There is a big difference between a charger that can resist just a few drops of rain and a charger that can resist a fall into water. The secret is to know the difference between the IP protections.
IP67 and IP68 are the international codes that identify the resistance of the “charger cover” – also known as “outer shell” – of the charger towards the possibility of penetration of dust (in some cases “solid bodies”) or liquids inside the charger.
Same for all the international codifications, it’s enough to learn how the codes are generated to understand if, for example, what you are going to buy is a charger ready for a dive into water or just a quick wash could make it ready for disposal. It all depends on how high its protection degree is.
The IP code stands for “International Protection”, sometimes also called “Ingress Protection”. The IP code is always followed by 2 numbers: the first one is referred to the dust resistance and the second one is referred to the water resistance. If there is a “X” after the 2 numbers it means that the producer didn’t specify any indications about it.
DUST RESISTANCE
In both cases, the higher the number the higher the resistance to those 2 elements is. To be interpreted there are specific international data sheet with a list of number and description of what the number stands for.
Regarding the dust resistance, there are 6 levels of protection. The International Protection standard calls it “solid bodies” or “dust” depending from the dimensions of the body in question.
0 – No protection
1 – Protection against solid bodies up to 50 mm
2 – Protection against solid bodies up to12 mm
3 – Protection against solid bodies up to 2.5 mm
4 – Protection against solid bodies up to 1 mm
5 – Protection against dust
6 – Complete protection against dust
WATER RESISTANCE
The same numerical system is also used to define the protection against liquids with the only difference that there are 9 levels of protection.
0 – No protection
1 – Protection against water vertical drops
2 – Protection against water drops from a maximum angle of 15°
3 – Protection against rain
4 – Protection against direct water splashes
5 – Protection against direct heavy water gushes
6 – Protection against water waves
7 – Protection against temporal water immersions (between 15cm and 1m deep for maximum 30 mins)
8 – Protection against permanent water immersion (up to 3m deep for maximum 1h)
9 – Protection against permanent water immersion and high pressure and high temperature water gushes (up to 3m deep for maximum 1h)
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IP67 AND IP68?
As you can see from the above explanation, now it’s simple to understand what is the degree of water and dust resistance of your device. IP67 means that your charger is completely sealed and protected against any type of dust and nothing to worry about if it’s dropped in water up to 1m for no more than half an hour. The IP68 protections offers a slightly higher protection but only for the water resistance since it can withstand a full immersion for 1h and in water no more than 3m deep.
Luckily, you can find the charger you need in our website www.tcechargers.com with the best protection a charger can offer.