What is the IP rating for?

You may probably confused about the IP code when you shopping for outdoor or indoor lighting. You may wonder why this light company lists this information on their product description. The IP code is an international standard that defines the protection degree of solid, dust, or water objects intrusion. The purpose of these code design is for us, non-experts, to have a clear and quick understanding of how well-protected a light fitting is.

 

Generally, an IP code consists of two digits. The initial digit demonstrates the protection degree from a solid object and it depends on the scale of the intrusion objects. The second number illustrate how well the fixture is protected from the water.

 

Number 1-solids

This number is shown custom the fixture protection degree of against solids, like dust, and other objects. The number is higher, the protection is more specific. Sometimes, you may see there is an X in a fixture’s description, this means the fixture has not been tested at all, for this solider protection side. The detailed information of the protection degree has been included in the below chart.

 

Digit 2-liquid

The second number is applied for checking how well protected from the liquid level. It is demonstrated that there is just vertically falling drop protection when the rating number is 1. Otherwise, after the rating raised to 7, the liquid immersion can be under 15cm-100cm water for 30 min.

 

Based on the above discussed, someone insists that choosing IP, IP light is definitely superior to IP, IP65. To be honest, the higher the level of protection, the higher the cost budget. Because, the higher level protect, the higher price of the fixture. The IP rating choosing should deepen on the environment of the light applied. For example, IP 20 is the most suitable and economical for indoor using. While IP spots are ideal as bathroom lighting.

 

How to decorate our bathroom with various IP rating lighting?

As the below picture shows, our bathroom can divided into three zones. Different IP rating lighting placed depends on which zone you are fitting in.

 

Zone 0 - Minimum IP value: IP67

Zone 1 - Minimum IP value: IP64; IP65 recommended

Zone 2 - Minimum IP value: IP64