AX Control, Inc.

NEMA vs IP Ratings: What to Know

If you work in an industrial or manufacturing setting, you’ve probably seen pieces of equipment marked with NEMA or IP ratings. This article will help explain a little about what those ratings are, and what they mean. Also, we’ll do a little NEMA vs. IP Ratings comparison.

History and Use, NEMA vs IP Ratings

IP is a European standard. IP stands for Ingress Protection. The National Electrical Manufacturer Association created American NEMA rating standards. This organization is responsible for developing technical standards for the enclosures, batteries, and switchgear to millions of Member products like motors, medical imaging equipment, and lighting. The National Electrical Manufacturers Association also offers consulting services and advocates policy change for the industry to all levels of government.

Overstock/Refurbished Industrial Equipment: Advantages

Do you know the advantages of overstock/refurbished industrial equipment?

The choices when you buy industrial automation equipment are varied. Do you buy new? Overstock? Refurbished? Do you consider repairing your current part?

The age of your factory automation systems and the availability of parts will drive some of these decisions. OEMs give limited options for older legacy systems. And the longer a system remains in use after legacy status, the more challenging it becomes to source quality replacement parts.

Here at AX Control, we stock a wide range of professionally refurbished, repaired, and reconditioned automation parts from companies like GE, Eurotherm, and Reliance Electric, just to name a few. We inspect, clean, test, and bring every piece of legacy equipment in our inventory back to proper working order. Only then is it placed into our online inventory.

How Electricity Works

It’s not a stretch to say electricity is one of the most impactful discoveries of human existence. But how does it work?

We take electricity for granted these days. But think of everything we do with electricity. We cook our food, light our homes, keep our families warm with it. It powers our vehicles. And it keeps many of our waking hours filled with entertainment. But do you know how electricity works?

Electricity is one of most of the impactful technologies to human existence.

close-up of an Edison bulb with others in the background as we ponder how electricity works — Electricity is useful, helpful, even beautiful. But how does it work?

How does electricity work?

Is the electric shock we receive from staticky socks the same as power coming into our television and computer? If they aren’t, how do they relate to each other? And what about batteries? Also, how does the power stored there relate to those other kinds of power?

In simplest terms, the power in your socks, in batteries, and coming into your home are all the same. Each one has electric current moving particles from areas of a different charge. It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about annoying static, a charge hidden in batteries, or high voltage lines. In each case, there is a discharge occurring as the system tries to find a balance between positively and negatively charged electrons. Read more below.