Introduction

Over the past few weeks I have been getting quite a few inquires about the Edelrid Eddy and how sometimes people cannot detension their line very easily. Today I would like to take a look at this unique cam as well as the other features of the Edelrid Eddy.

About the Eddy

The Edelrid Eddy is a unique braking device that is fantastic when used as a brake for your pulley system. The unique shape of the Edelrid Eddy allows it to work very well with other components, including the SMC 3" Double PMP's and the Rock Exotica Mini Machined Double Pulleys as used for your main pulleys for your pulley system. The small profile of the device allows it to fit nicely within these pulleys so that you can use the Embedded Brake Technique for a more streamlined pulley system.

In addition to this, the handle of the Eddy operates in a unique way that allows it to be facing downwards when loaded. This allows you to easily detension your slackline even when your pulley system is well overhead. These two features, plus many others, makes the Edelrid Eddy a great device to use for your brake on your pulley system.

However, there are some things that you should be aware of when using the Eddy in order to get the full benefits of the device. I will go through each of these things below:

Opening the Device

In order to open the sideplates of the Eddy, there is a small button that needs to be pressed on the side. Simply press this button while rotating the two sideplates away from eachother. The plate on the side where the button is will swing open, allowing you to install the rope.

Installing the Rope

The Eddy is different than other camming-style brakes in that the rope is installed in the opposite direction. Follow the diagram on the device to determine which direction to install the rope. The loaded strand coming from your pulleys should enter the device where the picture of the climber is. The tail should leave the device where the picture of the hand is.

Also, when installing the rope, be sure that you push the rope completely into the device. This will require that you push down on the rope to ensure it is fully inserted.

Anchoring the Eddy

The Eddy has a very wide anchor hole. Because of this, the device will only work with certain sizes of shackles and carabiners. The best way to anchor the Eddy is to use a ⅜" Twist Shackle.

Pretensioning with the Eddy

When you are adding the initial tension to your slackline by pulling on the strand entering the brake while pulling on the tail at the same time, sometimes the cam on the Eddy will not engage. There is a technique known as "Thumbing the Cam" that will let you manually engage the cam to ensure your brake captures the tension you are pulling through. To do this, simply place your thumb on the cam and apply pressure towards the tail. You will hear a click and will notice the cam engage. This is useful for the first few hundred pounds of tension.

This technique is also useful when detensioning. When you have little to no tension left on your line, you can manually disengage the cam by thumbing it in the opposite direction. This will allow you to pull slack through the brake without it engaging automatically. This is also useful for extending your pulley system.

Detensioning

Lastly, I would like to discuss the proper way to detension with the Edelrid Eddy. The device is very unique with how you detension in that there is a very small sweet spot. If you pull too hard on the handle and go beyond this sweet spot, the cam will automatically engage, not allowing you to detension any further. This is where a lot of people have had issues in the past few weeks with breaking their handles. They go beyond this sweet spot and then continue to pull on the handle, causing the handle to break at the connection to the body of the device.

To prevent this from happening, there are a few things you can do. First, you should always redirect the rope coming from your brake through a carabiner connected to your anchor in order to increase friction to allow for smoother detensioning. You can see an in-depth guide on how to do this here: Slack Science - Properly Detensioning Your Slackline. Secondly, you must find the sweet spot with the Edelrid Eddy. To do this, first pull on the handle until you notice a bit of resistance. Now, continue to pull very slowly with your other hand holding on to the tail of the rope coming from the carabiner clipped to your anchor. If you pull too far, you will notice that the cam will reengage. Do NOT continue to pull on the handle! The cam will not open and you will run the risk of breaking the handle in the spot shown in the video. Instead, you should push on the handle in the opposite direction. You will notice that this will also open the cam, so do so in a controlled manner. If you push too far, the cam will reengage in the same way as when you pull too far. Once you do this a few times, you will learn where the sweet spot is and you won't need to go back and forth. Instead, you can open the cam very slowly to release tension in a controlled manner.

Discussion

That about covers how to use the Edelrid Eddy. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask in the comments below. Thanks for reading, I hope this helps some of you!