A very wonderful project that I have been involved with in researching, designing and contract letting over the past few months has been our new LED roadside sign.
Our thoughts behind the over all design was we didn’t want the vertical sort of digital sign you often see outside schools with scrolling text on plain background. We wanted something funky, something that picked up on our buildings architecture, black poles etc. and was capable of displaying interesting graphics.
Part of the design was the security aspect: distance from the front boundary, height off the ground, robust fixing to heavy poles in strong foundations. As far as the vandalism aspect goes the screen itself is several small screens. These are easy to replace if need be but are in themselves very robust. They are apparently also easy to clean: i.e. graffiti paint etc. One excellent feature is the light sensor which dims the screens brightness on dull days and at night and then boost the brightness on sunny days.
The project was in two contracts:
1) Black poles including underground thrusting of power and data cables and their connection to distribution board and network cabinet respectively: Construction Management Group, Dave Redmond: dave@cmbuild.co.nz
2) Digital sign including the static sign & their combined metal frame and installation from Digital Signs, David Jaques: Dave@digitalsigns.co.nz
Both of the contractors have excellent “can do” attitudes. CMBuild were the contractors involved in the build of our latest classroom block. Digital Signs were great to work with too.
I highly recommend both companies to any school considering moving in this direction.
The software for the sign is PC compatible only so, being an Apple school, we also had to invest in a PC laptop.
This step into the latest technology has been made possible with funding from the Mt Wellington Foundation.
