AED cabinets and wall brackets

Indoors: cabinet or bracket

In a room with a stable temperature the only questions are visibility and protection. A wall bracket keeps the AED in open view, fastest to grab and cheapest to fit — Philips, ZOLL, Stryker and Defibtech make brackets shaped for their own units, and the Schiller universal bracket fits most models.

An indoor cabinet with a door protects against dust and knocks and makes the AED easier to find: the DefiSign, SixCase SmartCase and Rotaid Solid Plus cabinets are green or grey with a clear symbol, and most have an alarm that sounds when the door opens. The alarm discourages tampering and lets nearby staff hear that the unit has been taken out. Cabinets with a lock or PIN code exist for sites where unauthorised access is a real problem, but the code must be known to everyone who might need the AED.

Outdoors: heating is not optional

An AED mounted outdoors in Scandinavia sits below freezing for much of the year. The battery loses capacity as it cools, the electrode gel can freeze and the electronics must stay dry. A heated outdoor cabinet therefore has one or more thermostat-controlled heating elements that keep the interior frost-free, plus a sealed door. Arky Polar, Rotaid Solid Plus Heat, SixCase Polar, DefiSign NOX and the Claus Andersen Polar and Protect cabinets are built for Nordic conditions; manufacturers rate the toughest models down to around −40 °C.

Heating needs a mains connection, and installation must be carried out by a qualified electrician. Keep the adapter and cabling dry and frost-free even when the cabinet itself is waterproof. Mount the cabinet out of direct sun and driving rain, and where it is visible from the walkway — an outdoor cabinet nobody can find helps nobody.

Alarms, signage and maintenance

All alarmed cabinets run on button-cell batteries that should be replaced when the AED's own batteries and electrodes are checked. Add a defibrillator in the right model if you do not have one yet, and read our guide on AEDs in the workplace for placement and routines.

Contact us if you are unsure which cabinet fits your model — we are anaesthetists and CPR instructors ourselves and help you choose.