What is an IP rating?
IP (or "Ingress Protection") ratings are defined in international standard EN 60529 (British BS EN 60529:1992, European IEC 60509:1989). They are used to define levels of sealing effectiveness of electrical enclosures against intrusion from foreign bodies (tools, dirt etc) and moisture.
What do the numbers in an IP Rating mean?
The numbers that follow IP each have a specific meaning. The first indicates the degree of protection (of people) from moving parts, as well as the protection of enclosed equipment from foreign bodies. The second defines the protection level that the enclosure enjoys from various forms of moisture (drips, sprays, submersion etc). The tables below should help make sense of it:
First digit: protection against the ingress of solid objects (according to PN-EN 60529: 2003)
Number Protection level
0 no protection
1 protection against contact with hazardous parts with a back of a hand
protection against solid objects with a diameter of 50mm or more
2 protection against contact with hazardous parts with a finger
protection against solid objects with a diameter of 12.5mm or more
3 protection against contact with hazardous parts with tools, tick wires, etc.
protection against solid objects with a diameter of 2.5mm or more
4 protection against contact with hazardous parts with most wires, slender screws, etc.
protection against solid objects with a diameter of 1mm or more
5 protection against contact with hazardous parts with wires
dust protected – ingress of dust not entirely prevented (some ingress shall not have a harmful effect on the operation of the luminaire)
6 protection against contact with hazardous parts with wires
dust tight – full protection against ingress of dust
Second digit: protection against the ingress of liquids (according to PN-EN 60529: 2003)
Number Protection level
0 no protection
1 protection against water drops
2 protection against water drops when tilted at 15° (vertical dropping shall have no harmful effect on the operation of the luminaire)
3 protection against spraying water at any angle up to 60° from the vertical
4 protection against splashes of water from any direction
5 protection against a water jet (12.5 litre per minute) poured onto the housing from any direction
6 protection against a powerful water jet (100 litre per minute) poured into the housing from any direction
7 protection against the short immersion in water (30 minutes up to 1m of submersion)
8 protection against the continuous immersion in water (housing permanently submerged in water as per the conditions agreed between the producer and the user, but the depth should be greater than at IP7 above)
9 protection against powerful high temperature and high pressure water jets (80-100 bar and temperature + 80° C) in accordance with DIN 40050
IP RATING FOR LED STRIP LIGHTS. INDOOR, OUTDOOR & MORE...
First of all, we should ask ourselves where we are going to install the new lights. Is it indoors or outdoors? So indoor applications might require a higher level of insulation because the lights will be exposed to splashes of water, vapour or just humidity.
Our lighting experts created simple graphics to illustrate all the IP rated LED strip lights from IP20 to IP68.
Our range
While we cover a huge range, our most common IP ratings are probably 20,55, 65,66, 68. So for quick reference, these are defined below:
