Understanding LED Digital Billboard Electrical Costs
How To Calculate Esimated
Electrical Costs
To calculate the estimated electrical cost you will need some information and make some assumptions as
to the operating conditions of the LED screen.
1.
We need LED Screen Brightness measured in Nit so we can compare one screen to another. Without
knowing the brightness in Nit, the cost number is not comparable.
2. The area of the LED screen in Square Meters or Square Feet
3. The LED power consumption can range from 550 to 200 Watts per Square Meter or from 45.45 to
18.58 Watts per Square Foot. This needs to be provided by the manufacturer or measured at the sign
with a Amp meter with an all-White image at a specified Nit brightness.
4. Then we need to estimate the percent of LEDs on at any one time based upon our expected
advertising content. We recommend a range between 40% and 60% – we will use 40% in our
example.
5. Next we need to state the daytime hours at full operating brightness and night operating hours and
percent of full operating brightness - we recommend using 100% and 12 hours for day and 5% and 12
hours for night.
6. Lastly we need the local cost of power for your sign location in Kilowatts.
To understand the effect of each of the above please refer to an article on factors affecting power usage
of an LED screen. The link is provided at the end of this article for reference.*
This calculation; the cost of power used based on Kilowatt-hours, does not consider taxes, access fees,
surcharges or other fess added by your Utility or Governmental entity.
The assumptions:
Screen Brightness
7,500 Nit
LED Power Consumption
250 Watts per Square Meter
Size of the LED screen
659.30 Square Meters
Content Factor
40% Contact factor
Operation Brightness Percentages Day 100%, Night 5%
Length of Day
Day 12 Hours, Night 12 Hours
Kilowatt-hour energy costs
$0.10
The operating cost per square meter calculation is:
(12 hour x 250 watts) + (12 hours x (5% x250 watts))/1000 watts/kWh) x 40% content x $0.10/ kWh =
$0.126 per day per square meter.
For 30 days the monthly power cost per square meter is $3.78 or the cost per square foot is $0.35.
So for a typical 14 x 48 the monthly power cost with the above assumption is actually area times the
monthly cost factor. In this case $0.35 times 659.30 equals $231.53.
That is the Kilowatt power cost, and does not include fees or taxes.
*Article: Factors Affecting Power Usage: http://www.formetco.com/FTX/pdf/factors-affecting-electrical-costs.pdf
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(800) 367-6382