Festival work and seaside work are both "outdoor", and they kill fixtures differently. A festival rig fails from water getting in during a rain event and from being struck and re-rigged every weekend. A coastal rig fails slowly, from salt. Specifying one as if it were the other is the most expensive mistake in outdoor lighting.
The short answer
For a festival stage, buy IP65 with gasketed connectors and budget for ruggedness — the fixture will be cased, trucked and re-hung dozens of times a season. For a seaside venue, buy IP65 with a corrosion-resistant finish and stainless hardware, and commit to rinsing the rig with fresh water. Expect outdoor moving heads to cost roughly twice the indoor equivalent: our IP65 beams start at US$409 against US$180 indoors.
What does IP65 actually promise, and what does it not?
An IP rating is two digits and buyers over-read both of them.
| Rating | First digit (solids) | Second digit (liquids) | Practical meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| IP20 | No protection against dust | No protection against water | Indoor only, dry rooms |
| IP44 | Protected against 1 mm objects | Splash from any direction | Covered outdoor positions |
| IP65 | Dust-tight | Low-pressure jets from any direction | Open outdoor stages, rain |
| IP66 | Dust-tight | Powerful jets | Wash-down areas, exposed facades |
Neither digit covers the two things that actually end an outdoor fixture's life: corrosion from salt, and water that enters through a cable rather than through the housing. Salt is chemistry, not ingress, and no rating addresses it.
What is different about a seaside venue?
Everything downstream of the rating. Salt-laden air settles on the housing, and when humidity rises it forms an electrolyte that attacks any exposed metal — clamp bolts, yoke hardware, connector shells, and eventually the heatsink fins.
| Coastal risk | What it attacks | What to specify |
|---|---|---|
| Salt deposition | Heatsink fins, housing finish | Marine-grade powder coat, rinsed regularly |
| Galvanic corrosion | Mixed-metal fixings | Stainless clamps and bolts throughout |
| Humidity cycling | Internal electronics, optics | Sealed optics block, desiccant in the housing |
| Condensation | Lens interior, driver board | Vented design with a drainage path, not a sealed box |
The countermeasure is unglamorous and free: rinse the rig with fresh water after a coastal run and let it dry before casing it. Fixtures that get rinsed last years longer than identical fixtures that do not, and the difference has nothing to do with the IP rating.
Which outdoor fixtures are actually available?
Thirty-five SKUs across our catalogue carry an IP65 rating, and they are not all moving heads.
| Category | Outdoor SKUs | Entry price | Typical outdoor job |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moving head | 8 | US$409 | Beams and washes on an open stage |
| PAR | 6 | US$59 | Colour wash on facades and structures |
| Gobo projector | 10 | US$58 | Logo and pattern projection |
| Pixel / tube | 2 | US$105 | Vertical effects, outline lighting |
| Floor | 1 | US$45 | Interactive dance floor under cover |
| Model | Type | EXW, 1 unit |
|---|---|---|
| RG-M230B-KOH20 | 230W IP65 beam moving head | US$409 |
| RG-ML760WC-KCH99 | IP65 19 × 40W zoom wash | US$560 |
| RG-M480SN-KNH16 | 480W IP65 beam | US$579 |
| 350W Hot Selling Waterproof | 350W IP65 beam | US$583 |
| RG-ML420WC-KCH93 | IP65 7 × 60W wash | US$590 |
| RG-M380B-KOH20 | 380W IP65 beam | US$659 |
| RG-M380B-KOH16 | 380W IP65 beam-spot-wash | US$715 |
| RG-M420BN-KH24 | 420W IP65 beam | US$757 |
The two that do most of the work on a festival stage are the 230W outdoor beam, which is the cheapest way to get an aerial effect that survives rain, and the IP65 zoom wash, which covers a wide stage from a single hanging point.
Does a festival rig need moving heads at all?
