Sunlight and Outdoor Digital Signage

The use of digital signage in outdoor locations has increased rapidly over the last few years. The falling price of commercial LCD and plasma TVs combined with the growth of protective outdoor LCD enclosures has meant that placing a TV outside for the purposes of digital advertising is neither expensive nor difficult to do.

Waterproof LCD enclosures are cabinets that allow standard commercial televisions to be used in outdoor locations. They prevent water from seeping into the enclosure and damaging the LCD or plasma TV but still allow air to flow inside the enclosure to ensure the TV remains cool.

However, there are more considerations to think about than just protecting outdoor digital signage from the rain. There are other concerns that if overlooked, can have an effect on how successful an outdoor digital signage campaign is.

Direct and bright sunlight can have several effects on a digital advertising screen. Firstly, as you may have encountered in your living room at home, if sunlight is beaming directly on to the LCD TV screen then the picture can become difficult to see.

There are different methods to ensure sunlight doesn’t effect the brightness of the screen but they mostly include using a type of anti-glare glass of covering that protects the screen. These work quite well by preventing the reflection issues caused by the sun.

However, visibility is not the only problem caused by direct sunlight. If constant sunshine, especially in areas that receive high levels of sunlight, is hitting a screen for a prolonged period of time, the screen itself can become hot, or develop hotspots. Often this excessive heat on a small area of the screen can permanently damage the LCD (or plasma which can suffer this effect even worse than LCDs).

Armagard's Unique air curtain for preventing screen damage in direct sunlight

Preventing sunlight from damaging the screen requires a more complicated system. The most efficient of these systems is the air curtain where cooled air is blown in front of the screen carrying away any excessive heat.