The outdoor LED wall site survey. Before a single cabinet is built.

Most outdoor LED walls that disappoint were chosen from a photograph. The size looked right on a phone, the price per sq ft looked right on WhatsApp, and nobody stood on the road at 4 pm to see where the sun sits. A site survey is one visit that settles the pitch, the brightness, the structure, the power and the service plan before a single cabinet is built. Here is what we check, in the order we check it.

Why does an outdoor LED wall need a site survey?

An indoor wall lives in a room you control. An outdoor wall lives on a road you don't. Sun, rain, wind, traffic, a transformer that sags at 7 pm and a neighbour's bedroom window all have a say in how it performs.

Each of those decides a line on the quote. Skip the survey and you get a price for a generic screen. That is not the same thing as a price for your wall, and the difference usually shows up after the advance has been paid. On a commercial building the survey usually covers several spots at once; LED video walls for commercial buildings shows what each one needs.

Where will people actually see it from?

Start with the viewer, not the building. Stand where your audience stands: on the pavement outside the shop, at the signal across the junction, in the car park where people lock their cars. Measure from there to the wall face. A laser measure or a phone app is fine. A guess is not.

Then apply the rule of thumb. The closest comfortable viewing distance in metres is roughly the pixel pitch in millimetres, and the picture looks its best from about twice that. Outdoor P4 is comfortable from 4 m and at its best around 8 m. P6 starts at 6 m and is at its best around 12 m. Buying finer than your nearest viewer needs means paying for pixels nobody can see. The viewing distance calculator does the sum for you.

Installed, controller extra, + GST. Updated 29 September 2026.

Then check the sightline. Walk back up the road the way the traffic comes and note where the wall first comes into view. Rain trees, metro pillars, flyover ramps and the neighbour's sign board all get in the way. A car at 30 km/h covers about 8 m every second, so a wall hidden until the last 20 m gets two or three seconds of attention. That changes the size you need and the content you should run: short lines, big type, one idea.

Which way does the wall face?

Open the compass on your phone and stand with your back to the wall. The direction you face is the direction the screen faces.

• West-facing is the hardest. The low afternoon sun falls on the face through the evening, when the road is busiest. Our outdoor walls reach up to 4,500 nits; here the survey checks the angle the sun strikes the face and the shade around it, and a hood over the top rows often helps.
• East-facing takes the morning sun and has an easy evening.
• North-facing, or under a deep canopy, sees far less direct sun, and up to 4,500 nits covers it with room to spare.

Look across the road as well. A glass building opposite can bounce the afternoon sun straight back onto your screen. And look for homes. A road-facing wall must dim hard after dark, because anything above about 500 nits at night is glare. The brightness guide has the full range by site.

What will hold the wall up?

An outdoor wall with iron cabinets weighs about 5 to 6 kg per sq ft, and the wind pushes on it as well. A 10 × 6 ft wall is roughly 300 to 400 kg hanging off whatever you fix it to. The survey decides how that load reaches the building. The same visit checks an indoor wall’s anchors and power; the LED video wall owner's manual covers what to have ready before the crew arrives.

• RCC wall or column. Expansion anchors go straight into the concrete.
• Brick or block. Chemical anchors, because expansion anchors crack old mortar joints.
• ACP cladding. Never anchored to the cladding itself. The frame ties back to the columns or slab behind it.
• Parapet, rooftop or open plot. A cantilevered frame, pole, truss or gantry, designed for the wind at that height and exposure.

Power, data and a way to service it

Power

We photograph your distribution board and the cable route to the wall. Outdoor walls above about 100 sq ft go on three-phase, with the cabinets spread across the phases, and every outdoor wall needs an earthed, IP65 distribution box within 3 m. Add an RCCB, a tested earth and a stabiliser where the voltage swings. A 20 × 10 ft facade can peak above 10 kW, so we check the sanctioned load on your BESCOM connection before fabrication; a load enhancement can take longer than building the wall. Running costs are in monsoon, power and GST.

Data

The controller needs a LAN point or Wi-Fi so PxlOS can reach it. If the operator sits more than 15 m from the wall, plan a fibre or CAT6 extender.

Service access

Walk behind the proposed wall. If there is a gap or a catwalk, rear-service cabinets work. If the screen sits flush against the facade, you need front-service cabinets, where modules come out from the face. Front service or rear service explains the trade-off. Note the height too: a wall whose top edge sits above 4 m needs scaffolding or a lift whenever it is serviced.

Who gives permission for an outdoor screen?

A screen that faces the road comes under the local body's signage rules. In Bengaluru that is the city corporation, still widely known as BBMP. In Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hubballi and the district towns it is the city corporation or the municipal council. The rules can treat your own name board differently from paid advertising for other brands, and they change, so check the current rules for your site before anything is fabricated.

Two other approvals matter as much: your landlord or building association, and the mall, if you are in one. PixelSpot supplies the elevation drawing, the frame tie-back detail and the load calculation they usually ask for; obtaining the approval stays with you. If you plan to sell ad slots on the screen, read running a wall as a DOOH asset first.

What PixelSpot's free site survey covers

• Laser measurement of the wall and of where your nearest viewers stand
• A pitch and size recommendation, with the resolution you will get
• Sun direction, and a brightness and night-dimming plan
• The mounting surface: RCC, brick, ACP cladding or a new structure
• A photo of your distribution board and a power specification for your electrician
• The data route for the controller and PxlOS
• Front service or rear service, decided on site
• A 3D mockup of the wall on your building, with a fixed quotation

The survey and the mockup are free across Bengaluru. For walls elsewhere in Karnataka the installed rate stays the same, and freight and crew travel appear as separate lines. Before the visit, send four things on WhatsApp: a photo of the wall from where your viewers stand, the rough size, the direction it faces and a photo of the distribution board.

Where to go next

A survey costs you an hour and nothing else. It is the hour that decides whether the wall still reads at 4 pm in April, still stands after a stormy June and can still be serviced in its sixth year.