IP Ratings Defined

When is "Rugged" tough enough?

You may hear about IP ratings from computer equipment manufactures or systems integrators. For example, what does an IP rating of IP34 really mean? Will that be enough for your facility? if you are using a barcode scanner in an office environment, IP34 will probably work for you, but if you bring that same unit into a warehouse or a light industrial environment, that equipment probably won’t last through one shift.

Before investing in a hardware device, make sure it can satisfy the requirements of your facility. While an IP67 rating won’t protect your unit from being run over by a forklift, it will guarantee reliable performance in a dusty warehouse environment or in an outdoor environment with all types of weather conditions.

The White Paper in the right column will discuss how to identify when Rugged is Rugged enough for your environment. The more rugged a device the higher in cost it is going to be, so in order to stay within budget you will want to make sure you don't buy too much ruggedness for what your environment calls for.

What is an IP rating?

IP stands for Ingress Protection. This IP rating is used to specify the strength of the enclosure that surrounds electronic equipment and is determined by specific tests. Each IP rating consists of using two separate measures. The first is protection against solids; the second number is protection against liquids.

IP Ratings
Level of Protection against solid objects, materials, or dust		Level of protection against water or liquids
0	No Protection	0	No Protection
1	Protected against solid objects down to 50 mm	1	Protection against vertically falling drops of water (e.g. condensation)
2	Protected against solid objects down to 12 mm	2	Protection against direct sprays of water up to 15 degrees from vertical
3	Protected against solid objects down to 2.5 mm	3	Protection against direct sprays of water up to 60 degrees from vertical
4	Protected against solid objects down to 1 mm	4	Protection against water sprayed from all directions – limited ingress permitted
5	Protected against dust, limited ingress (no harmful deposit)	5	Protected against low pressure jets of water from all directions – limited ingress permitted
6	Totally protected against dust	5	Protected against low pressure jets of water from all directions – limited ingress permitted
		6	Protected against low pressure jets of water, limited ingress permitted (e.g. ship deck)
		7	Protected against the effect of immersion between 15cm and 1m
		8	Protected against long periods of immersion under pressure

When you are looking to purchase new data collection equipment for a warehouse or distribution center environment, make sure that it has at least an IP54 rating. There are units on the market today that have IP67 ratings which, unless you work in an aquarium, underwater, are more than adequate for even the harshest warehouse environments.

And with today's comprehensive warranties from manufacturers, most devices can be repaired no mater what the damage is, as long as they can read a serial number, they can repair a device. Ask a Barcoding rep for more information about that, just don't tell your workers they can run over your devices with a forklift and still be covered, you'll be sending a lot of devices in for repairs.

For additional information, contact Barcoding Inc.

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How do you Know when Rugged is Rugged Enough?

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