Difference between revisions of "Terminology"

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;ANSI/NEMA FL-1: an industry standard for measuring the performance of flashlights. See [[ANSI-NEMA FL-1|article]].

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

;boost: a type of electronic circuit that increases voltage. See article [[Driver]].

;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.

;<span id="CPF">CPF</span>: [http://candlepowerforums.com/ CandlePower Forums] A large flashlight discussion board and marketplace.

;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."

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:2. Dino Direct, a budget dealer

;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

;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.

;<span id="emitter">emitter</span>: 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 article [[Light Output Measurements]].

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;<span id="flood">flood</span>: 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|throw]].

;flux: light output, measured in lumens.

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;incan: [[Incandescent]]

: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 it is switched on.

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

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: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. See article [[Lenses]].

;<span id="OTF">OTF</span>: 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]].

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;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.

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;<span id="ramping">ramping</span>: 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.

;recoil: or "recoil thrower" is a flashlight design where the LED is mounted on an arm just under the center of the lens, facing backwards into the reflector. Such a light can produce a very intense hotspot with great throw and very little spill. One downside is there is not much heatsinking to carry heat away from the LED.

;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]].

;<span id="ROP">ROP</span>: Roar of the Pelican, a flashlight manufactured by Pelican, but currently more often the name of modified maglites using the ROP bulb.

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;SF: [[SureFire]] or sometimes [[Solarforce]], two flashlight manufacturers.

;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]].

;<span id="throw">throw</span>: 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|flood]]. The [[ANSI-NEMA FL-1|ANSI/NEMA FL-1]] standard states throw two ways: candela and meters.

;<span id="TIR">TIR</span>: 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 article [[Lenses]].

;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.

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