Outdoor LED display plays a vital role in many fields such as commercial advertising, traffic instructions, and public information release. However, behind the booming outdoor LED display market, how to choose the development technology path to make outdoor LED screens more energy-efficient? Among them, common cathode outdoor energy-saving LED display is a good development direction. However, this technology is also facing many challenges and opportunities. But SightLED is using innovative technology to break through development.

Current status of outdoor LED display technology

I) Disparity in market share

At present, there are two major technical paths in the outdoor LED display market: common anode technology and common cathode technology.

According to relevant statistics, common anode technology has a market share of up to 80%, while common cathode technology accounts for less than 20%. Such a disparity in market share reflects the huge gap between the two technologies in market competition.

II) Difference maturity chain

From the perspective of the industrial chain, after years of precipitation and accumulation, common anode technology has built a highly complete industrial ecosystem.

On the raw material supply side, many LED display suppliers have formed a stable supply system around the common cathode technology. All kinds of high-quality raw materials such as LED chips and circuit boards are not only in sufficient supply, but also reasonably priced. This also provides a solid guarantee for the large-scale production of common cathode  LED display screens.

In the product manufacturing link, a large number of LED display companies have accumulated rich experience and formed standardized production processes. They can efficiently and stably produce various common cathode display products, ensuring the quality and supply speed of the products.

In terms of after-sales support, the perfect service network is spread all over the country, and the professional maintenance team can respond to customer needs quickly, solve equipment failures in time, and reduce the impact of equipment failures on customer business.

In contrast, the industrial chain of common cathode outdoor LED display technology is still in the development stage.

Some Key accessories such as LED lamp beads, power supplies, and driver ICs. They not only have limited supply channels, but also have difficulty in supply chain organization. Due to the small number of companies producing parts related to common cathode technology: 

• the production process of these parts is not mature enough, resulting in a long supply cycle;
•  it often takes 3-6 months to complete order delivery.

In addition, there are major problems with the adaptability of parts produced by different manufacturers. LED display manufacturers need to spend a lot of time and energy on debugging during the assembly process, which not only increases production costs, but also seriously affects the market promotion speed of outdoor common cathode technology LED display.

(III) Different product design complexity

At the product design level, there are significant differences between common cathode and common anode technologies. The PCB boards of the two are not interchangeable. The design of common cathode PCB is complex and requires the use of more types of components, including special resistors, capacitors, and circuit connectors. This not only increases the difficulty of design, prolongs the LED  display development cycle, but also leads to an increase in production costs.

(IV) Obvious cost differences

The difference in cost level is the key factor in the dominance of common cathode technology. After years of development, the cost of common cathode technology has been effectively controlled under the promotion of large-scale production, and it has strong cost competitiveness.

In contrast, due to the immature industrial chain and complex design, the cost of common cathode technology remains high, 15% – 35% higher than that of common cathode technology. Therefore, common cathode LED display screens lack competitive advantages. In some cost-sensitive project biddings, common cathode LED display are often eliminated because of their high prices.

Development of Common Cathode Outdoor Energy-Saving LED Display Screen

I) Technical Bottleneck Restriction

Although common cathode energy-saving outdoor LED display screen has potential advantages in energy saving, it still faces many technical bottlenecks.

For example, in terms of luminous efficiency and color uniformity, there is still a certain gap compared with common anode technology. In addition, the stability of common cathode technology needs to be improved. After long-term use, it is easy to have problems such as brightness attenuation and color deviation, which seriously affects the service life of the product and user experience.

II) Difficulty in Market Promotion

Due to the immature industry chain, high cost and product stability of common cathode technology, it faces many difficulties in the process of market promotion.

When choosing outdoor LED display screens, customers often give priority to factors such as LED display cost, stability and after-sales service. However, common cathode LED display are relatively weak in these aspects, which makes customers less accepting of them, thus limiting the expansion of the market share of common cathode outdoor energy-saving LED display screens.

