EDC TM Flashlight - The Details
The light that gets you homeSM
Cutaway of EDC Clicky with silver bezel and flush button:
Cutaway of EDC Clicky with black bezel and raised button:
Crenelations on the bezel allow you to place the
light face down on a table and see light out of the crenelations when the
light is turned on. The crenelated bezel can also be used for
personal protection.
The stainless steel bezel is much stronger than the
aluminum body and will prevent significant damage to the front of the
flashlight if the flashlight is dropped bezel down. Stainless
steel does not deform like aluminum and provides a protective cavity
for the glass lens. Blackened bezels are coated with a tough AlTiN finish.
The lens is made of ultra-clear glass with an anti-reflective coating
on both sides. This allows the glass to transmit roughly 98% of
the light from the emitter and reflector. The glass lens is made
extra thick to make it super strong. Finally, the glass lens is
protected on all sides by rubber cushions to protect the lens from hard impacts. This makes the glass lens nearly unbreakable.
The reflector is machined out of aluminum for maximum strength.
The surface is coated with a special 3 layer coating to provide
superior reflectivity and long life. The surface is specially
textured to produce a smooth beam pattern with a gentle transition
between the beam center and beam exterior. The reflector
compartment is then completely sealed to keep out water and other
contaminates.
The LED is the heart of the flashlight. We carefully choose the most efficient LEDs available for maximum light output and longest runtimes. Higher efficiency LEDs not only produce higher maximum output but they produce proportionately longer runtimes at lower output settings. Because we only use highly efficient LEDs, there is never a reason to overdrive the LED and thus our LEDs never get excessively hot and will never need replacing.
The LED is joined to a thick integrated heat sink. The heat
sink transfers heat from the LED to the skin of the flashlight
where it is dissipated to the environment. There are no thermal breaks along the heat path and thus there are no places for heat to build up. Keeping the LED
cool allows the LED to perform at its peak efficiency and dramatically
increases the LED's life. The LED's temperature is monitored
by the electronics to ensure the LED never gets excessively hot.
The reflector and heat sink are designed to keep the LED and
reflector in proper optical alignment. Proper optical
alignment ensures the highest quality beam pattern.
The electronics are the brains and muscles of the flashlight.
We have designed the most advanced electronics available.
The electronics provide the following special features:
- The electronics precisely and efficiently adjusts the power to the LED to generate the desired light output. It does not matter if the battery voltage is higher, lower or the same as the voltage needed by the LED. It does not matter if the battery voltage changes over time. It does not matter if the LED needs a higher voltage for the high power setting or a lower voltage for the low power setting. And it does not matter if the LED changes temperature over time. Our unique constant power regulation architecture just gives the LED what it needs to maintain a constant light output and gets it done very efficiently. We are the only company to employ this unique and highly sophisticated regulation topology.
- The electronics are fully regulated so that the light output stays constant from the time you put in a new battery until the time the battery cannot supply enough power for the selected setting. Other flashlights slowly dim as the battery is used and generate significantly less total light output. The output stays the same whether you use primary batteries or rechargeable batteries.
- The electronics are designed to use regular disposable lithium batteries as well as rechargeable Li-ion batteries. The two kinds of batteries must be handled differently. Our flashlights are the only flashlights with the advanced technology needed to automatically detect rechargeable batteries and provide you with plenty of warning when the battery is nearly discharged. This prevents the protection ciruit in the battery from suddenly turning off the battery and leaving you in the dark.
- Our flashlights are calibrated to provide a constant light output from one flashlight to the next. Other flashlights can vary in light output by as much as 2:1 from one flashlight to the next so you never know how much light you are going to get.
- The electronics provide a momentary burst output when the maximum output is selected. This allows you to see roughly 20% further than the normal high output so you can identify distant objects without sacrificing the high level's long runtime.
- The electronics take advantage of the logarithmic nature of your eyes to increase the maximum runtime without a significant decrease in light output. Why give up half your runtime for a difference in output you can barely see?
- The electronics automatically detect when the battery cannot supply enough power for the selected brightness level and gracefully lowers the brightness by a single level. When the light output cannot maintain at least 55 lumens, the light will double-blink every two minutes to let you know the battery needs changing. The process repeats when needed as the battery is used up until the lowest brightness level is reached, at which point the light will blink continuously. This provides ample notification and time for you to find a safe place to replace the battery, wait for sunrise or wait for rescue.
- The electronics automatically monitor the LED and flashlight temperature to prevent the LED or the flashlight from becoming excessively hot. If the LED or flashlight temperature approach the temperature limit, the power is incrementally reduced just enough to prevent the temperature from becoming excessively hot - with minimal visual affect on light output.