Less than an indoor rig does. Fixed fixtures are cheaper per lumen, they have no moving seal to fail, and a festival audience is looking at a stage, not at a ceiling.
| Position | Fixture | Why fixed is often enough |
|---|---|---|
| Stage wash | IP65 PAR | Colour on the stage; nothing needs to move |
| Facade and structure | IP65 wall washer | A static surface, lit statically |
| Architectural projection | IP65 gobo projector | The image does not move |
| Audience beams | IP65 beam moving head | Needs movement to sweep |
| Specials | IP65 spot or hybrid | Follows a performer |
| Model | Type | EXW, 1 unit |
|---|---|---|
| RG-P47TC10-We7A | IP65 high-power LED PAR | US$59 |
| RG-P57TC10-Ke18AE | IP65 high-power LED PAR | US$75 |
| RG-P61TC10-Ke18A | IP65 LED PAR | US$115 |
| RG-W19TB8-Ke36A | IP65 36 × 8W RGBW wall washer | US$212 |
| RG-TB120S28D-f60 | IP65 360° pixel tube | US$105 |
| RG-GB300L4C0-WK | IP65 300W gobo and water projector | US$250 |
An outdoor PAR at US$59 against an outdoor moving head at US$409 is a ratio worth respecting. A festival rig built from IP65 PARs for coverage plus four or six moving heads for movement costs a fraction of an all-moving rig and looks better, because coverage is what the audience sees.
What should be checked on delivery?
Outdoor fixtures fail at the margins, and the margins are visible on arrival.
| Check | What to look for | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Connector shells | IP-rated on both ends, gasket seated | Water wicks along the cable |
| Cable entry | Gland tight, strain relief present | The most common leak path |
| Drainage | A path out of the housing, not a sealed box | Condensation has to leave |
| Hardware | Stainless bolts, not zinc-plated | Coastal corrosion starts here |
| Finish | Even powder coat, no bare metal at the seams | Salt attacks exposed edges first |
| Optics | Sealed block, desiccant present | Internal fogging is unfixable in the field |
Run the fixture for an hour before it goes on a truck, then open it and look for moisture. That single step catches most of the units that will otherwise fail in week three.
How should an outdoor rig be powered and cabled?
Water enters through cables more often than through housings. Every run should have a drip loop — a low point below the connector so water drips off instead of running along the cable into the plug — and every connection should be off the ground.
| Practice | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| Drip loop on every run | Lowest point below the connector | Cable running straight up into a plug |
| Connectors off the deck | On a stand, a bar or a weather-rated box | Lying in standing water |
| Cables rated for outdoor use | Rubber or PUR jacket | Indoor PVC jacket that cracks in UV |
| Distribution | IP-rated distro with RCD protection | Domestic extension leads |
What to do next
Send us the venue, whether it is coastal, and how many weeks a year the rig is deployed. We will spec the mix — how much of the budget goes on moving heads versus fixed outdoor fixtures — and quote the whole thing at the volume tier that applies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is IP65 enough for a seaside venue?
For rain and wash-down, yes. For salt air, the rating is not the issue — corrosion is. At the coast specify a marine-grade finish on the housing and stainless hardware on every clamp and bolt, and rinse the fixtures with fresh water after a run. The IP rating covers water ingress, not what the water leaves behind.
What is the difference between IP65 and IP66?
IP65 is protected against low-pressure water jets from any direction; IP66 is protected against powerful jets. For a festival stage that gets rained on, IP65 is the practical standard. IP66 matters where a fixture is hosed down regularly or sits in a wash-down area.
Why do outdoor moving heads cost about twice as much?
Sealing, connectors and materials. A moving head has a rotating yoke, which means a dynamic seal that has to stay watertight through millions of cycles, plus gasketed power and data connectors, a drainage path and a corrosion-resistant finish. That is real hardware cost, not a marketing premium.
What fails first on an outdoor fixture?
The connectors and the cables, not the housing. Water wicks along a cable into a connector that is otherwise sealed, and corrosion forms on the pins. Specify IP-rated connectors on both ends and drip-loop every run so water drips off the lowest point instead of into the plug.
Can an indoor fixture be used under a covered stage?
Only if the cover is genuinely weatherproof on all four sides. Wind-driven rain reaches under most roofs, and condensation forms inside a fixture that gets cold overnight and warm in the sun. If the rig is outside the building envelope, buy the IP65 unit.
How should outdoor fixtures be stored between festivals?
Dry, vented and out of the sun. The common mistake is sealing a damp fixture into a flight case, which turns the case into a humidity chamber. Dry the fixture, leave the case lid cracked in a dry store, and check the desiccant.
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