If you have ever purchased any electronic product, be it smartphones, smartwatches or earphones, you must have come across the terms like IP55, IP65, IP67 and more which might have left you wondering. For those unaware, these are the IP rating that is given to electronic products. The IP rating of any device certifies its protection against dust and water. In this article, we are going to take a look at what these numbers actually mean and how is each IP rating different from the other.
What is IP Rating and How it Works
IP rating stands for Ingress Protection and is a universally acknowledged measurement of protection for devices against dust and water. To put it in simpler terms, the IP rating of any product determines how well the electrical housing which is inside the body of any device can protect against dust and water.
That being said, it is to be kept in mind that the IP rating of any device is just a reference to the degree of protection the body of any product can provide. This does not confirm the fact that the device will never ever get damaged. Moreover, there are different IP ratings that offer different levels of prevention. To consider an example, if a device is rated IP68 for protection against dust and water, it is going to provide better prevention than the IP55 rating. Furthermore, it is to be kept in mind that IP ratings are for water and dust and don’t include other liquids such as coffee, alcohol and more.
Meaning of IP Rating
IP ratings are the standard measurement of protection against water and dust and are officially standardised by International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Any electronic product that requires an IP rating has to go through multiple lab tests before a rating is provided. Every IP rating comes with two numbers, such as IP68, IP55 and so on.
The first digit signifies protection against dust and particle on a scale of 0-6, with 6 being the maximum. The second digit represents water resistance on a scale of 0-8, with eight being the highest. This means that if a device has an IP68 rating, then it is the maximum it can achieve. Let’s take a look at what these ratings actually mean.
IP68 – Survival against dust and up to 1.5 metres of water for 30 minutes
IP67 – Similar protection against dust as IP68 and up to 1 metres of water for 30 minutes.
IP55 – For protection against sweat and a bit of dust
IPX5 – Zero protection against dust and a little against water.
