What Is an Waterproof IP Rating?
We depend on waterproofing to protect our comfort and safety in many aspects of life. The weather stripping on a car prevents everyone inside from getting soaked as they drive through a rainstorm. When we have to be out in wet weather, we’re thankful for waterproof jackets. Well-built roofs prevent water from damaging our homes and businesses.
By the same token, it’s important for anyone designing electronic devices and/or electrical systems to be familiar with IP water resistance ratings. This rating scale provides an easy way to assess how well waterproof enclosures protect against splashing, hose sprays, submersion and other water hazards that electrical devices often encounter.
In this guide, we’ll give you a brief overview of IP water resistance ratings and how they work. Need a dependable waterproof electrical box for your project? We’ll also talk about Honfa’s selection of IP rated waterproof enclosures and how they can help protect your most sensitive devices.
What Is an IP Rating?
An IP rating is a two-digit performance rating for an electrical device or enclosure. These ratings provide key information about the degree of protection that an enclosure provides against ingress from two classes of hazards: solid ingress and liquid water ingress. A few examples include IP55 and IP67, although there are dozens of possible ratings.
The two digits of every IP rating work as follows:
The first digit is the solid ingress protection rating, which encompasses protection against accidental contact, dust, debris and any other solid materials, rated on an ascending scale of 0 to 6.
The second digit is the water resistance rating, which rates its protection against the ingress of water on an ascending scale of 0 to 9.
Each level on the scale corresponds to a specific degree of water ingress protection. For example, a 7 in the second digit means the enclosure provides protection against temporary submersion at a depth of up to one meter.
Degrees of IP Water Resistance
Here’s a quick summary of the levels of water resistance in the IP scale, as described in the official IP ratings code:
IPx0: No protection from water
IPx1: Protected against vertically falling water drops
IPx2: Protected against vertically falling water drops when enclosure tilted up to 15º
IPx3: Protected against spraying water
IPx4: Protected against splashing water
IPx5: Protected against water jets
IPx6: Protected against powerful water jets
IPx7: Protected against the effects of temporary immersion in water
IPx8: Protected against the effects of continuous immersion in water
IPx9: Protected against high pressure and temperature water jets
Note that IPx9 ratings are rarely used. Aside from a small number of specialty applications that use IP69K enclosures, most applications treat IP68 as the highest IP enclosure rating.
Gasket Seal: Many IP rated enclosures use a silicone rubber gasket to seal out water. The gasket fits into a groove inside the enclosure and prevents water from entering through the enclosure’s seams or panels.
Mated Parts: IP rated enclosures are typically designed with mated parts that fit together tightly. The tight space makes it much more difficult for water to enter the enclosure, and it can also improve the enclosure’s security.
Adhesives: Using a waterproof adhesive to glue the parts of an enclosure together can improve its water resistance significantly.
IP Rated Accessories: For enclosures used as outdoor junction boxes or for another application that requires cutouts and pass-throughs, accessories like cable glands and vents are essential for maintaining the enclosure’s IP rating. To make sure your enclosure accessories are up to the task, look for accessories that feature IP ratings themselves.
PCB Potting and Conformal Coating: Device designers use these protective measures to give their devices IP rated performance. By filling the enclosure with certain waterproof compounds (known as PCB potting) or coating its components with a water resistant film (known as conformal coating), device manufacturers can help protect the enclosure’s components from water.
Fortunately, Hongfa makes it easy to find an enclosure with the IP rating you need or better. We build our enclosures to offer the highest IP ratings possible for their design. Many of our enclosure models carry higher IP ratings such as IP66 and IP68 in addition to lower ratings. Thus, no matter what IP rating your application requires, Hongfa offers a customizable enclosure solution for you.
Note: Many electrical enclosures require solid ingress protection, too. See our guide to dust proof IP ratings and our complete IP ratings guide for more information to help you make the right choice on an IP rated enclosure.
