Outdoor advertising lives and dies by the lights being on: an unlit billboard is invisible at exactly the hours it was bought for. Yet billboard sites are the worst possible places for manual control — unmanned, spread across cities or highways, and often without broadband. We deploy 4G remote control across billboard networks at all three scales below, including a 200-site network documented in our billboard case study.
Scheme 1: single point — one 4G switch per site
The simplest deployment: one AT-SY5 63 A 4G switch in the site's cabinet controls the lighting circuit directly. No broadband needed, two-wire installation into the existing panel, switching from the app or on schedule. Cost per site is dominated by the device itself, typically recovered within the first season through the ability to prove and adjust lighting hours. This is the right scheme for up to a few dozen sites with simple single-circuit lighting.
Scheme 2: circuits — 4G switching plus local control
Larger sites have separate circuits: face illumination, banner uplighting, structure lighting. Each circuit takes its own 4G-piloted stage, or a single 4G unit drives a small contactor group. Schedules are set per circuit — face lights at dusk, structure lights until midnight — and every switching event is logged. Media owners use the log as the delivery record when advertisers dispute lighting hours, which quietly settles most of those disputes.
Scheme 3: network — metered breakers with central visibility
For networks beyond ~50 sites, the question shifts from "is it on?" to "what does each site consume?". A metering smart RCBO per site adds class-1 energy measurement to remote switching: hourly consumption per site, comparison across the network, and immediate detection of both failures (commanded on, zero current) and theft or leakage (consumption where nothing should run). Sites without broadband use the same 4G switch architecture feeding the metering unit.
Details that decide reliability
- Power loss recovery. After an outage the switch must restore its schedule automatically — verify this in any product you buy; ours restore the last state and re-sync schedules on reconnection.
- Cabinet environment. Street cabinets sweat and corrode — check cabinet sealing and ventilation, and in coastal sites apply anti-corrosion measures during installation.
- Antenna position. Metal cabinets block signal; mount the antenna outside or use a site where the cabinet is GRP.
- Astronomical schedules. Dusk-to-dawn switching by fixed clock times wastes hours seasonally; use sunrise/sunset-based schedules where the app supports them.
What it costs to run
The 4G data consumption is 1–5 MB per month per site — included for five years on our units, with renewal or your own SIM thereafter as described in the data card guide. There is no per-command fee, no platform licence in our standard offering.
Tell us the number of sites, circuits per site and the country, and we will return the scheme recommendation with device list and per-site cost. Send the site count here.