Below we cover how a running-text board is sized for the reading distance that matters in your position, what the delta climate demands of an outdoor housing, how the content is changed by your own staff, and why this is the one product where the distance from Gyor to the Neretva costs you almost nothing.
LED scrolling sign in Metković — manufacturing, installation, quote
Of everything we make, the programmable text board is the product best matched to Metkovic - not because the town is unsophisticated, but because the board is small, light, cheap to send, fitted by anyone with a drill, and repaired by swapping a part. A pharmacy on Stjepana Radica, the ticket desk at Kino Pobjeda, a border-adjacent haulage yard telling drivers which lane to take for Doljani, a mandarin cooperative posting the day's buying price, the municipal sports hall showing a score: all of them want a line of changeable text, and none of them wants us to send a van 820 kilometres to hang it.
How big does the text have to be?
Working backwards from where the reader stands
Start with the distance, never with the space on the wall. A pharmacy counter read from three metres wants small characters and can carry a long message. A board above a shop door read from the far pavement wants characters several times larger and a message of a few words. A board at a haulage yard entrance, read by a driver who is already moving, wants the largest characters the board can carry and no more than three or four words on a line. We ask clients to do one thing before ordering: stand where the reader will stand, and have someone hold a sheet of paper the size of the proposed board at the intended height. It takes two minutes and it settles the specification more reliably than any calculation, because it also reveals the tree, the awning or the parked lorry that will be in the way.
What does an outdoor board need in this climate?
Sealing, insects, sun and the mounting position
Three things distinguish an outdoor board here from one inland. It must be sealed to IP65 with drainage designed in, because delta humidity and autumn rain will otherwise collect inside the housing. It must have no gap large enough for insects, which in marshland is a genuine failure mode rather than a theoretical one. And its output must be set for direct southern sun, with automatic reduction after dark so the board is not the brightest thing on the street at midnight. Mounting position does much of the work for you. Under a canopy or inside a shop portal, the board is out of direct rain and sun, ages more slowly, and can often be a cheaper specification. Fully exposed on a south-facing wall is the hardest case and the one where saving money on the housing will cost you the board.
Who changes the message?
Everyday updating without a technician
The person who already writes the opening hours on the door is the person who should be updating the board. The editor is a text field and a schedule; there is nothing in it that needs training beyond a five-minute demonstration, and we do that demonstration by video call at handover rather than leaving a manual behind. Content reaches the board over the local network or wirelessly, so a board above a gate does not need a cable trench across a yard. Scheduling is where most of the value sits: a pharmacy rota, a season of fixtures, a market day notice or a seasonal buying price can be entered once for months ahead and left to run, and the board keeps doing its job even in the weeks when nobody thinks about it.
Why is this the right product at 820 kilometres?
Shipping weight, fitting difficulty and repair
A text board is a small parcel. It travels by ordinary carrier to the Neretva valley for a modest sum, arrives in days, and is fitted by a local electrician in an hour or two from the bracket drawing we supply. There is no crew journey, no hotel night and no travel row on the invoice at all, which for this town is an unusual and welcome situation. Repair follows the same shape. The two components that fail are the power supply and an individual module, both of which we ship with the order as spares, and both of which are changed with a screwdriver by someone who has never seen the inside of one before. That is why a board bought from 820 kilometres away is not a liability: nothing about keeping it working requires anyone to travel.
Does colour add anything to a text board?
Why the cheaper choice is usually the better one
For words, an amber or white board wins on every count that matters: more brightness per watt, higher contrast, quicker comprehension, lower price. Buying prices, duty rotas, lane instructions, match scores and opening hours all read better on it, so choosing it is not a compromise but an improvement. Colour becomes worth its price when the board carries a company mark, when the colour itself is the instruction - red or green at a barrier - or when pictures run beside the words. Wanting both is common, and the answer is a divided board: a fixed graphic panel holding the identity at one end, with a monochrome field running across the remainder. For a growers' cooperative or a haulier at the border road, that split generally buys the most useful board for the budget available.
What do we need from you before shipping?
Five answers that prevent a wasted order
Before a board is built we ask for: the reading distance and the longest message it must show; a photograph of the mounting position taken from where the reader will stand; whether the position is exposed, sheltered or indoors; where the nearest reliable power point is and whether it stays on overnight; and how the board will be reached for content, by cable or wirelessly. Those five answers determine the entire specification. The one that catches people out is the power point. A socket controlled by the shop's own light switch, or a yard supply that drops out when the last person leaves, will make a perfectly good board look faulty. Confirming it takes a minute and saves an exchange of emails across half of Europe. Cover of one or two years applies according to the model, and using your own electrician for the fitting does not affect it.
