MANGO ELECTRONICS
Address
Mango House
1 Buckhurst Road
Bexhill-on-Sea
East Sussex TN40 1QF
United Kingdom
IP68


So what is this IP68 then?

It refers to the degree of environmental protection that a particular item, process or product posesses and simplistically it means permanently useable underwater at depth; technically the IP stands for Ingress Protection, the first digit 6 indicates the highest available ingress protection rating for solid particles (i.e. absolutely no dust can get inside) and the second digit 8 indicates the protection rating against liquid ingress (normally water) for depths over 1m to maybe 4m and will usually be qualified with an actual maximum depth rating if that is over 4m.

So underwater swimming pool lights for example will always be IP68 rated because they are designed to be installed permanently into the underwater walls of a domestic swimming pool at depths from 0.75m to 2.5m and maybe to 4m in the deep end of commercial pools.

Can I use an IP67 rated light underwater?

No! The second digit in this case means that the liquid ingress protection rating is only for temporary submersion for a maximum of 30 minutes and even then only at depths under 1m. Very often imported lighting only has this IP67 rating, yet they carry labels stating that they are suitable for fixed installation underwater whereas they most definitely are not!

So does this IP69K rating mean even higher water protection then?
 
Yes and no! This is a special category, created to indicate water pressure resistance at up to 80 deg.C and pressures of up to 100 bar for short periods, but intended to cover products and equipment requiring steam cleaning and pressure washing, not those used underwater
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email colin@mango-electronics.co.uk