Charlotte, NC Outdoor Lighting: Billboard Lighting (2026)

C, Table 22-5, every electronic changeable face outdoor advertising sign (digital billboard) must carry an automatic dimmer, factory set to the code's illumination intensities, along with a photo cell sensor that adjusts brightness so the display does not cause glare, impair a motorist's vision, or interfere with a driver's operation of a vehicle. The maximum illumination allowed is 7,500 nits (candelas per square meter) during daylight hours, dropping to a 500-nit ceiling between dusk and dawn, both measured from the sign face at maximum brightness.

Any external illumination device on the sign must be effectively shielded so beams or rays of light are not directed onto any portion of a street or highway, or onto any residential use. C requires it to freeze on a default design displaying no more than 500 nits rather than staying illuminated at full brightness or continuing to change. Static outdoor advertising signs face a parallel but separate illumination standard in Table 22-4: their illumination devices must be shielded to prevent light from being directed at a street or highway, and the intensity cannot cause glare or impair a motorist's vision, though static signs are not subject to the nit ceiling or dimmer/photo cell hardware requirement because they do not change images.