How to get spare modules for LED display screens after several years of installation?

One of our customers told us that they have fixed one P10 outdoor LED screen for street advertisement several years ago. And now it needs to change some spare parts after long time usage, especially some LED modules, maybe other parts also. He asked us: what details do we need to provide for this kind of issue?

These are necessary information required for LED modules
1. Module suite manufacture and size
2. LEDs type (better know the brand)
3. Driver ICs brand and model number (very important, it has many types)
4. Scanning mode
5. Module photos with all details (including labels on the PCB board, the figures on the module suite, the pins QTY of signal connectors, the power connectors…)

These are the basic information for us to produce spare modules which could be used on your led screen. But it still has some obvious brightness and color difference on the screen, especially when displaying white images between old and new modules. Why? Because the new PCB circuit board is more probably different from your previous led display vendor. The current for LEDs is not the same hence the brightness of new led modules will be higher than the old modules due to the color recession.
(If you want to know why this happens, please read our another article here. )

Even if you could provide the above-requested information, you will still find it is very hard to get the modules you want. The main reasons may be as below:
a. Module suite manufacture became bankrupted
b. Module suite is out of production (low market demands)

We would like to tell you: the best thing is to contact your previous supplier and discuss with them if it is possible to give you some good support for parts (before you looking for someone else). Because they have all the details for your order, such as specifications, material purchasing history, material specifications, …

During the conversation, you may face the following situations:
a. The vendor of LED screen manufactory can’t find order history.
b. The vendor runs away.
c. The vendor can be reached out but tells the old modules already stopped production.
d. The vendor doesn’t want to help because of no incoming orders.
e. The vendor can give a helping hand (congratulations to you, this supplier is very responsible for their products and customers )

If they are not willing to help, you might have to get in touch with other guys who also works for the same product and try to get the problem solved. It is definitely a great help to send the sample modules (if possible). Then they could analyze the stuff you sent and try the best to match the old modules. But this doesn’t guarantee they could make the same thing for you, as explained earlier in this article.

Important: it is much easier for repairing the problem modules prior to making new modules, recommended.

You might know: the longer to install the led display, the less possible to find the parts. So our advice is to take more percent of spare modules when placing a new order, in case of need in the future. There is no standard ratio about this. It depends on your screen size, the quality of LED screens and the application which you use the screen. If for permanent installation, you can take additional 2-3% based on the free spare parts which are given by the factory. If you are doing led screen rentals business, modules can be damaged during the events after used many times. So we will suggest you take 1 square meter modules for every 10 square meters rental LED screen (not including expensive ultra-high definition LED screen).

Reminder: The LED cabinet might have left or right modules, up or down modules. If the module is working for every position, then you could make it half.

Maybe you will think the quality of the product is not good because the quantity of spare modules is a lot. Actually, this is not a correct understanding. If considering the total cost for getting new spare modules from the old or new supplier, your time is money and the international transportation cost & the customs tariff for double trips (send sample module and get the new modules) is extremely high. Also, you need to pay the cost of producing new modules. Nevertheless, you might can’t send the problem modules sometimes, because the screen needs to work because of the advertising campaign as you don’t have enough modules at hand.

If you faced this problem before and think it is helpful, please share this article to others who you think they might need. Thank you for your time.