What is Ingress Protection (IP) and why are IP Ratings important for external fittings? The team at Integral LED has the answers.
As a professional installer, you’ll be familiar with IP Ratings on outdoor lighting luminaires. We, therefore, thought it would be useful to re-visit the various levels of protection you can specify and what is safe to use for a forthcoming outdoor project.
Experts at the London-based lighting laboratory have produced a brief overview on Ingress Protection. The facility is the centre of Integral’s quality control and verifies the product data that is printed on its packaging. Like so many familiar terms, accurate memory recalls as to what classifications mean and how they’re measured can fade with time and some of the following may surprise you.
What is Ingress Protection?
Ingress protection testing is used to determine if an electrical product’s exterior case or enclosure will protect the working parts from water, dust or solid object intrusion, keeping the product electrically safe. When foreign particles or moisture get inside a product, they can cause faults that lead to damage and poor performance. Ingress protection testing, or IP testing, provides a repeatable test standard to compare the enclosure protection; IP testing should always be performed at an accredited test laboratory.
Outdoor Lighting
Security
Security lighting needs to be durable and protected. When looking at security lighting you should aim for products at IP44 up to IP68. If you wish to place your security light in a completely unsheltered area we recommend a product such as our Compact-Tough Floodlight which has an IP65 rating, leaving it dust-tight and protected from water jets. Any product placed on the ground where surface water is possible should be minimum IP67.
Garden
Depending on the positioning of your lights we recommend products of IP54 up to IP65. Our Geolux Outdoor light is just one of the elegant and modern luminaires on offer at Integral with an IP65 rating, making it ideal to display in your garden completely unsheltered. Alternatively, you could specify the Lux Stone, which is one of our IP54 rated fittings and best suited for a garden porch.
Path
Integral offers a specific outdoor luminaire designed specifically for path lighting. The Pathlux collection is available in a number of colours and shapes, with a rating of IP65. This means it will safely hold up against any dust or extreme rain water events, making it a safe and fashionable solution for a pathway.
