Front	Rear

Left	Right

Front: Open for Rigging	Rear: Open for Rigging

Technical Details

I acquired this Edelrid Megawatt from Karst Sports in 2023.

My Edelrid Megawatt is 123 mm. tall, 76 mm. wide, 56 mm. thick, and weighs 502 g.

The Megawatt consists of four major components: the body, a cover plate, a rotating cam, and an actuating lever assembly.

The body is made from aluminum alloy with a cast stainless steel anvil insert at the top. The anvil has a U-shaped groove for the rope to run over. A plastic rope guide along the right side and bottom forms a deep rope channel. The rope roes not run over this guide. A plastic panel screwed to the back covers the cam mechanism. A spring-loaded plunger near the bottom acts as a cover latch. The eye, located at he lower right, is a 26 mm. tall, 20 mm. wide irregular hexagon.

The cam assembly pivots on a stainless steel axle attached to the body. The attachment method is not clearly visible. The front portion of the cam axle has a shoulder that engages a notch in the cover plate.

The cover plate is forged aluminum with a stainless steel wear plate inset near the rope entry at the top left. A cosmetic plastic plate covers the front of the cover, hiding the curved slot that engages the cam axle shoulder. A hook at the lower right aligns with the body eye, and a hole to its left accepts the plunger. A countersunk hole to its left aligns with a threaded hole in the body. This accepts a machine screw for locking the body closed. My Megawatt did not come with a screw, leaving me having to provide my own should I choose to do so.

The rotating cam is cast steel. It has a webbed design with several reinforcing ribs. The right side of the cam has a rounded V-shaped rope channel with about a 6 mm. minor diameter at the base of the V. The left side has three small ribs to provide a finger grip for feeding rope. The top of the cam has a flat area that squeezes the rope against the upper anvil when the cam rotates clockwise (i.e., when it closes).

The lever assembly consists of a plastic control lever connected to the cam by a hidden mechanism. Pulling the lever opens the cam; however, once the lever passes a certain point, the cam begins closing again.

The front plate has a printed hand–holding–a–rope illustration. It also ha filled depressed letters saying "EDELRID" and "MEGAWATT." In tiny, dark, and nearly illegible print it has a wrench icon ">" a book–with–an–"i" icon, "EN12841:2006C," a human icon, ":150kg;•Ø10,0–11,8mm," "Rescue," two human icons, ":200kg;Ø10,0–11,5mm," "ANSI/ASEE Z359.4:2013;," "• EN1891;Ø10,0–11,5mm," a warning icon, "200m; 59–141kg; Multiple Use," "EN15151–1:2012/B;Ø10,0–11,0mm,"  "CE2777," "EN341:2011/2A; 200m;T≥–30°C," and "EDELRID Performance Static 11,0mm;30–120kg." It also has a molded RFID symbol andd "RFID." The inside of the cover is printed with "EDELRID," "Achener Weg 66," "88316 Isny im Allgäu," "Germany," "88332 1287," a factory icon, "2021 04 02," a scanner code, "acoid thermal, electrical, chemical, and other hazards,", and "stay safe and enjoy the view." The iside of the rope channel has a printed hand–holding–a–rope icon and a rope=loop icon.

Comments

The Megawatt has excellent workmanship and it functions well. It is solid, but it is also quite heavy. This should not be a problem for gym climbers or people who drive to the base of short sport climbs, but I wouldn't consider lugging one of these to a remote climb or up a wall.

The lever function provides partial backup for the user not knowing how to use the lever, but like all such devices, it relies on the user being completely incompetent rather than partially incompetent. The double-acting lever is, like many others, sensitive to rope diameter. If the rope is too thick, the user may not be able to reduce friction enough to descend, while a rope that is too thin will leave a dead zone between normal control and emergency braking. A skilled user would be better served by a single-acting design; however, in an industrial environment, such skill cannot be assumed.

When I first saw the Megawatt, I noticed its similarities to the Edelrid Lory and similar devices; however, an Edelrid representative immediately and emphatically chastised me and insisted that there was absolutely no similarity whatsoever. I maintain my delusion, but there are some major differences. The most obvious is the rope path. It is essentially the opposite of the path on the Edelrid Lory, with the standing line exiting at the bottom and the trailing line entering at the top. Lory users should take care to note the difference.

The urge to call this a Demikilogram instead of a Megawatt is almost irresistible.