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Re:Sydney’s solar-powered e-paper traffic signs report zero ... by rprevolsek on Thursday May 04, 2017 @07:41AM (#14264087)
Are there any calculations made regarding life expectancy in comparison to LCD technologies?
Re:Sydney’s solar-powered e-paper traffic signs report zero ... by Ursa83 on Thursday May 04, 2017 @07:47AM (#14264106)
Hi, Ursa from Visionect here, the company powering the Sydney traffic signs. To answer your question: electronic paper technology is 99% more power efficient than LCD (uses energy only when changing content). In many applications, it can also prove to be as much as four times more reliable than LCD.
Re:Sydney’s solar-powered e-paper traffic signs report zero ... by dragonmum on Thursday May 04, 2017 @08:08AM (#14264195)
> Hi, Ursa from Visionect here, the company powering the Sydney traffic signs.

You're also the poster of the article which is an ad from your company.

> In many applications, it can also prove to be as much as four times more reliable than LCD.

That's a really vague answer. Are you saying your solar powered road side display panels are 4 times more reliable than the LCD panels used with everything else? Could you share some data with us?

Re:Sydney’s solar-powered e-paper traffic signs report zero ... by luka-birsa on Thursday May 04, 2017 @08:26AM (#14264274)
Life expectancy of LCD/LEDs depends greatly on the type (consumer would die fairly quickly in outdoor scenarios) and I'm sure one could build an LCD/LED display that will last 4 years outdoors. It's hard to deploy such LCD/LED sign (you require power and lots of it to be visible in sunlight) but it's possible.

The important thing here is that this first production outdoor deployment of EPD signs in the world works for for years without any serious problems which confirms that e-paper is a viable technology for outdoor deployments. There was a lot of skepticism back in 2013 if this is at all possible.

Re:Sydney’s solar-powered e-paper traffic signs report zero ... by dragonmum on Friday May 05, 2017 @08:11AM (#14272790)
> It's hard to deploy such LCD/LED sign (you require power and lots of it to be visible in sunlight) but it's possible.

What? Most of the signboards you see on the road are LED signboards. You know the ones we have in freezing winter or in blazing summer! So not only is it possible, it's what's commonly done.

> The important thing here is that this first production outdoor deployment

There's very little data provided in the article, no real accurate data on what kind of environmental conditions were experienced by the devices. Seems like a puff piece.

Re:Sydney’s solar-powered e-paper traffic signs report zero ... by askvictor on Thursday May 04, 2017 @07:49AM (#14264110)
This doesn't actually answer the question of lifespan.
Re:Sydney’s solar-powered e-paper traffic signs report zero ... by agumonkey on Thursday May 04, 2017 @07:55AM (#14264131)
At least you can use all the money saved from electricity to pay for replacement .. hum
Re:Sydney’s solar-powered e-paper traffic signs report zero ... by JeremyCa on Thursday May 04, 2017 @07:53AM (#14264115)
Love the 500..