A running-text display is a strip of the same LED tiles used in large walls, driven by a controller that holds a list of messages. It costs a fraction of a video wall and solves a different problem: information that changes weekly, not imagery meant to impress. Below we set out how the line length is calculated, what pitch a text strip needs and how the board is programmed, plus what it means to service one 408 kilometres from our workshop.
LED scrolling sign in Ljubljana — manufacturing, installation, quote
The scrolling text board is the smallest thing we make, and the capital is full of the situations it suits: a pharmacy posting duty hours, a bank branch listing rates, a car park at BTC City announcing free spaces, a shop on Čopova ulica showing today's offer, a counter at the Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre telling visitors which hall is open. None of these needs a picture. They need one line of text, changed often, readable from a few metres, running unattended for years.
Line length and character height
Tiles determine both
A ticker is a single row, or two, of the standard landscape tile: 320 mm long and 160 mm tall. Six tiles side by side give a strip of 192 centimetres; doubling the rows doubles the height to 32 centimetres and allows taller characters or two lines of text. Character height, not board length, decides how far away the text can be read. We start from the reading distance you need and work backwards to the number of rows, then to the number of tiles.
Pitch for a text strip
Fewer pixels, sharper limits
Text is less forgiving than video, because a letter needs a minimum number of pixels in its height to stay legible. For a counter or a pharmacy window read from two metres, P1.5 to P2.5 is right. A board over an entrance in a hall, read from ten or fifteen metres, works at P2.5 to P4. Anything aimed at road traffic belongs in the P4 to P8 range and needs a much taller strip to go with it. The cheapest board is the one whose pitch matches the distance exactly.
Where the board is mounted
Behind glass or out in the weather
Inside a shop window or a foyer the board is an indoor product running at 700 to 800 nits, which is comfortable to look at and legible through glazing. A strip fixed to a post at a stop on Slovenska cesta, or to an outside wall, has to be an IP65 unit at 4500 to 5500 nits to be read in daylight. The mounting point also decides the cable run, and it is worth choosing a position where a power point already exists.
Programming the message list
Timetable, network, USB
The controller stores a set of messages with a running order, a speed and, if wanted, a validity period, so winter opening hours can be prepared in advance and appear on the right day. The list is loaded over the network, over Wi-Fi or from a USB stick. An HDMI input exists but is seldom useful here; a text board is normally left to run its own schedule for months at a time.
Delivery, fitting and service at 408 kilometres
One journey, several addresses
The capital is 408 road kilometres from Győr, which is too far for a call-out over a single strip. In practice a board is either fitted during a trip already scheduled for a larger job in the city, or delivered ready-configured with mounting instructions for a local electrician. Where our crew does travel, the journey and the overnight stay are itemised in the offer rather than absorbed into the unit price.
Warranty, spares and realistic expectations
What a text board is not
A one-year or two-year warranty applies as agreed, and reserve tiles are shipped with the board. Because the unit is small, keeping one spare on site usually means a fault never interrupts service at all. It is worth being clear about the limits: a monochrome or low-resolution strip shows text and simple symbols well and photographs badly. If the intention is to display images, the money is better spent on a small video wall than on a longer ticker.
