Outdoor LED screens

An outdoor LED screen is a model with 5,500–7,800 cd/m² brightness, a sealed IP68 body and an operating range of −40…+50 °C: the picture holds up in direct sun, and rain, dust and January frost do not bother it. The KazLedPro catalogue has 15 outdoor models with pitch P2–P8: 960×960 mm cabinets weighing 25 kg, 320×160 mm modules and a 500×1000 mm cabinet for P3.91. We have also built P10 screens from 960×960 mm cabinets on a number of projects.

This kind of screen is bought for facade advertising, a pylon by a road or petrol station, an information display for a university or a city administration, mall posters, squares and stadiums. We have worked since 2012: we calculate and weld the steel structure, install with our own crew using a lift and work-at-height certification, and service the screen from the Almaty warehouse. Below: how to pick the pitch for the viewing distance, what stands behind brightness and ingress protection, and how an outdoor screen survives a Kazakhstan winter.

Pixel pitch: from P2 at the entrance to P10 on a square

Outdoors the pitch is chosen by the distance to the nearest viewer, not by the size of the screen: the comfortable distance in metres roughly equals the pitch in millimetres. A screen at an entrance, where people pass two or three metres away, calls for P2–P3. That is how the 36 m² P3 outdoor screen for Dubai Municipality Headquarters (2023) was built: a pedestrian at the door sees a continuous image, and from fifty metres it stays contrasty. A mall facade viewed from the pavement and the car park takes P4–P5: the 48 m² P5 corner screen at Atakent Mall in Almaty (2023) wraps the corner of the building and reads from both directions of traffic at once.

Roads, squares and a university block set back from the street are where P6.67–P10 work. We installed P10 outdoor screens from 960×960 mm cabinets for the Bazis company in Astana and for K. Zhubanov Aktobe Regional University (both in 2021), and the same year delivered P8 and P4 screens in Aktau. Buying a fine pitch «with a margin» makes no sense at that distance: from ten metres the eye will not tell P8 from P4, while pixel density differs fourfold — 15,625 against 62,500 pixels per m² — and the price differs with it.

• P2 and P2.5, 250,000 and 160,000 pixels per m²: entrances, pedestrian streets, screens behind glass.
• P3 and P4, 105,625 and 62,500 pixels per m²: office, university and car dealership facades; distance from 3–4 m.
• P5 and P6.67, 40,000 and 22,500 pixels per m²: shopping centres, squares, intersections.
• P8 and coarser, 15,625 pixels per m² and below: highways, roadside pylons, screens on large squares.

Brightness, auto-dimming and weather protection

Every outdoor model in the catalogue delivers 5,500–7,800 cd/m². That is an order of magnitude more than an indoor screen and exactly what it takes to keep white looking white at midday. At night such brightness dazzles and distracts drivers, so the screen runs with a light sensor and dims automatically; a schedule can be set as well when there are flats nearby. IP68 front and back means a sealed module rather than a canopy above it: downpours, facade washing, road dust and wet snow stay outside.

A refresh rate from 3,840 Hz means no banding when the screen is filmed on a phone or a broadcast camera. The viewing angle is 140 degrees horizontally and vertically, so a facade screen still reads when you approach along the street at an angle. Cabinet models are rated for 100,000 hours — years of round-the-clock operation — and a failed module is replaced without dismantling the screen. Most outdoor models draw 650 W/m² at peak and 220 W/m² on average; the P3.91 500×1000 mm cabinet draws 800 and 320 W/m².

Frame, pylon and work at height

A finished screen weighs 30–60 kg per square metre and catches wind like a billboard, so the structure is calculated for the specific wall instead of being welded on the spot. We calculate dead weight, wind and snow load to Kazakhstan building codes, prepare a drawing for approval with the building operator or designer, and fabricate the frame in Almaty: profile tube and angle, anti-corrosion treatment, powder coating. Service access is designed in from the start — rear doors or a walkway for cabinet screens, trunking for power and signal.

The type of structure follows the site: a wall frame for cabinets on a facade, a free-standing pylon for petrol stations, squares and roads, a roof structure with counterweights that needs no drilling through the roof. Installation is done by our own crew certified for work at height: a 22 m lift, rope-access technicians when needed, and outdoor work planned around the weather. The 960×960 mm cabinet speeds up hanging — fewer joints and fixings, which matters most in frost and at height.

• Wall frame on a facade — for cabinet and modular screens.
• Pylon and free-standing support — petrol stations, entrances, roadside sites.
• Roof structure with counterweights — without breaking the roof membrane.
• Frame in an opening and ceiling suspension — entrances, atriums, canopies.

Winter operation and service

The rated range of −40…+50 °C covers the whole Kazakhstan year: January in Astana or Kokshetau as well as summer heat in the south. We installed the screen for the Bazis company in Astana in the first weeks of January, on the coldest days of the year — a sealed 960×960 mm cabinet and a rigid frame are made for exactly this swing, from winter frost to summer sun. In winter the screen is usually not switched off at all: the brightness schedule and daily operating hours are set once in the control software.

The electrical side is prepared in advance. Before installation the customer receives our specification with the power lines calculated — for a typical outdoor screen that is 25 A lines for every 10 m² — along with breakers and data lines; the electrician brings power to the points and we arrive to a ready site. Then comes service: a 2–5 year warranty depending on the model, scheduled inspections, remote status monitoring, and spare modules and power supplies from the Almaty warehouse.

What the supply includes and how we deliver across Kazakhstan

An outdoor screen supply includes 960×960 mm cabinets or 320×160 mm modules with power supplies and receiving cards, a video processor, cabling, a steel structure for the specific wall, roof or pylon, installation with lifting equipment and work at height, commissioning with auto-brightness setup, training and documents: passport, wiring diagram, acts and a 2–5 year warranty card. We issue the electrical specification in advance — for a typical outdoor screen that is one 25 A line per 10 m².

Cabinets and modules ship from our Almaty warehouse; to other cities of Kazakhstan the equipment travels by freight company, the frame is welded in Almaty and shipped in sections or fabricated on site, and the crew travels to install. That is how the outdoor screen at Zhubanov University in Aktobe was built. Set, timing and delivery cost are fixed in the contract.