Abbreviations of some popular flashlights
TL-3 - Streamlight Task Light 3
X5T - Inova X5 Tactical (with tailcap switch)
TID - Tactical Impact Device; sharp points on a flashlight's bezel that can be used as a defensive weapon
KL5 - SureFire KL5
L1 - SureFire L1
L2 - SureFire L2
M6 - SureFire M6 or Pelican M6
L1-P or L1P - Fenix L1 Premium
General (lighting / flashlight specific) abbreviations & acronyms
CPF - Candle Power Forums (where you probably just came from!)
CCFT - Cold Cathode Fluorescent Tube
CCFL - Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamp (same thing as above)
CFL - Compact Fluorescent Lamp
nm - Nanometers (Used to measure wavelength)
Å - Angstroms - multiply nm by 10)
NUV - Near-Ultraviolet (Light with wavelengths of 395-410nm)
UV - Ultraviolet (Radiation with wavelengths below 395nm)
NIR - Near-Infrared (Light with wavelengths of 700-800nm)
IR - Infrared (Radiation with wavelengths above 800nm)
DMM - Digital Multimeter
DVOM - Digital Volt Ohm Meter
VOM - Volt Ohm Meter
NV - Night Vision
LEO - Law Enforcement Officer
LS - Luxeon Star LED
PGLS - Pee Green Luxeon Star (The "rotten squid urine green" color emitted by some LD whites)
MCPCB - Metal Core Printed Circuit Board (the square or hexagonal PC board that Luxeon Star LEDs are mounted to)
LS/O - Luxeon Star LED with optics
LS HD(LD) - Luxeon Star LED High Dome (Low Dome)
LI - Lambda Illuminator. 2-AA Legend-based Luxeon Star mod
TL - Streamlight Task Light flashlight
TT - Streamlight Twin Task flashlight
PT - Princeton Tec (mfg)
UKE - Underwater Kinetics (mfg)
HA - Hard Anodized
HA-III - Hard anodize type 3
OD - Olive Drab
EDC - Every Day Carry
GITD - Glow In The Dark
LOTC - Lock Out Tail Cap
HID - High Intensity Discharge
MM - Dat2Zip's "MadMax" sandwich (converter circuit)
WO - Wide Open (when referring to the MM directly above)
DB - Double Barrel (side-by side battery compartment light, like the Double Barrel LS Mod)
TB - Triple Barrel (like the Stanley MaxLife 369 Flashlight)
DD - Direct Drive flashlight; drives the LED with no resistors or other circuitry
mod - modification or moderator depending on context.
LED - Light Emitting Diode
FED - Flame Emitting Diode (Don't try this at home please!)
WA - Welch-Allyn (bulb/lamp manufacturer)
LDF - Light Diffusing Film
USL - Ultra Stealth Light or Ultimate Stealth Light
Vf - Forward Voltage (usually in reference to an LED)
If - Forward Current (usually in reference to an LED)
TK - Turnkey; already built and ready to use. Usually associated with McLux flashlights
LASER - Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation
O-SINK - Heatsink used for Luxeon LEDs in homemade flashlights
CW - Continuous wave (usually used regarding lasers)
MCA - Multiple Crystal Assembly (as you might find in a yellow, green, or blue laser pointer)
DPSS - Diode Pumped Solid State (for 593.5nm yellow, 532nm green, and 473nm blue lasers)
Boost - A DC-DC inverter that raises the voltage enough to drive an LED
Buck - A circuit that drops the voltage down so the LED doesn't get smoked
CBDSRDM - Computerised Battery Destroying Satanic Robot Death Machine - a battery lifetime testing device, made from a charting (connects to computer via a cable) DMM, a solar cell, some wires, and a PC running a couple of programs
Here's an example of a chart output by the CBDSRDM:
Related to ARC flashlights
Arc - mfg of small, durable, bright LED lights. The "light denisty" king.
Arc LS - Luxeon Star LED light from Arc
Arc SLS - A Second Quality Arc LS
Arc4 - The new Arc-LS model 4; microcontroller light with numerous options
Arc LSL-ST - Arc LS, low-dome, standard
Arc LSL-P - Arc LS, low-dome, premium
Arc LSH-ST - Arc LS, high-dome, standard
Arc LSH-P - Arc LS, high-dome, premium
Arc LSHP-F or LSHF-P - Arc LS, high-dome, premium, with Fraen acrylic optic
Arc LE - Limited Edition Arc AAA with a white SB1 LED and natural HA III finish
Arc PE - Premium Edition Arc AAA - same as above
Arc AAA - Standard Arc AAA LED flashlight
Arc CPF - CPF version of the LE. Blue or red case and special engraving, otherwise same as Arc LE
Turquoise EV - Brightest 5mm turquoise currently available (though nobody seems to know what "EV" stands for)
Gransee (Peter) - Mr. Arc
Related to SureFire flashlights
SureFire - mfg of high-end tactical and executive lights
LOLA - Low Output Lamp Assembly
HOLA - High Output Lamp Assembly
LOTC - Lock Out Tail Cap
ARB - Anti-roll bezel (hex shaped)
SIB - Shock Isolation Bezel
SFTH - SureFire Turbo Head (might also be seen as "SRTH")
E2(e) - Executive series 2-cell 6v light
MN0x - Lamp assembly; that last number varies depending on what light it's for
MA02 - Lamp assembly designed to fit a SureFire Aviator A2
PK (Paul Kim) - Mr. SureFire
Related to Batteries
(mAh for Alkaline, typ.)
