Outdoor Sign Information

The cost of outdoor message centers has dropped significantly in recent years, and at the same time, the quality, visibility, and performance have dramatically improved. Today’s signs require almost no maintenance and no annual bulb replacement material or labor charges, since there are no light bulbs to change. Today’s signs require less than 10% of the power (electric consumption) than incandescent signs, and they generate considerably less heat. Since today’s signs are advanced solid state design, when they do require service, they are easier to service.

Programmable signs that are used outdoors are made quite differently from signs that are used indoors.

  • Outdoor signs are made in weatherproof NEMA outdoor enclosures that are designed to protect the sign electronics from the elements.

  • Outdoor signs use brighter lamps -- LED’s for outdoor use must be bright enough to be seen in bright sunlight. Where indoor LED's are rated at 20 millicandela per pixel, outdoor LED’s range from 1,200 millicandela to 15,000 millicandela per pixel or more.

  • Outdoor LED signs usually have multiple super-bright LED's (from 2 to 25 or more) in each pixel to achieve a brightness of as much as 15,000 millicandela per pixel, so that the sign can be read easily in daylight. Clustering LED's in a pixel also makes the characters bigger.

  • The LED's in outdoor signs are made to withstand UV exposure. The LED's do not turn dark over time.
  • Mounting brackets are provided.

  • Outdoor LED Programmable Message Centers will display from one to thirteen lines of text at a time, depending on the model.

  • Outdoor signs serve a broad range of sign applications under most weather conditions.

  • The long-life LED’s translate into low maintenance and low energy compared to the high maintenance cost and high operating cost associated with incandescent models.

  • Outdoor Message Centers will display characters ranging from 2" to 17” in height in a variety of fonts.

  • The top, bottom and sides of the enclosures are aluminum extrusions, coated black. The face is red or amber polycarbonate, weather-resistant and is removable from the front for service.

  • All models may be programmed to display the current time and current temperature automatically.

  • All models contain from 1 MB of computer memory in which messages are stored and run automatically.

  • Outdoor Message Centers are programmed from any Window-compatible computer.

  • A variety of Connectivity Options are available. Messages may be sent to the sign via RS232 or RS485 cable, via modem, via wireless devices, via ethernet devices, or using a Serial Message Loader.

  • The maximum length of a cable without a repeater is 4,000 feet. Cabling can configured in both daisy-chain and point-to-point cable configurations simultaneously. All models have RS232 and RS485 connectivity. .

  • Messages may contain text, graphics, and animations.

  • You may set the either the message or the background to display in black or the LED color (red or amber).
  • Messages may be scheduled to run at specific times on specific days and specific time intervals.




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Alpha-American Programmable Signs
2445 Morena Blvd, Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92110
Toll-free: (800) 223-4636     E-mail: info@alpha-american.com
Phone: (858) 273-3036     Fax: (858) 273-3040
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