Terminology

ANSI/NEMA FL-1

an industry standard for measuring the performance of flashlights. See article

AR coating

anti-reflective coating. A coating on a lens that lets more light through the lens instead of being reflected back towards the light source. See Wikipedia article

aspheric

a lens designed to offer better throw. "Aspheric" because it does not have the classic lens shape, the shape of the lens is not spherical. This dramatically increases costs. Most affordable ones are injection moulded optical plastic. "Aspheric" means "not a part of a sphere"

AW

a well-regarded brand of rechargeable battery sold on CPF Marketplace. See article rechargeable

beamshot

a picture of the beam of a flashlight, usually on a white wall, or outside on plants

bezel

the front of a flashlight; the part containing/surrounding the lens.

bin

an LED classification that describes the performance of a particular LED model - Flux, tint, and Vf. Example: UV1J. Cree uses bin numbers P4, Q2, Q3, Q4, Q5, R2, R3, R4, R5, S2 each denoting a roughly 5% increase in output. As LED's come out of the factory, they are tested and put in actual bins based on their performance.

BLF

Budget Light Forum, an online forum dedicated to less expensive flashlights

boost

a type of electronic circuit that increases voltage. See article Driver

buck

a type electronic circuit that reduces voltage. See article Driver

C

capacity - the charge/discharge rate in an hour. For instance discharging a cell rated 1000mAh at 1C means drawing 1000mA and it should last 1 hour; at 0.1C it would draw 100mA and last 10 hours.

CCFL

Cold-Cathode Fluorescent

CCT

Correlated Color Temperature, a number in Kelvins that represents color of light. A temperature of 2,700 to 3,000 is warm while while cool colors are 5,000+. See Wikipedia article Color Temperature.

cd

candela - a measurement of light intensity

CFL

Compact Flourescent, an efficient alternative to incandescent light bulbs

corona

the area of transition between a beam's central hotspot and the area of spill. The corona becomes more prominent as the reflector surface is made rougher or more heavily textured, and also as the distance of the light emitting surface from the reflector focal point increases.

CPF

CandlePower Forums A large flashlight discussion board and marketplace.

Cree

a manufacturer of high-power, high-efficiency LEDs; particularly the XR-E, XP-E, XP-G, and MC-E. See article Cree.

crenelated

scalloped bezel at the front of a light, to 1) help prevent accidentally leaving the light on when stood on its head; 2) increase utility as a weapon, especially on larger lights (tail is sometimes crenelated too). Sometimes spelled "crenulated."

CRI

Color Rendering Index - a value indicating how well a light source will show colors, with 100 being a perfect representation.

DD

direct drive. See article Driver.

diffuser

1. a method of softening the beam of a flashlight, usually to reduce beam artifacts, via a translucent film or material placed over the lens

2. a translucent attachment to make a flashlight serve as a camping lantern.

direct drive

When the batteries power the LED directly without any regulation in the driver, or without a driver at all. See article Driver.

donut hole

a dark spot in the center of the flashlight beam. This is a common problem with multi-die emitters (can also appear as a plus-sign in the beam reflecting the layout of the 4 dice) but can also be the result of a poorly matched reflector.

driver

the electronics in between the battery and LED. These are usually mounted to a circuit board in the "pill" and regulate the voltage to the LED as well as provide the various modes and memory of the light. See article Driver.

duraloop

nickname for a Duracell precharged NiMH battery with a white top, made in Japan, and thought to be an Eneloop in Duracell wrapping. See rechargeable.

DX

DealExtreme, a direct ship seller of budget brands of flashlights and parts based in China.

EDC

everyday carry. A flashlight someone keeps on their person all the time. Seems to have been borrowed from handgun forums.

efficacy

the amount of light output divided by the power consumption. Usually measured in lumens per watt (a watt being volts times amps). For an LED, this value varies with power consumption, becoming less efficient as power increases. Although efficacy is a measure of how efficient an LED is, true "efficiency" would be a percentage calculated by dividing the light output energy divided by the energy consumed.

emitter

the actual light-emitting part of an LED assembly. e.g. a Luxeon star comprises a Luxeon emitter mounted to a star circuit board. Also can be used to describe where lumens are measured, for instance whether lumen output is measured at the emitter or OTF (out the front). See Light Output Measurements.

flood

scattered light emitted from a flashlight. Good for indoor use to light up a room or short-range use outdoors to light up an area. Compare with throw.

flux

light output, measured in lumens

forward clicky

a switch that turns on the light with the button partially depressed and then locks into on once it is fully depressed and clicked. This allows "momentary on" by halfway depressing the switch. A forward clicky is not as good in switching modes. Compare with reverse clicky.