- Your flashlight comes with 4 preset brightness levels. The selected preset brightness levels depend on the model and maximum output. Each preset brightness level is easily accessed directly. No need to scroll through unwanted levels to get to the desired output. Two of the preset brightness levels are directly accessible from off. See your flashlight's manual for complete details on the factory presets for your flashlight and how to access them.
- Your flashlight can be fully customized to your specific tasks. Each of the four preset brightness levels can be customized to any of the more than 20 internal brightness levels. The preset brightness levels can also be customized to use tactical strobe, emergency strobe and SOS. If you flashlight is a Rotary model, a preset brightness for the rotary control is also provided. Other customizations include selecting the turn-on preset, button lock, automatic turn off, locator flash, momentary operation and disabling customizations.
- The electronics are protected from a reversed battery without resorting to placing a diode in series with the battery. A diode is an inexpensive device that only allows current to flow in one direction and will prevent circuit damage if the battery is inserted backwards. However, a diode in series with the battery is very inefficient. Replacing the diode with more expensive circuitry provides circuitry protection and higher efficiency.
The electronics are potted using a special polymer.
The potting makes the electronics very tough and resistant to
vibration and shock. The potting also excludes water and
other contaminants that can interfere with the correct operation
of your flashlight.
The anti-shock positive battery contact prevents most damage to
the positive end of the battery by cushioning the impact forces
during gun recoil or bezel impacts. The spring ensures that
contact is not lost if the battery shifts in the battery compartment
due to rebound. The dimpled contact plate provides high
point contact forces needed for a reliable low resistance connection
to the battery. The spring is made out of a special material
that offers good spring qualities and significantly higher efficiencies
than regular spring materials. The parts are nickel plated for
corrosion and wear resistance. Finally the whole assembly is
soldered together for high reliability and lowest circuit resistance.
The battery case interior has no protrusions that can cause damage to the battery case during severe impacts. Large conductive threads are used to efficiently transmit power from the battery compartment to the head. The threads use a special non-conducting aerospace grease to prevent galling and to maintain a low resistance contact path.
The negative battery contact prevents most damage to the negative end of the battery by distributing severe impact forces. The
spring ensures that contact is not lost if the battery shifts in
the battery compartment due to rebound. The dimpled
contact plate provides high point contact forces needed for a
reliable low resistance connection to the battery. The spring
is made out of a special material that offers good spring qualities
and significantly higher efficiencies than regular spring materials.
The parts are nickel plated for corrosion and wear resistance.
Finally the whole assembly is soldered together for high reliability
and lowest circuit resistance.
The switch is fully sealed against dust and water, allowing it to receive the coveted IP 67 rating. The switch contacts are gold plated, making them essentially immune to corrosion. Finally, the switches are hardened so they can withstand tremendous shock forces.
The single button is used to control all functions of the flashlight. The flashlight uses the latest generation of our highly successful single-button interface. Click to turn on or off your flashlight. When your flashlight is on, you can easily access the press-and-hold preset, the double-click preset and the triple-click preset. The turn-on preset and the press-and-hold preset may both be accessed from off. A flush button is handy for pocket carry while a raised button is easy to operate with gloves.
The sturdy bezel-down pocket clip is long enough to securely hold dress belts. The clip is made of superior spring steel and protected by a corrosion and wear resistant matte black finish. The Clip fits the EDC Clicky models. There is no clip for the EDC Rotary models - but we hope to have one available shortly.
Please refer to our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page for additional information about LED flashlights in general. You may also want to read our LED Flashlight White Paper (PDF) to gain a better understanding of how LEDs work.
Specifications:
- Input voltage: 1.8V to 4.5V
- Battery: 123 primary cell (Li-MnO2, 3.2V),
R123 rechargeable cell (Li-ion - Li-CoO2 or Li-Mn2O4, 4.2V) - Light Source: high efficiency white LED
- Power supply: constant power with thermal regulation
- Lens: nearly unbreakable ultra-clear glass with anti-reflective coatings
- Housing: aerospace aluminum, black military Type III hard anodize, stainless steel bezel
See the Custom-built Clicky flashlight page for additional configuration options.
How tough is the EDC Tactical?
To get things going, we started by dropping this production EDC Tactical repeatedly from a height of 6 meters (20 feet) on to concrete, pavement and rocks. We then moved on to throwing the light at concrete, pavement and rocks for over an hour. The light still functions normally using the original battery. The glass lens did not break even with this severe abuse. Can your flashlight survive this kind of punishment?
Documentation
EDC Flashlight User's Guide (PDF)
EDC Flashlight Pocket Reference Card (PDF)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Payment, shipping, warranty, returns and privacy policies
Specifications are subject to change without notice.