We’ll help you find an outdoor electrical enclosure that can stand up to both the elements and the test of time.
Outdoor electrical enclosures play a critical role as electronics housings in various industries such as energy, communications and water treatment. Brush up on the major considerations and little details to select an appropriate enclosure for your application. Integra Enclosures thinks you should start here:
- “Weatherproof” designation: Whether your enclosures are in the direct sunlight and heat of Southern California, constant rain in the Pacific Northwest or gusty snowfall of the Great Lakes, NEMA enclosures with a “weatherproof” designation offer critical protection for housing contents. All Integra enclosures carry either a NEMA 4X or 6P weatherproof designation, meaning they’re specially designed and verified to keep wind, dust and water out.
- Remote Monitoring: If you’ll be adding any type of wireless transmitter to your enclosure, you’ll want to make sure that the transmitter can do its job with as little interference possible from the enclosure itself. Metal enclosures are known to limit and interfere with signal strength of wireless devices. Depending on the sensitivity of your electronics, you should try to limit the amount of metal components (such as hinges and latches) as much as possible.
- Durability plus Versatility: Beyond simple impact resistance (where polycarbonate beats fiberglass by a wide margin), consider how easy your enclosure will be for a technician to work with in the field. If you need to install cords and cables on the fly, a polycarbonate enclosure is the right choice as it is safe and easy to drill holes into using standard power tools. If space is limited, find an enclosure with mounting options and hinge opening angles that make the most of the space provided.
- Special mountings: Sometimes a specialized mounting like a pole-mount may be the right choice for your application. Be sure you’re selecting the right hardware for the job, or you’ll be replacing components sooner than you were hoping for.
Whether your industry is a long-time purchaser of electrical enclosures for outdoor uses or has new needs to protect new technology, we’re happy to walk you through the materials and configurations that will best suit your needs for years to come. Call us at 440-269-4966 or use our online contact us form to share the specifics of your project with us.
