Outdoor Digital Signage Backlighting – Ins and Outs

There are many advantages to outdoor digital signage. The modernity, versatility and dynamic nature lends itself to outdoor advertising really well, and the digital displays are far more eye-catching than static print media.

And in the evening outdoor digital signage becomes even more prominent with the backlighting of the displays lighting up the cities and creating a modern twenty-first century look to the high street.

The brightness of an outdoor digital signage screen is all down to the backlight. All LCD screens have some type of backlight to make the image visible but the strength of this light is more important for outdoor screens that for other devices.

During the day, especially in the summer months when the sun is bright, outdoor screens can struggle to become visible. The brightness of the sun can often overpower the backlight of the LCD, washing the screen out. For this reason, most LCD displays that are used outdoors are high brightness. High brightness screens are usually twice as bright as standard devices but with twice the brightness, twice the power if often required.

High brightness screens essential for outdoor digital signage

The next generation of LCD screens are fortunately implementing LED backlights; they use far less power but can provide the high brightness that outdoor digital signage requires. LED backlights are therefore a greener solution than standard LCD backlights.

One consequence of the backlight system of modern LCD’s, however, is their vulnerability. Commonly, when an LCD screen fails it is the backlight that has gone. This is often caused by overheating as the backlight produces quite a lot of heat that if not dealt with properly can build up and cause failure.

This is why all outdoor digital signage systems have to have some from of cooling devices inside the LCD enclosure. These should transfer the heat away from the LCD ensuring the correct temperature is maintained within the LCD enclosure at all times.