Just how water-resistant is that box filled with electricity? Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET
I remember a time when you wouldn't dare let water anywhere near a smartphone or power bank, as it would almost certainly mean disaster. Today, however, most smartphones are designed to be water- and dust-resistant to some extent, and even gadgets like power banks and portable power stations are following suit.
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But how can you determine exactly how water- and dust-resistant a device is? And what's the difference between something being water-resistant and truly waterproof?
IP ratings explained
This is where IP ratings come into play. IP, short for Ingress Protection, is an international standard used to measure a device's resistance to water, dust, and other foreign objects. It's expressed in the form of IPXX, where each "X" represents a numeral. The first digit indicates protection against solid particles, like dust, while the second digit measures resistance to liquids. The numbers for dust range from 0 (not dust-resistant) to 6 (dust-tight), while the numbers for liquids range from 0 (no protection) to 9 (protection against high-temperature, high-pressure water jets).
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If an X appears in the rating, that indicates unknown, meaning a test wasn't carried out. For example, IPX5 means that no test was carried out for dust intrusion.
IP Rating Dust Protection (First Digit) Liquid Protection (Second Digit) X Unknown Unknown 0 No protection against dust or solid objects No protection against liquids 1 Protection against solid objects larger than 50 mm (e.g., hands) Protection against vertically falling water drops 2 Protection against solid objects larger than 12.5 mm (e.g., fingers) Protection against vertically falling water drops when the device is tilted up to 15° 3 Protection against solid objects larger than 2.5 mm (e.g., tools, wires) Protection against water sprays at an angle of up to 60° 4 Protection against solid objects larger than 1 mm (e.g., small wires) Protection against water splashes from any direction 5 Limited protection against dust (dust might enter but won't interfere with operation) Protection against low-pressure water jets from any direction 6 Complete protection against dust (dust-tight) Protection against high-pressure water jets from any direction 7 N/A Protection against temporary immersion in water (up to 1 meter for 30 minutes) 8 N/A Protection against continuous immersion in water under conditions specified by the manufacturer (e.g., depth and time) 9 N/A Protection against high-pressure, high-temperature water jets
This standardized system eliminates the ambiguity often caused by marketing claims, providing a clear and reliable measure of durability.
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