IP (Ingress Protection) Rating

A two-digit number (as specified in EN 60529) is used to provide an IP rating to a piece of electronic equipment or to an enclosure for electronic equipment.

The two digits represent two different forms of environmental influence:

The first digit represents protection against ingress of solid objects
The second digit represents protection against ingress of liquids

In the following chart the larger the value of each digit, the greater the protection from that influence. As an example, a product rated as IP57 would be better protected against environmental factors than another similar product that was only rated as IP43.

IP	First Digit: Protection Against Ingress of Solid Objects	Second Digit: Protection Against Ingress of Liquids
0	No protection	No protection
1	Protected against solid objects over 50 mm, e.g. hands, large tools.	Protected against vertically falling drops of water.
2	Protected against solid objects over 12 mm, e.g. hands, large tools.	Protected against direct sprays of water up to 15° from vertical.
3	Protected against solid objects over 2.5 mm, e.g. wire, small tools.	Protected against direct sprays of water up to 60 ° from vertical.
4	Protected against solid objects over 1.0 mm, e.g. wires.	Protected against water sprayed from any direction. Limited ingress permitted.
5	Limited protection against dust ingress (no harmful deposit)	Protected against low-pressure water jets from any direction. Limited ingress permitted.
6	Totally protected against dust ingress.	Protected against high-pressure water jets from any direction. Limited ingress permitted.
7		Protected against immersion between 15 cm and 1 m.
8		Protected against long periods of immersion under pressure.