Waterproof

Outdoors is not one environment, and the IP rating has to match the position rather than the postcode. IP65 suits protected exterior positions — eaves, soffits, covered facades — where water arrives as spray but never stands. IP67 handles exposed positions that get rained on and washed down: decks, hardscape, open facades. IP68 is the only rating for anything permanently submerged.

Temperature matters as much as water. A strip in a south-facing aluminum channel runs far hotter than the same strip indoors, and heat is what shortens LED life and shifts color. Profile choice is a thermal decision outdoors, not a cosmetic one.

In the United States the listing on the driver is what an inspector checks. The strip can be rated for immersion and still fail an inspection if the supply feeding it is not listed for a wet location.