An LED cabinet is the modular structure that houses the LED modules and, stacked with others just like it, forms the complete screen. It is the "brick" of an LED screen: a rigid box —also called an LED enclosure or LED chassis unit— with a frame, a power supply, control boards and modules at the front. By fitting cabinet to cabinet you build a video surface of any size, from a shop window to an entire façade.

At LEDLEMON we design, manufacture and install LED screens with cabinets for indoor, outdoor, rental and curved shapes. This technical guide explains what an LED cabinet is and how we choose the right one.

What an LED cabinet is and what it contains inside

The cabinet is the structural and electrical unit of the screen. Each one is self-contained —it receives video and power and displays its portion of the image— and they are all synchronised by the same processor, so the whole reads as a single continuous screen. Inside every LED cabinet there is:

  • The chassis or frame: the rigid housing that provides shape, flatness and strength.
  • The LED modules: the boards with the diodes that emit the light, screwed or magnetically fixed to the front.
  • The power supply: converts the mains current into the LED voltage.
  • The receiving card: receives the signal from the processor and distributes it to the modules; our high-brightness P3.91 integrates a NovaStar receiving card.

That modularity is the advantage: if something fails, only the affected part is replaced, and to grow you simply add cabinets.

Difference between an LED module and an LED cabinet

The LED module is the small board with the diodes: the minimum image unit (around 20 or 32 cm per side) that provides the pixels and the pixel pitch. An LED cabinet groups several modules together with their electronics and their chassis, and provides the structure, the power supply, the heat dissipation and the anchor points. Several modules make up a cabinet, and several cabinets make up the screen.

Cabinet materials: why they matter

The chassis material determines three things that show up on site: the weight (rigging and hanging the screen), the heat dissipation (LEDs last longer the better they are cooled) and the flatness. The usual ones are:

  • Die-cast aluminium: the professional standard. Rigid, precision-moulded, it dissipates heat well and delivers excellent flatness. It is the chassis of our High Brightness P3.91.
  • Magnesium alloy: even lighter than aluminium without losing rigidity, ideal when weight is critical. Our Fine Pitch P1.86 uses die-cast, CNC-machined magnesium: just 6.2 kg per cabinet.
  • Iron or steel: economical and sturdy, but heavy and a poorer heat conductor. It is found in low-cost fixed installations where weight doesn't matter and the screen never moves.

Standard cabinet sizes

Cabinets are made in standardised dimensions so that they fit together. The most widespread format for outdoor and rental is 500 × 500 mm and its elongated version 500 × 1000 mm: these are the two sizes of our P3.91, which we choose according to the project.

In fine-pitch indoor screens, a format with a native 16:9 ratio is common, designed to configure Full HD, 4K or 8K by stacking cabinets without distorting the image: our P1.86 follows this idea with a 600 × 337.5 mm cabinet. The chosen size determines the total resolution and how the final dimensions add up.

Front or rear maintenance (front and rear service)

Another key decision is how the inside of the cabinet is accessed:

  • Front maintenance (front service): the modules and power supplies are removed from the front, usually with magnetic modules that are pulled out with a suction cup. It is essential when the screen sits flush against the wall or is recessed. Our P1.86 is serviced cabinet by cabinet from the front.
  • Rear maintenance (rear service): access is from behind, which requires leaving a technical corridor between the screen and the wall. It is common on totems, free-standing structures and large façades. It is best to define it before assembly: without rear access, the cabinet must be front-service.

Curvable cabinets: concave and convex screens

Not every screen is flat. Many professional cabinets carry adjustable side anchors that let you tilt one cabinet relative to the next by a few degrees, positive or negative. By chaining those angles you build concave surfaces (that wrap around the viewer) or convex ones (that jut out), as well as columns and closed curves.

When the curve is very sharp or the shape is free-form, the rigid cabinet falls short and we turn to flexible LED modules, which adapt to non-flat surfaces and make the screen follow the geometry of the space.

Rental cabinets versus fixed installation

A cabinet that is assembled once and stays for years is not the same as one that travels from event to event: there are two clearly distinct families.

Rental cabinet

Designed to be assembled and dismantled many times, quickly and without tools: a lightweight chassis (aluminium or magnesium) to rig and transport it with ease, quick locks between cabinets that let you assemble an LED wall in minutes, and flightcases for the road. It is the one we use in our LED screen rental for events, with assembly and a technician included.

Fixed-installation cabinet

Durability and sealing take priority over speed of assembly: protection against water and dust outdoors —the P3.91 offers IP65 at the front and IP54 at the rear—, wind resistance and clean integration into a façade or totem. Since it isn't assembled every week, it allows sturdier chassis and fixed anchor points.

How we choose the cabinet for each project

At LEDLEMON we don't start from the cabinet, but from the project. Before recommending a model we cross five variables:

  • Indoor or outdoor: defines the IP protection rating and the brightness. Outdoors in full sun calls for a sealed, high-brightness cabinet like the P3.91's; indoors up close, fine pitch like the P1.86's.
  • Viewing distance: sets the pixel pitch and, with it, the module. The closer people look, the smaller the pitch.
  • Fixed or portable: decides between a sturdy sealed cabinet and a lightweight quick-lock one.
  • Shape: flat, curved or wrap-around decides between rigid, curvable or flexible cabinets.
  • Maintenance access: if it is recessed, the cabinet has to be front-service.

With those answers we choose the material, the size and the maintenance that deliver the most reliable screen at the lowest cost.

Tell us about your project and we'll recommend the cabinet

If you are considering an LED screen and aren't sure which cabinet you need, tell us where it will go, from what distance the audience will see it, whether it is fixed or for rental and what shape you are after. With that we'll propose the most suitable cabinet model, material and size, with a closed configuration and quote. Request your quote with no obligation and we'll design it with you.