(III) Imperfect Industry Standards

At present, the common cathode outdoor energy-saving LED display screen industry lacks unified standards and specifications.

Products from different manufacturer differ in technical parameters, quality requirements and testing methods, which brings great difficulties to product quality assurance. At the same time, it also affects the healthy development of the industry, causing some low-quality products to flood the market and harm the interests of consumers.

Related:

Outdoor energy-saving LED display vs. outdoor conventional LED display

SIghtLED Common Cause Energy-Saving LED Screen Innovation Job

(I) Launching a new generation of outdoor dynamic energy-saving LED screens

Facing the industry pain points of common cathode outdoor energy-saving LED display screens, SightLED took technological innovation as a breakthrough and carried out a series of R&D and upgrading work.

After unremitting efforts, we successfully launched a new generation of outdoor dynamic energy-saving screens. This product innovatively uses “dynamic” energy-saving technology, adopts conventional LED lights, PCB layout, etc., while ensuring product performance, it achieves 30% + energy saving effect. It also has the similar price as conventional outdoor LED screens, truly achieving “energy saving without price increase”.

(II) Optimizing product design

In product design, SightLED outdoor LED energy-saving screen fully considers the convenience and cost control of the production link. The PCB design can be used with existing common anode PCBs.

Therefore, it not only reduces the design cost, but also enables manufacturers to make full use of existing production equipment and processes, reducing the cost of equipment updates and personnel training.

In terms of material supply, the material similarity between this LED display and the common cathode LED display is as high as 90%, which will not increase additional supply chain costs and effectively solve the complex supply chain problems of the common cathode technology.

(III) Improving product stability

SightLED has improved the stability of outdoor LED energy-saving screens by continuously optimizing production processes and material selection.

We use high-quality Nationstar LED chips and advanced packaging technology to effectively reduce the probability of problems such as brightness attenuation and color deviation. At the same time, we have strengthened LED display quality inspection and aging testing, so that each LED display can meet high-quality standards and provide users with more stable and reliable products.

Development prospects of common cathode outdoor energy-saving LED display screens

(I) Technological progress promotes development

With the continuous advancement of science and technology, the technical difficulties of common cathode outdoor energy-saving LED display screens are expected to be gradually solved. The performance in terms of luminous efficiency, color uniformity and stability will continue to improve, and the gap with common cathode technology will gradually narrow.

At the same time, the application of new energy-saving technologies and materials will further improve the energy-saving effect of common cathode display screens, making them more advantageous in market competition.

(II) Market demand growth

With the improvement of people’s environmental awareness and the emphasis on energy conservation, the market demand for energy-saving outdoor LED display screens will continue to increase.

With its energy-saving advantages, the common cathode outdoor energy-saving LED display is expected to be more widely used in commercial advertising, traffic instructions, public information release and other fields.

In addition, with the acceleration of urbanization and the advancement of smart city construction, the market size of outdoor LED screens will continue to expand, providing a broad space for the development of common cathode outdoor energy-saving LED display screens.

(III) Gradually improve industry standards

With the development of the industry, the industry standards of common cathode outdoor energy-saving LED display screens will be gradually improved.

Relevant departments will strengthen supervision of the industry, formulate unified technical parameters, quality requirements and testing methods, and regulate market order. This will help improve product quality, protect consumer rights and interests, and promote the healthy development of the industry.

Conclusion

As an emerging technology in the field of outdoor LED display screens. Although it is currently facing many challenges, it also contains huge development potential. SightLED has provided new ideas and directions for the development of common cathode outdoor energy-saving LED display screens through innovation.

We believe that with the continuous advancement of technology and the growth of market demand. Common cathode energy-saving outdoor  LED display screens are expected to occupy a more important position in the outdoor display screen market. If you are looking for a stable common cathode energy-saving outdoor LED screen, you can feel free to contact us.