Total weight and weight per m²
How much an LED wall weighs is two questions. The one everybody asks is kilograms per square metre, because it lets two products be compared. The one the building asks is the total, because that is what hangs off it — and a 30 m² wall at a modest 20 kg/m² is 600 kg before the frame, which is a small car on the wall of a boardroom.
- Total weight is the cabinet weight from the data sheet times the cabinet count. Nothing else about it is interesting, which is why it gets forgotten.
- Weight per square metre is the total divided by the area. It is a comparison figure, and it varies more between product classes than people expect.
Quote the total to the structural engineer and the per-square-metre figure to the client. Handing the engineer a kg/m² alone invites them to multiply by the wrong area — the opening on the drawing, which is not the wall as built.
Typical kg/m² by product class
| Class | Typical kg/m² | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Indoor fine pitch | 18 – 22 | Die-cast aluminium cabinets, no weatherproofing, shallow depth |
| Indoor SMD, older formats | 25 – 40 | Steel frames and deeper cabinets on 640 × 480 mm stock |
| Rental | 25 – 30 | Extra structure for rigging, curving and repeated handling |
| Outdoor | 27 – 40 | Sealed enclosures, thicker sections, wind loading |
The spread inside a class is the cabinet material. A die-cast aluminium fine-pitch cabinet is a third the weight per square metre of a sheet-steel one at the same pitch, and the data sheet is the only place that tells you which you are being sold.
Weight per cabinet, by product
These are the reference cabinets the free calculator ships with — typical figures for each class, not any one manufacturer’s. The per-square-metre column is derived from the cabinet by the engine, which is the arithmetic a data sheet sometimes gets wrong.
| Product | Use | Cabinet | kg per cabinet | kg/m² |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Micro 0.78 COB | Indoor | 600 × 338 mm | 4.4 | 21.7 |
| Micro 0.9 MIP | Indoor | 600 × 338 mm | 4.2 | 20.7 |
| Fine pitch 1.25 COB | Indoor | 600 × 338 mm | 4.0 | 19.8 |
| Fine pitch 1.5625 COB | Indoor | 600 × 338 mm | 4.0 | 19.8 |
| Fine pitch 1.875 IMD | Indoor | 600 × 338 mm | 4.6 | 22.7 |
| Indoor 2.5 SMD | Indoor | 640 × 480 mm | 8.5 | 27.7 |
| Indoor 3.91 SMD | Indoor | 500 × 500 mm | 6.1 | 24.4 |
| Rental 2.6 SMD | Rental | 500 × 500 mm | 6.8 | 27.2 |
| Rental 3.91 SMD | Rental | 500 × 500 mm | 6.3 | 25.2 |
| Outdoor 4.8 SMD | Outdoor | 960 × 960 mm | 25.0 | 27.1 |
| Outdoor 6.67 SMD | Outdoor | 960 × 960 mm | 27.0 | 29.3 |
| Outdoor 10 SMD | Outdoor | 960 × 960 mm | 29.0 | 31.5 |
What the frame adds
Add the structure to the wall figure before anybody quotes a bracket. The mounting frame, trim and service access can add a third again, and more where the wall is curved or stands off the building for rear access. A wall quoted at 600 kg is a job at 800 kg, and the fixings are sized for the job.
State the frame separately on the sheet rather than folding it into the wall figure. The engineer wants to know what the wall weighs and what it hangs from, because the two land on the building in different places.
What the structure actually carries
Kilograms per square metre is a comparison figure, not a load case. The wall does not press evenly on the building; it hangs from a frame, and the frame hands the whole load to a small number of fixing points — which, in a refurbishment, very often have to reach something structural that is not where the drawing says it is.
Give the structural engineer four things:
- Total wall weight, and the weight of the mounting structure separately.
- The fixing pattern — where the points are, and how many.
- The depth, because the load is offset from the wall and that produces a moment.
- Whether anything will be rigged from it, and whether there is wind loading.
Hung, stacked or flown
The same wall loads a building three different ways, and the quotation should say which:
- Wall-mounted. The load goes into the wall through the fixings, as a weight and a moment. The question is what the wall is made of.
- Ground-stacked. The load goes into the floor through a base, and the structure resists tipping rather than hanging. The question is the floor loading and the depth available behind.
- Flown. The load hangs from rigging points in the ceiling or a truss, and rental cabinets carry their own extra structure for it — which is why rental weighs more per square metre than indoor fine pitch at the same size.
A worked example
A roadside outdoor screen: ten by five 960 mm cabinets at 6.67 mm. Every figure here is computed by the same engine the calculator uses — the same wall the power guide works through, so the two hand-overs describe one job.
| Figure | Value | Who it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Wall size | 9.60 × 4.80 m · 46.08 m² | Everyone |
| Cabinets | 50 × 27.0 kg | Logistics and installation |
| Total weight | 1 350 kg | Structural engineer — the load case |
| Weight per m² | 29.3 kg/m² | The client, for comparison |
| With a frame at a third again | about 1 800 kg | What the fixings are sized for |
| Depth | 110 mm | The moment on the fixings |
What goes on the technical sheet
A technical sheet that accompanies a quotation should let the structural engineer and the rigger start work without ringing you. For weight, that means:
- Weight total and per square metre, with the mounting structure called out separately.
- Cabinet grid and cabinet count, with the format named and the weight of one cabinet.
- Depth, including the service gap behind.
- Whether the wall is wall-mounted, ground-stacked or flown.
- Wall dimensions in millimetres and area in square metres, so nobody multiplies by the opening.
The free LED wall calculator computes every figure on that list except the mounting structure, and easyLED PRO prints them as a sheet with your logo alongside the offer.