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Water Ingress Testing

Which is usually the second part of ingress protection (IP) specified in IEC 60529. The second characteristic numeral (such as IPx4) describes the degree of protection against ingress of water with harmful effects.

Table 1: Brief Explanation of IP Code

IP Code		Description
Water Ingress	IP x0	Non-protected
	IP x1	Protected against vertically dropping water drops
	IP x2	Protected against vertically dropping water drops, when enclosure is tilted up to 15°
	IP x3	Protected against spraying water
	IP x4	Protected against splashing water
	IP x5	Protected against water jets
	IP x6	Protected against powerful water jets
	IP x7	Protected against the effects of temporary immersion in water
	IP x8	Protected against the effects of continuous immersion in water
Ingress of Solid Foreign Objects	IP 0x	Non-protected
	IP 1x	Protected against solid foreign objects of 50mmØ and greater
	IP 2x	Protected against solid foreign objects of 12.5mmØ and greater
	IP 3x	Protected against solid foreign objects of 2.5mmØ and greater
	IP 4x	Protected against solid foreign objects of 2.5mmØ and greater
	IP 5x	Dust protected
	IP 6x	Dust tight

Table 2: Brief Comparison between IP Code and NEMA 250 Rating

		Specification
		IEC 60529	NEMA 250
Standard developed by		International Electro technical Commission	National Electrical Manufacturers Association (in US)
Ratings		IP0x~IP6x, IPx0~IPx8	Type 1~6, 12, 13, 3R, 3S, 4X, 6P, 12K
Product standard		No	Yes
Applicable to		Any enclosure	Metal or polymeric enclosure for electrical equipment (1000V max)
Test protection against	Ingress of solid objects	Covered	Covered
	Ingress of water	Covered	Covered
	Corrosion	Not covered	Covered
Construction requirement
Door and cover securement
Coolant effects
Effect of icing
Gasket aging and oil resistance
Translated to other rating?		CANNOT be converted to NEMA type rating	Only in some cases, such as NEMA Type 2 → IP 22 NEMA Type 3, 3S → IP 55 NEMA Type 4, 4X → IP 66