IP67, IP68... what's the difference?

[Steve Gase]

I was wondering what the IP67, IP68 numbers signified.  Thought others might be interested in the answer:

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•IP 67 Enclosures - IP rated as "dust tight" and protected against immersion.
•IP 68 Enclosures - IP rated as "dust tight" and protected against complete, continuous submersion in water.

It would seem, based on our needs that IP67 should be sufficient, but IP68 should definitely be better -- usually at a cost.

[keitha43]

All I now is that my lone ip68 node string has withstood 3 rainstorms with no problem but my older nodes aren't fairing to good even with plasti-dip. I think water gets inside as the 2 ribbons of cable are separated as the string was lightly pulled semi taunt. The zip tie of the ribbon at the base probably helped RJ last year or he had a better batch than me. The downside is that with the better sealing the nodes are closer together but I would gladly buy more nodes per length of string to keep from having to spend 2 days after every rainstorm cutting and spicing nodes.

[Steve Gase]

I started with a batch from ray in late october, then added another batch about a month later that came from another member.  I could now have a mix of IP67s and IP68s... from visual observation I could not tell the difference -- they each looked to be sealed.  So, I ended up not dipping any of the strings and 'weathered' the consequences.

I will start the new year by repairing everything, then dipping them all.

The batches that I had, whether IP67 or IP68 were problematic from the start -- before they went outside I tended to have 1 or 2 nodes bad in each string.  After 40 strings went outside I had 9 go bad.  After repairing the 9, I had another 15 go bad.  Could all of the bad ones be from the re-purchased batch? and could those all be IP67s?  maybe.

One thing is for certain, I am going to dip, submerge, and apply a firehose to these in the backyard over the summer.  One solid month of running these through all of the weather I can muster before putting them out in front of the public again.

[chrisatpsu]

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This is a good article that explains what those numbers mean, and the tests used for the second number

IPXY
the X is the rating for solid particles, and the Y rating is for liquids.

[keitha43]

The first 2 shipments the nodes had obviously flat sides. In the ip68 they are bigger around (width) and there is hardly any flatness to the sides. And if you spread the ribbons apart it is easy to see the sealant between the ribbons. The older types didn't have much sealent there. If you had one of each kind in your hands it would be easy to tell.

[Steve Gase]

EXCELLENT INFORMATION!! 

I really wished I had known this before.  But better now, than never.

I definitely have strings from each batch.  And, I think I've been using pieces from an IP67 strings to do my fixes, so I'm creating new problems with the fixes.