Crouse-Hinds and B-Line series market solutions

NEMA 4X and IP66 solutions

Electrical equipment designed and certified to keep water and debris out to avoid costly damage to internal components.

Quick links:
Product solutions with NEMA 4X and/or IP66 ratings | Understanding NEMA ratings | Understanding IP ratings |
NEMA vs. IP Comparison

Delivering safe and reliable performance in the toughest environmental conditions

Electrical installations in harsh and hazardous areas commonly encounter windblown dust, dirt, rain, splashing water, hose-directed water, and corrosive elements like salts and acids. It’s critical that the equipment you select be designed and certified to combat corrosion and keep water, dust and debris from entering the enclosure and causing costly damage to components.

Eaton can help with our extensive offering of NEMA 4X and/or IP66 solutions within our Crouse-Hinds series portfolio. These products protect the equipment inside from:

Rain sleet, and snow
Hose directed water
The external formation of ice
Corrosion
Falling dirt and debris
Windblown dust

Our NEMA 4X / IP66 soultions provide you with piece-of-mind that each will perform safely and reliably for decades in the toughest environmental conditions.

Product solutions with NEMA 4X and/or IP66 ratings

Jump to a product platform:

Wire and cable management

Industrial Fittings:

Cable glands:

Enclosures

LED Lighting

Floodlighting and Wallpacks

Emergency & Exit lighting

Highbay, midbay and lowbay lighting

Linear lighting

Power Distribution and Control

Circuit Breakers

Control Stations

Motor Starters

Panelboards

Switches and Disconnects

Transformers

XDT and XTT Hazardous Area Transformers

Connectivity (Plugs & Receptacles)

AFCI / GFCI

NEMA Locking

Ark-Gard ENRX Hazardous Area NEMA Locking Receptacles

Pin & Sleeve

Interlocked Receptacles

Multipin

Communications, Signalling and Security

Process Safety and Protection

Industrial PCs, Thin Clients and Remote Workstations

GECMA Industrial and Zone 1/21 workstations

Surge Protection

Have questions about an upcoming project?

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Understanding NEMA ratings

NEMA ratings define the degree of protection provided by an enclosure against various levels of exposure to solids, dust , water and other contaminants. This ratings systems allows an individual to identify electrical equipment that best suits the environment that it is to be installed in.

NEMA ratings go from 1 through 13. Non-hazardous areas utilize NEMA ratings 1 through 6 and 11 through 13. Hazardous areas utilize NEMA ratings from 7 through 10. The below guide will help you understand what each NEMA rating means. Bold text helps easily identify each NEMA rating's unique protection requirement.

NEMA 1:

Indoor – protects equipment from limited amounts of falling dirt and debris

NEMA 2:

Indoor – protects equipment from limited amounts of falling dirt and debris, as well as light dripping or splashing water

NEMA 3:

Indoor/Outdoor – protects equipment from falling dirt, windblown dust, rain, sleet, snow, and the external formation of ice

NEMA 3R:

Indoor/Outdoor – protects equipment from falling dirt, rain, sleet, snow, and the external formation of ice (no protection against windblown dust)

NEMA 3S:

Indoor/Outdoor – protects equipment from falling dirt, windblown dust, rain, sleet, snow, and the external formation of ice. External mechanism (door and latches) must be operational when ice laden

NEMA 3X, 3RX, 3SX:

Indoor/Outdoor - Same as NEMA 3, 3R and 3S, but with additional corrosion protection, typically achieved by manufacturing the enclosure and its external hardware out of stainless steel or a nonmetallic material

NEMA 4:

Indoor/Outdoor – protects equipment from falling dirt, windblown dust, rain, sleet, snow, external formation of ice, and hose directed water

NEMA 4X:

Indoor/outdoor – Same as NEMA 4, but with additional corrosion protection, typically achieved by manufacturing the enclosure and its external hardware out of stainless steel or a nonmetallic material

NEMA 5:

