What Determines the Power Consumption of My Character Display?
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Although simple character displays aren’t remotely like the most power draining display there is, there are still a variety of factors that can impact the battery life of the gadget or equipment it’s built into – and some devices rely on battery longevity a lot more than others.
While businesses using point-of-sale systems might lose out on a couple of sales, a fast-draining character display on medical diagnostic tools and patient monitors can put lives at stake. Not all character displays are made equal, despite their seemingly simplistic workings.
So, what sort of factors shape the power consumption of a character display?
Factor #1: Display Type and Technology
Character displays come in two major types, including the classic liquid crystal display (LCD) or the more intense organic light-emitting diode (OLED) format. Its inherent display type is a great indicator of what sort of power consumption the display will have.
OLED displays will often have the highest consumption, given the power needed to illuminate each pixel. For darker images, though, OLEDs work with individual pixels, which means nodes can be individually turned off for black areas to save energy. LCDs, in contrast, run a constant backlight to brighten their pixels but with the backlight off consume far less power than OLEDs making them a better solution if the display will be used in areas with fair to bright ambient light conditions.
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Factor #2: Screen Size and Character Count
Just like a giant digital billboard would consume more power than a modest ad at a subway station, you might think larger character displays typically consume more energy with their brightness requirements and bigger surface area. This is relatively true, however, it isn’t everything when determining your power consumption. Things like display type, backlighting, refresh rate, and other factors on this list still play considerable roles in energy consumption. What also has a big impact is the number of characters (columns x rows) of your display. Does it have lots of characters? Is there more complex circuitry? The more intricate your display is, the more power it’ll consume.
Factor #3: Backlighting
Adding LED backlights to an LCD alone can increase power consumption by as much as 10 times. That fact alone should speak to the significance of backlighting in relation to power consumption. Especially if backlights are a crucial component of your specific device, it’s difficult to compromise. Gadgets and equipment that need to be used in extra bright conditions or dark environments will require them for visibility reasons.
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Factor #4: Display Modes
Got scrolling text and moving graphics on your character display? These frequent updates and animations will naturally consume more power because of the refresh rate. With static content, pixels remain unchanged. In some circumstances, a device may offer an energy-saving mode, which can dim backlights and reduce refresh rates.
Factor #5: Environmental Conditions
The environment can put strain on a character display, forcing it to work harder to operate at optimal conditions. Whether it’s bright natural light, extreme temperatures, or pressure changes, any given device will have to increase voltage, contrast, and other parameters so that the screen stays functional. Every environmental context will have their own individual effect on character displays, which speaks to the need to tailor them to fit the device they’re being used for. It’s not enough to choose any old character display for a piece of equipment – it requires careful consideration of potential factors that could impact its performance in the field.
Factor #6: Power Management Features
With power management features involved, power consumption can be effectively controlled by the user. It might have dynamic brightness adjustment features to automatically dim or turn off the backlight based on ambient light conditions or manually through user settings. When not being actively used, displays could go into standby mode or sleep mode, helping save power until the user interacts with it again. There are also physical components that can switch to low-power states too, thanks to component power gating that powers down unneeded parts of the display circuitry or dynamic voltage scaling that adjusts operating voltages based on power requirements.
Consider Character Display Power Consumption for Business Success
A functioning product is one thing – but a highly functioning one will make all the difference in performance. Part of optimizing a product involves making sure it has longevity in its usage, knowing it won’t shut off at any given moment or become illegible in the middle of an urgent scenario.
Character displays that incorporate power management features or have functions in place to extend their battery life will transform the user experience – no matter if you’re dealing with industrial equipment or consumer electronics. Investing in power-efficient character displays is just one nifty way you can meet the demands of industries and consumers, and Focus LCDs can successfully customize and supply the perfect character display for your business.