Plastic Electronics Enclosure with IP68 Rating – How does it Perform?

Electrical Enclosure, Electronics Enclosure, Electrical Boxes, Plastic Enclosure,

Together with the new release of the electronics enclosure today, there are new electronics enclosure that are made with hinges. Some of these are primarily designed to adopt the IP68 ratings. With this in mind, companies are now effectively producing enclosures that are safe for any type of ingress.

In line with this article, we will discuss the well known IP or Ingress Protection ratings. These ratings are different from the NEMA ratings because it is primarily designed and set to tell the customers and help the companies to produce enclosures that can give ingress protection. The two digits in the IP rating determines the protection of enclosure from object or water ingress. Practically, the two digits tells the level of protection the enclosure can give.

To give you the basic idea, the first one determines the level of foreign object ingress protection the enclosure gives and the second one determines the level of water ingress protection.

Refer to the list below of the different levels of protection:

IP First Digit = (Protection level against solid objects)

0 – No available protection

1 – Has Foreign Object Ingress Protection from large objects that is more than 50 mm (akin to a person’s hand)

2 – Has Foreign Object Ingress Protection against medium objects that is more than (akin to a person’s finger)

3 – Has Foreign Object Ingress Protection against small objects that is more than 2.5 mm (akin tools or cables)

4 – Has Foreign Object Ingress Protection against minute objects that is more than 1 mm (akin small wires)

5 – Has Foreign Object Ingress Protection against limited amounts of dust

6 – Has Foreign Object Ingress Total and complete protection from dust

 IP Second Digit = (Protection level against water)

0 – No available protection

1 – Has Foreign Water Ingress Protection against vertically falling drops of water

2 – Has Foreign Water Ingress Protection against direct sprays of water up to 15° from vertical position

3 – Has Foreign Water Ingress Protection against direct sprays of water up to 60° from vertical position

4 – Has Foreign Water Ingress Protection against splashing water coming from all directions

5 – Has Foreign Water Protection against low pressure jets of water from all directions

6 – Has Foreign Water Protection Protection against temporary flooding of water

7 – Has Foreign Water Protection Protection against temporary submersion of enclosure in the water

8 – Has Foreign Water Protection Protection against prolonged submersion in the water

With this in mind, companies are offering different types of enclosure with different types of IP ratings. There are a lot of possible combinations companies can manufacture for the consumers. In case you are using the IP rating to determine the quality of your enclosure, just be specific on your design and tell the manufacturing company about it.