GITD/gid

glow in the dark

HA

hard anodized. A tough, scratch-resistant treatment applied to aluminum, e.g. for flashlight bodies. See article on Anodizing

HID

High-Intensity Discharge, a type of bright and efficient lighting.

HOLA

High Output Lamp Assembly, typically a bulb/Light Emitting Diode module that is an upgrade and not standard, providing greater output at the expense of battery life.

hotspot

The central and most intense portion of a flashlight beam. Intensity of a hotspot is governed by surface brightness of the light emitter, and the shape, depth, diameter, smoothness and reflective efficiency of the reflector surface. i.e. the hotspot is produced by light coming directly from the emitter, PLUS light reflected by the reflector. The more intense the hotspot, the greater the flashlight's throw.

hotwire

Generally, a Maglite that has been modified with special bulbs and batteries to be significantly brighter

IMR

Lithium-Manganese batteries sold by AW. Sony manufacture equivalent cells called Konion

incan

Incandescent

KD

KaiDomain, a direct ship seller of budget brands of flashlights and parts based in China.

LED

light emitting diode

lens

technically a piece of glass or plastic with curved faces that shapes light, but in flashlights the lens can also be the flat piece of glass or plastic at the front of the light that protects the light source. See also "aspheric."

Lego

flashlights/parts that facilitate mix and match of bezels/heads, battery tubes, tail caps, switches, pills, and so forth

LEO

Law Enforcement Officer (these people often carry flashlights)

Li-Ion

Lithium-Ion rechargeable battery. See article rechargeable.

Lipo

Lithium polymer rechargeable battery. See article rechargeable.

LOP

Light Orange Peel - used to describe a type of texture on a reflector

LOTC

Lock Out Tail Cap, a type of tailcap (primarily on SureFire lights) that when pushed slightly, the light will momentarily engage until released. When pushed harder, the light will engage to constant on until depressed again. The "Lock Out" feature prevents accidental activation by breaking the electrical circuit by separating the tailcap and the conductive body.

LSD

Low Self-Discharge - a type of NiMh cell that keeps its charge longer than regular NiMh cells. See article rechargeable.

lumens

(abbrev: lm) a measurement of light output. Lumens measure all of the light output (compare to lux).

Lux

short for Luxeon LED, an early high-power LED (also LuxI, LuxIII, Lux3, LuxV for different versions of this LED)

lux

a measurement of light intensity. Lux refers to intensity of light at a spot (compare to lumens).

mAh

milliampere-hours - a rating of battery capacity in thousandths of an ampere in an hour. A 1000mAh battery should be able to discharge 1000mA for 1 hour or 500mA for 2 hours.

mcd

millicandela - a measurement of light intensity

memory

1. The memory effect in some cell types, see article rechargeable

2. The ability for a flashlight capable of multiple levels of output to remember the last-used level and return to that level the next time turned on.

Nailbender

a CPF member who makes high power P60 and other drop-ins for host lights.

OP

1. orange-peel. A textured surface, e.g. for a reflector, used to smooth out beam imperfections. Compare to SMO.

2. on conference posts can refer to "original poster," the person who originally started the thread.

optic

usually a total-internal-reflection (see TIR) reflector/refractor, as opposed to a metal-coated reflector.

OTF

Out-the-front. The amount of light that is actually emitted out of the front of the light, usually measured in lumens. This number is always lower than lumens measured at the emitter (at the LED itself). Some manufacturers quote OTF lumens and others use emitter lumens. Usually the OTF value is around a third less than the rated output of the light-producing device. See Light Output Measurements.

P60 drop-in

an assembly of the reflector, bulb, and driver originally introduced by SureFire, but now an industry standard. See article P60

pill

a housing for the driver and a mounting point for the LED. In smaller lights it is threaded on the outside and screws into the throat of the flashlight body.

potted

when the pill or electronics of a flashlight are filled or coated with epoxy or other hardening material. The advantage is this prevents corrosion and increases impact resistance since parts can't be dislodged. The disadvantage is it makes any modifications much more difficult.

preflash

when a light is turned on and emits a short burst of brighter light before settling down to the correct output level

protected

Preventing damaging Li-Ion cells by excessive discharge or current, either by a protection circuit built into the battery, or (in some flashlights) by the light turning off or going to a lower level.

