IP Code

The IP Code, International Protection Marking, IEC standard 60529, sometimes interpreted as Ingress Protection Marking, classifies and rates the degree of protection provided by mechanical casings and electrical enclosures against intrusion, dust, accidental contact, and water. It is published by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The equivalent European standard is EN 60529.Water equivalent to 1 mm rainfall per minuteWater equivalent to 3 mm rainfall per minuteTest a) is conducted for 5 minutes, then repeated with the specimen rotated horizontally by 90° for the second 5-minute test. Test b) is conducted (with shield in place) for 5 minutes minimum. Test duration: 1 minute per square meter for at least 5 minutesWater volume: 10 litres per minutePressure: 50–150 kPaTest a) is conducted for 10 minutes. Test b) is conducted (without shield) for 5 minutes minimum. Water volume: 12.5 litres per minutePressure: 30 kPa at distance of 3 mWater volume: 100 litres per minutePressure: 100 kPa at distance of 3 mWater volume: 75 litres per minutePressure: 1000 kPa (10 bar) at distance of 3 mTested with the lowest point of the enclosure 1000 mm below the surface of the water, or the highest point 150 mm below the surface, whichever is deeper.Depth specified by manufacturer, generally up to 3 mSmaller specimens rotate slowly on a turntable, from 4 specific angles. Larger specimens are mounted in the intended position when being used, no turntable required, and are tested freehand for at least 3 minutes at distance of 0.15–0.2 m.Water volume: 14–16 litres per minutePressure: 8–10 MPa (80–100 bar) at distance of 0.10–0.15 mWater temperature: 80 °C The IP Code, International Protection Marking, IEC standard 60529, sometimes interpreted as Ingress Protection Marking, classifies and rates the degree of protection provided by mechanical casings and electrical enclosures against intrusion, dust, accidental contact, and water. It is published by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The equivalent European standard is EN 60529. The standard aims to provide users more detailed information than vague marketing terms such as waterproof. For example, a cellular phone rated at IP68 is 'dust resistant' and can be 'immersed in 1.5 meters of freshwater for up to 30 minutes'. Similarly, an electrical socket rated IP22 is protected against insertion of fingers and will not be damaged or become unsafe during a specified test in which it is exposed to vertically or nearly vertically dripping water. IP22 or IP2X are typical minimum requirements for the design of electrical accessories for indoor use. The digits indicate conformity with the conditions summarized in the tables below. The digit 0 is used where no protection is provided. The digit is replaced with the letter X when insufficient data has been gathered to assign a protection level. There are no hyphens in a genuine IP code. IPX-8 (for example) is thus an invalid IP code.