Outdoor Digital Signage and the IP65 Standard by Richard N Williams

Posted by: Richard Williams | Posted on: October 22nd, 2009 | 0 Comments

For anyone in the European region who is looking for the implementation of outdoor digital signage or erecting LCD TV’s in outdoor locations, will have come across the standard IP65.

There many misconceptions about IP65 with some people assuming that the IP rating is stipulating that the LCD TV is able to be used outside, however, this is not necessarily the case.

IP65 is the standard issued by the EU as part of their Ingress Protection standards. IP65 is only one standard in a whole family. The IP rating system, unlike the USA NEMA equivalency, sets its guidelines on two principles: particle ingress (solid objects) and liquid ingress (liquids). The first digit in the IP rating represents dust protection (the higher number the better) whilst the second digit represents liquids.

For an IP65 enclosure the prerequisite for ingress is:

Dust = 6, Ingress of dust is not totally prevented, but dust shall not penetrate in a quantity to interfere with satisfactory operation of the apparatus or to impair safety.

Liquids = 5, Water projected in jets against the enclosure from any direction shall have no harmful effects.

So it can be said that an IP65 LCD enclosure is relatively dustproof and can easily withstand rainfall, however, that does not necessarily mean that an IP65 LCD enclosure will be able to function outdoors.

The IP rating makes no concession for temperatures and in some parts of Europe winter temperatures can plummet to well below zero for prolonged periods whilst in the summer some areas endure extreme heat. For any LCD screen operating in these extreme conditions additional heating and/or cooling systems are required before the IP65 LCD TV can be installed in an outdoor location.

Also, it must be noted that an IP65 LCD TV will offer no guarantee of protection against heavy impacts, theft or vandalism, which are other concerns for anybody placing a TV outside or in unmanned areas.