IP Rating Explained

Have you ever wondered when buying Lights/Electronics/Smart Phones what the "IP Rating" means?

First thing first, IP stands for “Ingress Protection”. The IP Rating system was set forth by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) so that consumers will know how well protected their Light/Electronic device is from foreign objects. There are 2 things that the IP Rating tells you about your light – how well it is protected against water and how well it is protected against dust.  The first number refers to the dust resistance and the second to the water resistance. Herewith follows a table explaining the different numbers:

	1st DIGIT Protection from solid objects or materials		2nd DIGIT Protection from liquids
0	No protection	0	No protection
1	Protected against solid objects over 50mm e.g. accidental touch by hands	1	Protection against vertically falling drops of water
2	Protected against solid objects over 12mm e.g. fingers	2	Protection against direct sprays of water up to 15° from the vertical
3	Protected against solid objects over 2.5mm e.g. tools, wire	3	Protection against direct sprays of water up to 65° from the vertical
4	Protected against solid objects over 1mm e.g. small tools, thin wire	4	Protection against water sprayed from all directions. Limited ingress permitted
5	Protected against dust, allowing limited ingress (but there must be no harmful deposit)	5	Protection against low-pressure jets of water from all directions. Limited ingress permitted
6	Totally protected against dust	6	Protection against powerful jets of water from all directions. Limited ingress permitted
		7	Protection against the effect of immersion up to 1m for short periods
		8	Protection against long periods of immersion under pressure

Note: these descriptions are for illustrative purposes only, and should not be tested at home. Here is a great example of a Light rated IP67: First digit = dust protection = 6 = Totally protected against dust. Second digit = water protection = 7 = Protection against the effect of immersion up to 1m for short periods. 

The light in the video is the Version 2 Night Raider Black 70W Spot – 6 300 Lumen. Source:  www.finelightingnews.com