IP Ingress Protection Ratings

IP Ingress Protection.

The IP system of ingress protection classification is designed to indicate the degree of protection against ingress of solids, liquids and mechanical impacts into enclosures in accordance with BS5490: 1977, IEC529:1976.

It should be noted that the system of quantifying degrees of protection does not relate to protection against corrosion or rust.

The level of protection is indicated by the letters IP followed by a 2 of 3-digit number.

The first digit relates to protection against solid objects, the second digit relates to protection against liquids, and the third digit (often omitted) relates to protection against mechanical impacts. If it's helpful you can select valves according to their protection level here, use the valve wizard on the right, look just above miscellaneous for "Protection".

For example, an IP65 protected solenoid valve would be 6 - Dust Tight and 5 Protected against water jets from any direction, so long as the connector is fitted correctly with the gasket and the cable gland (Pressure screw/ pressure ring and Grommet) are tightened against the correct size cable. Typical connectors are PG8 and will clamp effectively against a cable diameter 6 to 8mm, PG11 8 to 10mm or PG6 5 to 6 mm cable.

Important Note: Fitting an undersize cable will mean the cable is not securely clamped and is an electrical hazard but also very vulnerable to water and dust ingress, thus totally invalidating any ingress protection.

Degrees Of Protection Provided By Electrical Enclosures (IP ratings)

1st No.	Definition		Test Type		2nd No.		Definition			Test Type
1	Protected against objects >50mm Protect from access with hand				1		Protected against vertically falling water drops
2	Protected against objects >12.5mm Protected against access with finger				2		Protected against vertically falling water drops up to 15° inclination.
3	Protected against objects >2.5mm Protected against access with tool				3		Protected against vertically falling water drops up to 60° inclination.
4	Protected against objects >1.0mm Protected against access with wire				4		Protected against splashing water in any direction
5	Dust protected				5		Protected against water jets from any direction
6	Dust tight				6		Protected against powerful water jets from any direction
					7		Protected against temporary immersion in water
					8		Protected against the effect of submersion
Third number - Protection against mechanical impact. (Typically Omitted) IP0    No Protection IPxx1 Protection against impact of 0.15kg weight falling from 150 mm height IPxx2 Protection against impact of 0.25kg weight falling from 150 mm height IPxx3 Protection against impact of 0.25kg weight falling from 200 mm height IPxx5 Protection against impact of 0.5kg weight falling from 400 mm height IPxx7 Protection against impact of 1.5kg weight falling from 400 mm height IPxx9 Protection against impact of 5kg weight falling from 400 mm height Read more about connectors with IP65, 66, 67 and 68 ratings for here..   Read our FAQ section for more information