the opposite extremes of cold and freezing temperatures.

When temperatures drop below freezing it can have a detrimental effect on electronics and circuitry. The contraction of metals caused by the cold can lead to wiring and components to crack, while the expansion of moisture that maybe trapped inside the enclosure of an LCD screen can also cause damage, which may lead to permanent damage. Ice formations can also cause structural damage to an LCD enclosure if the housing isn’t watertight.

For any outdoor digital signage screen functioning in winter, the interior temperature of the LCD must always remain within the manufacturers operating range. Often this means implementing climatic systems such as heaters or insulation to prevent interior temperatures from dropping too low. Any outdoor digital signage enclosure also needs to be watertight to ensure it can cope with the formation of ice on the housing.

Outdoor Digital Signage and Storms

Temperature isn’t the only hazard that outdoor digital signage screens face in winter. Storms, gales and severe winds are also common during wintertime, which can also prove hazardous to an outdoor display. Windblown debris can easily shatter a screen face, especially during high winds, so any outdoor digital signage screen needs adequate physical protection.

The face of an outdoor digital signage screen is particularly vulnerable to damage from windblown debris, Due to the need for transparency, outdoor digital signage enclosures are limited in the type of material that can cover the screen face. Glass is obviously too brittle to provide protection against windblown debris, so any outdoor digital signage display needs a form of impact and shatterproof screen. Manufacturers use different materials to provide this protection but any screen face needs to be tested against severe impact to ensure it can withstand hazards such as debris blow about by high winds.