IP Ratings are a system designed to classify the degrees of protection or sealing that your electrical component has from foreign objects, such as fingers, tools, dust, and moisture. This system is recognized in most European Countries and is outlined in BS EN 60529. This classification system uses the letters IP, abbreviated for "Ingress Protection", followed by two digits. The first digit represents the protection your component has against solid objects, including protection from hands, tools, wires, dust, etc. The larger the number, the greater the components protection from solid objects. The second number represents the components protection from liquids. The lower numbers reflect moisture from humidity, increasing to
sprays of water, jets of water, to total immersion. For example, an encoder that is protected to IP65, is dust tight (dust will not enter) and is protected against low pressure jets of water in all directions, with limited ingress. The larger the IP number, the greater the protection.
1st Digit Protection Against Solids
0, No Protection
1, Protected against solid objects greater than 50 mm
2, Protected against solid objects greater than 12 mm
3, Protected against solid objects greater than 2.5 mm
4, Protected against solid objects greater than 1 mm
5, Dust protected
6, Dust Tight
2nd Digit Protection Against Liquids
0, No Protection
1, Protected against vertically falling drops of water
2, Protected against direct sprays of water up to 15o from the vertical
3, Protected against direct sprays of water up to 60o from the vertical
4, Protected against water sprays from all directions- limited ingress permitted
5, Protected against low pressure jets of water in all directions- limited ingress permitted
6, Protected against strong pressure jets of water in all directions- limited ingress permitted
7, Protected against water immersion between 15 cm and 1 m for a duration of 30 minutes
8, Protected against water immersion below 1 m for a duration of 1 hour
Many of our led tubes like the Model 725 can be sealed to IP66.
This means- The encoder is protected from dust, and strong jets of water in all directions with limited ingress.