Test Tiers
IDR has two test tiers:
- Home: for an individual testing one device they intend to keep.
- Lab: for testers who can sacrifice and tear down two or more devices.
| Home | Lab | |
|---|---|---|
| Units | 1 | 2 or more |
| Device fate | Kept: the tester intends to keep it working | Sacrificed |
| Device condition | Any, from new to heavily used; shall be recorded as found | Shall be spread across wear: one new, one heavily used (real or simulated), and further units filling in the levels between |
| U digit | Per unit condition | Per unit condition |
| Ladders | Stop at the first effect, or at the tester’s chosen maximum (D and G, W) | Run to failure or the top (D and G, W) |
| Cleaning | Between groups and after the last group | Between groups |
| Teardown | No | Yes, every unit, after the last group tested |
Can detect enclosure breach (E) | Electrical faults only | Yes |
| Code prefix | IDR1* (see code format) | IDR1 |
| Published codes | One full code | One full code per unit, plus a headline code |
| IDRS short code | Cannot be issued | Can be issued (IDRS) |
Note (informative): Home results are useful for comparing devices and spotting weak points, but they cannot confirm sealing. This is why the
*marks them as never equivalent to lab results.
Lab tier: teardown
After the last group tested, every lab-tier unit shall be torn down as follows.
- Tear down the unit. Inspect each sealed compartment for debris and liquid, and photograph it under UV light.
- Record the state of every liquid contact indicator the device has.
- Inspect hinge and mechanism internals for debris, scoring and damaged parts. Photograph and describe them.
- Record any enclosure breach with its location, and attribute it (see below).
The exterior UV photographs taken after D (see Between-group cleaning) form part of the teardown record.
Attributing an enclosure breach
| Evidence inside a sealed compartment | Attributed to |
|---|---|
| UV-fluorescent debris (traced D medium) | D |
| Non-fluorescent sand grains in the G medium’s size range | G |
| Liquid, water marks, corrosion, or a tripped liquid contact indicator | W |
- Every group whose evidence is found shall be attributed.
- If the evidence does not identify a group, every group tested on that unit shall be attributed.
- Each attributed group’s result for that unit shall be marked unverified in the report. The code digit stands as tested.
- No IDRS digit for an attributed group shall be taken from that unit (see IDRS Short Code).
Note (informative): A teardown cannot show at which level or step a breach happened, which is why the result is marked unverified rather than regraded. Water can also carry D medium further into the device, so a D breach found after W may have been helped by the water. See Open Issues.