PWM

Pulse Width Modulation. A technique of varying the brightness of a LED by flashing it on and off very quickly, making it appear to the eye that the LED is dimmer. Good PWM is at such a high rate that you can't notice it. But if you wave your hand in front of the light and get a strobe effect, the PWM is getting too low. Some use current regulation which makes the light dimmer without PWM and is also more efficient.

ramping

a mode in some flashlights where the brightness varies (ramps up or ramps down) and you select the brightness level you want. Sometimes this level is then memorized, but in the original Nitecore D10 it is only used until you turn the light off again.

regulator

in a flashlight, a circuit that takes energy from a battery and converts it to a (usually) constant current or voltage to feed the flashlight's light element (either an LED or bulb). Using a regulator, the flashlight's brightness usually stays constant for the majority of the lifetime of the battery, and then output drops quickly and significantly as the battery is no longer able to supply the required energy. Non-regulated flashlights (also called direct-drive) usually start out at a high output, and then the output diminishes gradually over the lifetime of the battery. See article Driver.

reverse clicky

a switch that must be fully depressed, clicked, and released before the light comes on. Once the light is on, a half-press will turn the light off momentarily and/or change modes once released. It is good for multi-mode lights, but does not allow momentary on. Compare to forward clicky.

ROP

Roar of the Pelican, a flashlight manufactured by Pelican, but currently more often the name of modified maglites using the ROP bulb.

runtime

a measurement of how long a flashlight will last one a set of batteries of a particular type, usually measured to 50% of the initial output (10% for ANSI/NEMA FL-1). Multi-mode lights have a different runtime for each mode.

Seoul

Seoul Semiconductor, a Korean LED manufacturer (see article Seoul Semiconductor)

SF

SureFire or sometimes Solarforce, two flashlight manufacturers.

SMD

Surface Mount Device - most high-power LEDs used in flashlights are mounted this way where legs of a component are soldered to pads on the surface of the circuit board (as opposed to through-hole soldering where the legs of the LED's go into holes on the circuit board which are then soldered on the underside with the excess leg length clipped off).

SMO

a reflector with a smooth finish. Designed for better throw, but also shows imperfections in the LED (e.g. rings). Compare to OP.

spill

the area of a flashlight beam outside of the hotspot and corona. Light intensity in the spill area is typically low and even, and comes directly from the light emitting surface with little or no contribution from the reflector.

spot

see hotspot

SSC

Seoul Semiconductor, a Korean LED manufacturer. (see article Seoul Semiconductor)

star

a star-shaped circuit board that an LED emitter is often mounted to. The star board provides easy-to-access solder pads, and some degree of heat-sinking.

tactical

more of a marketing term than anything. Often refers to a light with fewer modes and a forward clicky, designed to take some abuse and possibly be mounted to a weapon. See CPF discussion.

throw

the ability of a flashlight to place light onto a distant defined area of surface, i.e how well the light is collimated. The throw of a light source of fixed power will be defined by the surface brightness of the light emitter, and the shape, diameter, depth, smoothness, and reflective efficiency of the reflector surface. A flashlight with good throw characteristics is called a "thrower" and generally has a narrow beam that is best for illuminating objects at a distance (hundreds of feet). Compare with flood. The ANSI/NEMA FL-1 standard states throw two ways: candela and meters.

ti

Titanium - used to make flashlights that many consider attractive, rugged, and have good wear properties. More expensive and doesn't conduct heat as well as Aluminum. See Titanium

TIR

total internal reflection. A glass or plastic "lens" that collimates light rays from the light emitter, both by reflecting them and by refracting them. Theoretically, ALL of the light produced by the emitter is gathered by the TIR optic. (See optic).

trit

tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen which emits light. Packed in small vials or cubes, it can be attached to a flashlight so that you can find it in the dark.

twisty

a method of controlling a flashlight - loosening or tightening the head, control ring, or tailcap turns the light on or off or changes its level or mode. Many lights turn on with the head tightened, but some turn on with the head loosened.

UCL

Ultra Clear Lens, a trademarked glass lens with anti-reflective coating sold by flashlightlens.com

UI

user interface. The button presses, head twists, and whatever else is required to operate the flashlight, get to various modes, etc.

unprotected

see protected.

Vf

Forward Voltage (a property of an LED). The voltage drop across a LED at a given current.