Indoor – protects equipment from settling airborne dust, fibers and flyings, falling dirt and debris, as well as light dripping or splashing water

NEMA 6:

Indoor/outdoor – protects equipment from falling dirt, rain, sleet, snow, external formation of ice, hose directed water, and temporary submersion at 6 feet for 30 minutes (per UL 50 standard)

NEMA 6P:

Indoor/outdoor – protects equipment from falling dirt, rain, sleet, snow, external formation of ice, hose directed water, and temporary submersion at 6 feet for 24 hours (per UL 50 standard)

NEMA 7:

Indoor/outdoor hazardous (classified) environments – Designed to contain an internal explosion without causing an external hazard. For Class I, Division 1, Groups A, B, C, D locations

NEMA 8:

Indoor/outdoor hazardous (classified) environments – Designed to prevent combustion through the use of oil-immersed equipment. For Class I, Division 1, Groups A, B, C, D locations

NEMA 9:

Indoor/outdoor hazardous (classified) environments – Designed to prevent the ignition of a combustible dust. For Class II, Division 1, Groups E, F, G locations

NEMA 10:

Indoor/outdoor hazardous (classified) environments – Designed to contain an internal explosion without causing an external hazard. Meets applicable requirements of Mine Health and Safety Administration (MSHA)

NEMA 12:

Indoor – protects equipment from falling dirt, circulating airborne dusts, fibers and flyings, as well as light dripping or splashing water

NEMA 12K:

Indoor – protects equipment from falling dirt, circulating airborne dusts, fibers and flyings, as well as light dripping or splashing water - constructed with knockouts

NEMA 13:

Indoor – protects equipment from falling dirt, circulating airborne dusts, fibers and flyings, light dripping or splashing water, and dripping, seeping or spraying oils and non-corrosive coolants

Understanding IP ratings

An alternative system, known as the Ingress Protection (IP) ratings, has been developed by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in Europe. Similar to NEMA ratings, IP ratings define the resistance of equipment against the intrusion of dust or liquids.

This widely used ratings system features an IP code that consists of two numerals.

The first numeral, rated on a scale from 0 to 6, defines the protection against solid objects
The second numeral, rated on a scale from 0 to 9, defines the protection against liquids.

The below guide will help you understand what each IP rating means.

1st numeral - Degree of protection against solid objects

0:

No protection

1:

Solid objects equal to or greater than 50.0 mm (ex. hand)

2:

Solid objects equal to or greater than 12.5 mm (ex. finger)

3:

Solid objects equal to or greater than 2.5 mm (ex. screwdriver)

4:

Solid objects equal to or greater than 1.0 mm (ex. wire)

5:

Dust protected. Ingress of dust is not entirely prevented, but it will not be sufficient enough to interfere with equipment operation

6:

Dust tight. Complete protection against ingress of dust

2nd numeral - Degree of protection against solid objects

0:

No protection

1:

Vertically dripping water

2:

Vertically dripping water when equipment is titled up to 15º

3:

Spraying water up to 60º from the vertical

4:

Splashing water from any direction

5:

Water jets projected against the equipment in any direction

6:

Powerful water jets with increased pressure, or water from heavy seas projected against the equipment in any direction

7:

Effects of temporary immersion in water (up to 1 meter for 30 minutes)

8:

Effects of continuous immersion in water for a prolonged time period

9:

Water jets projected at high pressure and high temperature (80ºC) against the equipment in any direction

NEMA ratings vs. IP ratings comparison

The visual below provides a summary overview of the protection provided by each rating, as well as an approximate cross reference between NEMA ratings and IP ratings. Note that while the NEMA and IP rating systems are very similar, there is not a direct correlation between the two.

Eaton is an intelligent power management company dedicated to improving the quality of life and protecting the environment for people everywhere. We are guided by our commitment to do business right, to operate sustainably and to help our customers manage power ─ today and well into the future. By capitalizing on the global growth trends of electrification and digitalization, we’re accelerating the planet’s transition to renewable energy and helping to solve the world’s most urgent power management challenges.