Ten Feet Down – outdoor LED screen Trinidad

How we built an outdoor LED screen for Proman’s M2/M5 gate to stand up to Trinidad’s sun, rain and one of the strictest HSE cultures in the country

The steel frame goes onto its three footings at the entrance to Proman’s M2/M5 plants, Point Lisas.

Proman is the second-largest methanol producer in the world. It runs 17 plants globally and has 10 million tonnes of annual capacity, much of it here in Point Lisas. At the entrance to its M2/M5 plants, near its headquarters, there used to be a static sign. It did the job. It was not what you would expect at the front gate of an international energy company, and it could never change its message.

Proman wanted a screen for HSE messaging, marketing and general communication. The screen would be owned and run by the HSE department. So the client for this job was also the department that judges how every contractor on site works. We were under a very watchful eye, and that was how it should be.

The brief

The location looked simple: a grassy patch beside the gate with clear sightlines for everyone coming in. But a grassy patch has no power, no data and nothing to mount a screen on. The screen would face blistering sun and heavy rain every day, running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

It starts underground

The most important part of an outdoor screen is the part you never see. We worked with Cratus Construction on the engineering and fabrication of the frame. The result was a steel structure on three poured-concrete footings, each ten feet deep.

The system

• Display: outdoor LED, 4 mm pixel pitch, single-sided, just over 15 feet wide and 9 feet high.
• Processing: Novastar, which we use on every LED screen we install, so the platform is known and supportable.
• Content: BrightSign media players with full scheduling and control online.
• Brightness: an automatic brightness controller that adjusts the screen to ambient light. It is bright enough to read in the midday sun and dimmed at night so it doesn’t blind drivers.
• Power: supplied by Proman through underground cabling.
• Data: a Ubiquiti wireless link to the main network, with no trenching across an active plant.
• Workmanship: every cable and component labelled, as always.

Working to oil and gas standards

The screen itself didn’t take long to install. The process around it did. The equipment came by ocean freight. A company the size of Proman needs sign-offs at every stage. Concrete has to cure, and you don’t rush it.

Before we could start work, every member of our team needed new medicals and PLEA certification, which is required for contractors working on the Point Lisas estate. Every day began with toolbox talks and site inductions, on top of our usual employer’s liability and workmen’s compensation insurance.

That is the lesson I’m most grateful for. The work itself held no surprises. What we learned was how the oil and gas industry works: its certifications, its permits and its expectation that safety is planned, not improvised. Our team is now qualified and experienced on those sites.

Handover

HSE received full user training on BrightSign and now manages the screen on its own. We also provided technical training. Streamline stays on call for troubleshooting and holds spare parts for when they’re needed. The client should own the system, not depend on the integrator.

The result

The screen has just passed its first birthday and is running well through a full year of Trinidad sun and a full rainy season. HSE uses it daily for ticker messages, weather reports, reminders for staff, messages from management and its HSE statistics. The screen has been very well received across Proman, and the front gate now matches the company behind it.

The bigger problem with outdoor LED screen Trinidad

Drive around Trinidad and you’ll see the other side of this industry. Many outdoor screens sit on poor structures, often whatever was already there. Many have no automatic brightness control, so they are washed out by day and blind you at night. That is a road-safety problem as much as a visual one.

Too often, screens are bought on price alone, with no meaningful warranty and no spare parts in the country. When a module fails, it stays dead for months, in the most visible spot a company has.

It comes down to who does the work. There are very few AVIXA CTS-certified professionals in the Caribbean. I hold CTS, CTS-D and CTS-I, alongside CEDIA and manufacturer certifications. Certification doesn’t install a screen, but it means the design, the documentation and the handover follow a professional standard.

Take a look at some of the capabilities of Brightsign players

What to ask before you buy an outdoor LED screen

If our quote is higher than someone else’s, ask us why. The answer is usually ten feet underground.