so as we stand there Joe in beautiful February sunshine it's the weather we're actually concerned
about and it's not today obviously today this video we're gonna be talking about the importance
of IP ratings now we went out on a beautiful sunny day like this to brusher in northern Italy to
the palace only Factory yes and we had a look at their IP testing laboratory there and we saw how
important it is to prevent the ingress of moisture so if you've not watched that video click the link
because that's quite an interesting one however in this video I guess what are we particularly
going to be thinking about as we move into a more advanced installation yeah so we've seen in the
past and we people fit in outside lights outside socket-outlets with an IP rating and maybe even
cutting holes in the bottom the socket outlets as drain off points that's okay but now we're talking
about highly expensive electronic equipment being screwed to the exterior of the building an ingress
of moisture now becomes even more crucial than it's ever been jug yeah absolutely with
the changes to amendment one we can expect to see more and more complicated bits of kit being
installed inside our EV charging units things that are going to be monitoring currents voltages
all sorts of things and actually those items are going to become increasingly sensitive to moisture
getting into the circuit and starting to cause problems so what we want to have a look at in this
video is just how do we go about preventing that because there's one or two unique challenges that
come when we're installing EV charge points and how are we going to look at getting around that
guy yeah so we're probably going to be bringing either a twin and CPC cable or a steel wired armoured
cable into the actual enclosure often if it's still wear on the cable that's going to go into
the bottom of the enclosure so straight away that makes for maybe the IP rating a little bit easier
to maintain however in this installation I can't see a cable so it's probably coming through the
rear and in order to maintain the IP rate and it's crucial that we reinstate it back to the
minimum IP rating of the enclosure in the first place and that often he's tried to be achieved
using silicon sealant Joe's a good idea it's not a great idea because you can't guarantee
the IP rating you may have missed a little bit may not have bonded correctly in places and also
actually it doesn't look quite as nice nicely as it could do when you open up the enclosure so when
we open up in this enclosure we're gonna open it using my Wiha Speede screwdriver I thought as
we got such a fancy piece of electronics we'd use a fancy dancy screwdriver in order to get inside
that again when we look at the manufacturer's instructions you'll see there been so crucial
with the IP rains have actually set the talk rating of the screws that hold the front cover
on in order that it maintains the IP right into the seal at the back let's open it up and have a
look how they've actually got the cables into this in electrical enclosure first there okay
Joe can we just pop off the cover so I can attack it with my speede screwdriver for sure yeah just
don't do these two clips at the bottom here and it just just with this one off we'll get inside here
the IP range of this enclosure Joe is IP 65 very important that if we make any holes in this to
bring cables and such in we need to maintain that okay and the torque setting when these go back on
is a torque setting of 1.2 Newton meters of torque so it's really clever they've even suggested the
torque rating of the actual screws themselves yes he could over tighten it potentially and actually
damage the seal rather than under tightening it not using the seal just remove that ribbon
connection there and that is now ready look at the inside after all the fun of it opening it
up I've got a massive issue Joe look someone's put the glands on the wrong way round well it's
interesting isn't it but this kind of flows in the face of perhaps your entire lifetime of electrical
training when you look at this you've always put the body of the gland on the outside but
what's wrong with that guys absolutely nothing absolutely nothing you know you've got the same
principle going on you've got that therefore the cable retention you've got it there to prevent
the ingress of moisture actually put in the body of the gland on the inside and the locknut on the
outside all that does is just put the bulkiness of this inside and in this fitting there's plenty
of room to do that and it also means that we've not had to chisel away at the back of the wall
to fit the gland in then tighten it up then push it back and fit the thing on the wall we've also
not have to flood this with silicone it's just I think that's what really it's lateral thinking but
I think it works really well it does but there is one other key element to this in both cases there
is an o-ring or seal that must be present whether that be on the inside all the outside so you look
at these two here your window I got my one there so you see there you've got the seal there which
again without that that actually doesn't have an IP well in this case it's ip68 we've got to at
least match the ip65 of the fitting yes but if you don't have that on there you lose the IP rating
of the gland it's not just about that bit it's also about that bit as well so simple solution
to what could be a major problem if the cables come through and we flooded it with silicon with
all this electronic components in here ingress of moisture in there would do that no favors
whatsoever and we're talking several hundred pounds of electronics screw to the outside of
your installation simple solution Joe yeah and the internals of these are not going to get any
simpler as time goes on in fact they likely it's got more complicated so we've got to maintain
those IP ratings there's one or two other clever things that this particular manufacturer in my
energy have done they've installed it all buns in the back there to make sure that no moisture can
get back in the pre-existing drilling and fixing holes that aren't being used there's little washes
here with little rubber seals around the back of them so when you screw that on that creates a
seal around the fixing holes as well and the seal around the edge is also fixed it isn't one of them ones
you're so wrestling it back into position so it makes sense doesn't if the manufacturer has gone
to all this trouble of making sure that all these points of entry for moisture have been dealt with
in sealed up yeah it would be devastating for us not to do our part by maintaining the IP rating
of the fitting where we punch holes in it so Joe all it remains now is to put the cover back on
reattach our ribbon cable here to a front board and then return the torque settings to these
screws as I said previously 21.2 Newton meters of talk in order that this seal here completes
the IP rating of this and let you enclosure let's do it I'll do the technical oh yeah there you go
good job right let's get these up to 1.2 yeah 1.2 Newton meters of torque, okay and we can see
the process we just nip around and then cover goes back on I think it's worth know you know
this point of the temptation sometimes to do it up with a normal screwdriver and then finish them
with a top screwdriver but with 1.2 Newton meters so if you don't want
to go above that value if you do it up with a normal screwdriver chances are you gonna go
beyond that and then come to starting that in it clicks yeah that's nicely at 1.2 you could
be it like two point for four yeah you could not realized so the idea is doing up completely with
the talk screwdriver and then you've got it at the right setting after we've gone through all
this trouble this is the top corner place okay yes sir they're all done you need to you to do
it obviously there's one who's gonna miss one of the screws out replace the front cover as well
joke absolutely I pee rain of the enclosures back to it and again simple trick of using a gland okay
like this put it in reverse making sure we've got an o-ring to make sure the IP rating is correct
as it goes within the enclosure you can consider things like this make electricians life easier
Jack absolutely very much we like stuff like that it's worth noting at this point the regulations
contain specific requirements for the IP rating of enclosures for evey charging units I believe
the value is IP 44 it is however you need to be working to the manufacturer's tolerances if they
go above that if they say it's IP 65 you've got to match the IP rating that they specify as well in
order to maintain your warranty and the long term guaranteed functioning of that piece of equipment