National foreword

This British Standard is the UK implementation of EN IEC 60068‑2‑1:2025. It is identical to IEC 60068‑2‑1:2025. It supersedes BS EN 60068‑2‑1:2007, which will be withdrawn on 30 November 2028.

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee GEL/104, Environmental conditions, classification and testing.

A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to its committee manager.

Contractual and legal considerations

This publication has been prepared in good faith, however no representation, warranty, assurance or undertaking (express or implied) is or will be made, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by BSI in relation to the adequacy, accuracy, completeness or reasonableness of this publication. All and any such responsibility and liability is expressly disclaimed to the full extent permitted by the law.

This publication is provided as is, and is to be used at the recipient’s own risk.

The recipient is advised to consider seeking professional guidance with respect to its use of this publication.

This publication is not intended to constitute a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

This British Standard was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 30 November 2025.

This European Standard was approved by CENELEC on 2025-10-28. CENELEC members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration.

Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre or to any CENELEC member.

This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by translation under the responsibility of a CENELEC member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.

CENELEC members are the national electrotechnical committees of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom.

European foreword

The text of document 104/1107/FDIS, future edition 7 of IEC 60068‑2‑1, prepared by TC 104 "Environmental conditions, classification and methods of test" was submitted to the IEC-CENELEC parallel vote and approved by CENELEC as EN IEC 60068‑2‑1:2025.

The following dates are fixed:

This document supersedes EN 60068‑2‑1:2007 and all of its amendments and corrigenda (if any).

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent rights. CENELEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national committee. A complete listing of these bodies can be found on the CENELEC website.

Endorsement notice

The text of the International Standard IEC 60068‑2‑1:2025 was approved by CENELEC as a European Standard without any modification.

In the official version, for Bibliography, the following notes have to be added for the standard indicated:

FOREWORD

The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications, Technical Reports, Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as "IEC Publication(s)"). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested in the subject dealt with may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-governmental organizations liaising with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by agreement between the two organizations.
The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all interested IEC National Committees.
IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any misinterpretation by any end user.
In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence between any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in the latter.
IEC itself does not provide any attestation of conformity. Independent certification bodies provide conformity assessment services and, in some areas, access to IEC marks of conformity. IEC is not responsible for any services carried out by independent certification bodies.
All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
No liability shall attach to IEC or its directors, employees, servants or agents including individual experts and members of its technical committees and IEC National Committees for any personal injury, property damage or other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, or for costs (including legal fees) and expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC Publications.
Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
IEC draws attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve the use of (a) patent(s). IEC takes no position concerning the evidence, validity or applicability of any claimed patent rights in respect thereof. As of the date of publication of this document, IEC had not received notice of (a) patent(s), which may be required to implement this document. However, implementers are cautioned that this may not represent the latest information, which may be obtained from the patent database available at https://patents.iec.ch. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

IEC 60068‑2‑1 has been prepared by IEC technical committee 104: Environmental conditions, classification and methods of test. It is an International Standard.

This seventh edition cancels and replaces the sixth edition published in 2007. This edition constitutes a technical revision.

This edition includes the following significant technical changes with respect to the previous edition:

revision of the introduction and scope;
inclusion of new figures and symbols for clarification purposes;
clarification of the test procedure for ascertaining high or low air velocity in the test chamber;
clarification of the requirements for measuring points around, on or in specimens;
reintroduction of the nomogram procedure for the correction of the conditioning temperature when testing with high air velocity (Test Ad and Test Ae);
revision of the temperature tolerances of the test;
revision of standardized requirements for the relevant specification and test report;
inclusion of the advantages and disadvantages of the testing procedures.

The text of this International Standard is based on the following documents:

Full information on the voting for its approval can be found in the report on voting indicated in the above table.

The language used for the development of this International Standard is English.

This document was drafted in accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, and developed in accordance with ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1 and ISO/IEC Directives, IEC Supplement, available at www.iec.ch/members_experts/refdocs. The main document types developed by IEC are described in greater detail at www.iec.ch/publications.

A list of all the parts in the IEC 60068 series, under the general title Environmental testing, can be found on the IEC website.

The committee has decided that the contents of this document will remain unchanged until the stability date indicated on the IEC website under webstore.iec.ch in the data related to the specific document. At this date, the document will be

reconfirmed,
withdrawn, or
revised.

Introduction

The working ranges and performance of equipment and machinery (a device) can be significantly affected or limited by ambient temperatures. The degree of this influence can depend on temperature distributions of the environment as well as temperatures on components of the device itself. In order to determine the existing degree of influence and to ensure that the device is suitably designed for its ambient conditions, tests are carried out with cold or dry heat (IEC 60068‑2‑2), or both. During the test detailed in this document, it will be taken into account whether the tested device itself emits heat or not.

Reducing the air flow within the test chamber can be required to reduce the air velocity at heat-dissipating specimens. This can be achieved by using air baffles or adjusting the air flow of the test chamber. If the reduction of air velocity is not practical or possible due to the required test conditions, this document provides an alternative test procedure without the need for adjustable air flow as well as guidance on selecting the applicable test procedure.

1 Scope

This part of IEC 60068 specifies temperature tests at low temperatures, generally referred to as "cold tests", that are applicable to non-heat-dissipating and heat-dissipating specimens, to determine the ability of components, equipment, or other articles to be used, transported or stored at low temperature.

This document is applicable to energized as well as non-energized specimens that normally achieve temperature stability during the test. The specimens can be subject to test in packed condition (to simulate transportation and storage) or in unpacked condition (to simulate use).

This document does not specify tests to determine the impact of temperature changes on specimens.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 Symbols

5 Application of tests for non-heat-dissipating specimens versus tests for heat-dissipating specimens

5.1 General

5.2 Ascertaining high or low air velocity in the test chamber

5.3 Temperature monitoring

5.4 Packaging

5.5 Background

6 Test description

6.1 General

6.2 Severities

6.3 Test Ab: Cold for non-heat-dissipating specimens

6.4 Test Ad: Cold for heat-dissipating specimens that are energized after initial temperature stabilization

6.5 Test Ae: Cold for heat-dissipating specimens that are energized throughout the test

7 Testing procedure

7.1 General

7.2 Thermal radiation

7.3 Specimen with artificial cooling or heating

7.4 Mounting

7.5 Initial measurements

7.6 Preconditioning

7.7 Conditioning

7.8 Intermediate measurements

7.9 Final temperature ramp

7.10 Recovery

7.11 Final measurements

8 Information to be given in the relevant specification

9 Information to be given in the test report

Bibliography

BS EN IEC 60068-2-1:2025

Environmental testing - Part 2-1: Tests - Test A: Cold

Current

Published:

30 Nov 2025