As summer approaches, high temperatures, rainfall and lightning become more frequent. In order to protect outdoor LED displays from various severe weather conditions in summer, we'd like to share some practical guidelines from improving the weather resistance of the LED display itself and utilizing peripheral equipments. 

1. Against high temperature

Outdoor LED display usually has a large area, large power consumption and correspondly produces large amount of heat, coupled with the high temperature in summer, the tempature of the LED display is extremely high, so it's very essential to let the heat out from the display in time.  The conventional outdoor LED display need to use fans or air conditioners to dissipate heat from the display. Which one to choose and the quantity depends on the scale of the LED display and its installation location.

(1) LED displays under 20 square meters 

It is recommended not to use air conditioners for LED displays under 20 square meters. If conditions permit, two small fans are enough. The diameter of the fan is determined by the display and the installation location.

(2) Display screens with an area of more than 20 square meters

a.If your display screen is installed against the wall with one meter protruding from the wall, you can choose fans, which need to be installed on the side of the screen. The quantity of the fans is determined by the screen size. For example, if you buy an 80-square-meter outdoor LED screen, it is recommended to buy 6 axial flow fans with a diameter of about 600mm, and the fans are required to pump air to the outside. When installing the fan, make sure there is a net inside to prevent the technicians from sucking clothes and causing injury. You can install aluminum alloy louvers on the air outlet of the fan to waterproof it.

b.For the LED display on the wall, if it’s required to equip it with an air conditioner, it's necessary to ensure that there is a place to put the air conditioner, so as not to affect the overall appearance of the wall. The common refrigeration power of the air condition is 1.5P, 2P, and 3P(P means metric horsepower). If the area of the LED outdoor display is quite large, the air conditioner can be customized directly by the manufacturer, if not, you can just purchase it in an exclusive store. 

c.If the LED display is columnar, it is best to use a fan to dissipate heat.   The fan is mounted on the aluminum plastic on the back of the screen.   If the screen is double-column, you can install a few louvers in the middle of the double-column as the air inlet, and the fan above is the air exhaust port to form complete air convection and improve the heat dissipation effect.

However, the use of fans and air conditioners will undoubtedly increase the total cost and the difficulty of maintenance. Gtek provides two outdoor products, InnoCurtain Series and InnoView Series, both of which adopt a full die-cast aluminum structure, and the power supply is directly connected to the aluminum shell, which is equivalent to adding a high-efficiency heat dissipation device, greatly reducing the safety hazard caused by over-heat. There is no need for additional auxiliary heat dissipation equipment, which brings more economy and convenience for clients.

2. Against Lightning

Once the lightning hits the LED display, it will cause damage to its internal electronic components, and even cause a fire. Therefore, it is very necessary to carry out lightning protection for the LED display. Here are some measures to protect the LED display from lightning:

(1) Install lightning rods on the support structure of the outdoor LED display；

(2) Connect the mounting frame with the shell of the LED display for equipotential, and make sure that they are properly and reliably grounded. Generally, the grounding resistance is required to be less than 10 ohms. If the resistance value does not meet the requirements, you can install an additional artificial grounding grid. Besides, the lightning arrester should also be well-grounded. 

(3) For the lightning current induced on the power line, you can install a single-phase or three-phase power surge protector on the power line. The cross-sectional area of the phase cable should not be less than 10 square millimeters, and the cross-sectional area of the ground wire should not be less than 16 square millimeters.

(4)For the lightning current induced on the signal wire, you can install a signal lightning protection device on it. The signal arrester depends on the signal interface of the system. If it is a network cable, install a network signal arrester, if it is a serial port, install a DB9 port arrester. The cross-sectional area of the ground wire should exceed 1.5 square millimeters.

3. Waterproof and moisture-proof

Outdoor LED displays should adopt waterproof modules painted with conformal paint on the back and waterproof cabinet with good air tightness.  Besides, it's also helpful to combine prevention and drainage together in the structure and select appropriate sealing strips, such as sealing strips with a hollow bubble tube structure with small compression set rate and high elongation at break. Then calculate the contacting area and the force to make the sealing strip squeeze to a dense state.

Gtek's InnoCurtain and Innoview series, specially designed for outdoor applications, adopt excellent weather-resistant materials and unique structure design, meeting IP66 and IP65 protection standards respectively, and can effectively cope with a variety of harsh outdoor environments. In particular, InnoCurtain series has been applied in projects in more than 80 countries around the world with its reliable quality and sophisticated production technology, whether it is Moscow with extreme climates (-42°~37°), the Philippines with awfully hot and humid weather throughout the year, or Guangzhou with frequent thunderstorms and abundant precipitation. You can find the outdoor cases created by Gtek InnoCurtain series.

Picture1. Cosmos hotel in Moscow, Russia （InnoCurtain H16-32TC）

Picture2. the Philippines(InnoCurtain H16)

Picture3. Changlong, Guangdong(InnoCurtain H25DC)

As one of the companies firstly entered into the LED display industry in China, Gtek has earned confidence from nurmous clients at home and abroad with its advanced technology, reliable product quality and thoughtful service, thus becoming one of the influential enterprises in the industry.