AAAA 595mAh at 1.5v
AAA 1150mAh at 1.5v
AA 2750mAh at 1.5v
C 8350mAh at 1.5v
D 18000mAh at 1.5v
123 1300mAh at 3v
9v 595mAh at 9v
Li - Lithium
Li-Ion - Lithium Ion
Nicd/Nicad - Nickel Cadmium
NiMH - Nickel Metal Hydride
Light Measurements
lm - lumen
cd - candela
mcd - millicandela
fc - footcandle
lux - The light measurement known simply as "lux"
where:
lux = lm/m^2
1 lux = 1 cd @ 1 m
fc = lm/ft^2
1 fc = 1 cd @ 1 ft
1 cd = 1,000 mcd
Not specific to this site or CPF, but fun or useful nonetheless
CONUS = Continental United States; not including Alaska or Hawaii
WRT - With Regards To
UPS - United Parcel Service
USPS - United States Postal Service
BTW - By The Way
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
FWIW - For What It's Worth
LOL - Laughing Out Loud
ROTFLMAO - Rolling On The Floor Laughing My @$$ Off
ROTFLMFAO - Rolling On The Floor Laughing My {vulgar term for having intercourse} {toilet muscle} Off
BTT - Bump To The Top (used on message forums)
BTTT - Back To The Top (used on message forums)
FUBAR - F'ed Up Beyond All Recognition
SNAFU - Situation Normal, All F'ed Up
IIRC - If I Remember Correctly
IMO - In My Opinion
IMHO - In My Humble Opinion
URL - Uniform Resource Locator (the web address you type into your browser)
BRB - Be Right Back
BBS - Be Back Soon
Not acronyms, but terms used on this website
Radiation - Electromagnetic waves with wavelengths ranging from 100nm (UVC) to 4,900nm (mid-IR); commonly called "light"
For more fun with acronyms that are not light-specific, visit this SITE.
To search for an acronym when you have no idea of its meaning, try this site instead.
List courtesy of Darell of Candlepower Forums
R/C abbreviations & acronyms (mainly related to R/C helicopters)
OT- wide open throttle
SD = shaft drive
DD- direct drive
VP = variable pitch
CNC--Computerized Numerical Control. It is method utilized to machine precise parts
LIPO- lithium polymer battery
FFF- fast forward flight
H/S- head speed
LHS- local hobby store
T/R- tail rotor
T/G- training gear
L/G- landing gear
B/H- bell- hiller
RX-reciever
TX- transmitter
ESC-electronic speed controller
CF-carbon fibre
FG-fibreglass
FP- fixed pitch
CP- collective pitch
Bl - Brushless
CoG - Center of gravity
PITA - Pain in the Toliet muscle (the story of these little helis)
NiMh = Nickel Metal Hydride (type of rechargeable battery now commonly used in TXs)
NiCd = Nickel Cadmium (older type of rechargeable battery chemistry)
GOV = Governor, ESC based regulation of headspeed
BEC = Battery Eliminator Circuit (derived as a solution from the practice of utilizing two separate batterys in an aircraft/vehicle, one for running the motors, one for running the radio gear, it "eliminates" the need for a separate battery for the radio gear)
PPM = Pulse-Phase-Modulation, or Pulse-Position-Modulation (conventional radio signal type that many RTF models come with, and many 72/75/27/50mhz radio systems utilize)
PCM = Pulse-Code-Modulation (radio signal type that encodes servo positions with a digital "coded" signal, many 72/75/50mhz radio systems utilize this, but are typically proprietary signals standards per manufacturer)
2.4ghz or SS = Newer generation of radios that do not use "fixed" frequencies per model (ie, co-exist automatically without human frequency organization required). SS standing for Spread Spectrum
Acro = Conventional acrobatics, loops, rolls, stall turns, etc
3D = Acrobatic manuevering flying style that involves significant time inverted
Scale (used as a flight style reference) = Typically milder flight style with smooth "full scale helicopter"-like transitions
Auto (maneuver type) = Landing a helicopter with the motor off (google: autorotation)
Rekit = The catastrophic event of turning our carefully built models into a scattering of parts (ie. crash)
AUW = All-Up-Weight, most often the weight of a model with all components to fly as the manufacturer intended it to installed (ie model + canopy + battery).
eCCPM = Electronic Cyclic Collective Pitch Mixing
mCCPM = Mechanical Cyclic Collective Pitch Mixing
FBL = Fly Bar Less, which can include multi blade rotors.
2S, 3S, 4S, etc. -- Lipo battery configuration indicating the number cells in the pack. An xSxP format is also used to indicate parallel configuration (e.g. 4S2P - two 4S packs in parallel).
OWB = one-way bearing - makes the main rotor capable of auto-rotation
TE = Trailing Edge
LE = Leading Edge
TBE = Toliet Bowl Effect
Nose In = Heli points front to pilot
Tail In = Heli points tail to pilot
Side In = Heli side to pilot
HBFP = Honey Bee Fixed Pitch
HBCP = Honey Bee Collective Pitch
TF =Triflow
CA = Cyanoacrylate aka superglue
LET = liquid electric tape
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