IP rating

Trade jargonOhio homeowner glossaryCC-BY-4.0

TL;DR

An IP rating is the two-digit ingress protection code from IEC 60529 stamped on electrical enclosures and fixtures, where the first digit grades resistance to solids and dust from 0 to 6 and the second grades water resistance from 0 to 9. Outdoor lighting buyers read it constantly: IP44 tolerates splashes on a covered porch, IP65 handles rain and hose-down on exposed walls, and IP68 survives continuous submersion in fountains and pools.

Definition

What it means

An IP rating is the two-digit ingress protection code from IEC 60529 stamped on electrical enclosures and fixtures, where the first digit grades resistance to solids and dust from 0 to 6 and the second grades water resistance from 0 to 9. Outdoor lighting buyers read it constantly: IP44 tolerates splashes on a covered porch, IP65 handles rain and hose-down on exposed walls, and IP68 survives continuous submersion in fountains and pools. It rates the enclosure only, so connections and transformers still need their own weather protection.

Category

Where it sits in the glossary

IP rating is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.

Why this matters for Ohio homeowners

Why Ohio homeowners should know it

This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.

ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.

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See also

License: CC-BY-4.0 — quote freely with attribution to ProFix Editorial Team / ProFix Directory.

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