A Tale of Testing at Daktronics Lab Services
The following is a true story about how the professionals at Daktronics Lab Services go out of their way to discover issues under unusual circumstances to solve problems and ensure the integrity, quality and reliability of every Daktronics digital display.
11/4/2024
Categories: Business & Community, High School Sports, Out of Home Advertising, Pro Sports and Colleges, Sign Company News, Spectaculars, Transportation
When a customer discovered they had ‘caterpillars’ – random columns of light on an LED display – they called Daktronics Field Services.
“While looking at it, they noticed there is some weird sticky substance found randomly on several mods, which was strange,” says Jen Adams, Image Quality Specialist at Daktronics Lab Services. “Then we find out cute little lizards have been seen crawling on the display. Somebody (not sure who, but I assume they have small children at home) makes the logical jump from weird sticky substance to: 'Are lizards urinating on our modules!?'”
With that in mind, they sent the modules to Daktronics Lab Services’ failure analysis lab to analyze the problem so they could fix it and prevent it from happening again.
Electronics technician Travis Nelson ran a spectra scan on the dirty sections of the returned louvers, looking for – of all things – uric acid, which is found in lizard urine. None was detected.
Adams was thrilled.
“The lizards were exonerated!"
This led to more testing. In the end, they figured it out.
“A high reverse voltage in humid conditions resulted in corrosion and electrochemical migration on the die inside of the LEDs,” Nelson explains.
Tests run. Problem solved.
Discover more about Daktronics Lab Services and their extensive testing procedures to ensure long-lasting quality, integrity and reliability.