I am working on a comparison video of the Armytek Tiara Pro A1 V2 vs Fenix HL50 for my Youtube channel. On the negative the Tiara died. I figured the HL50 won by default and was getting ready to ship the Tiara back to the dealer however chadvone made an interesting observation of something I suspected. Somehow the Tiara got accidentally switched into 14500 mode and the would no longer function as the voltage cutoff to prevent over discharge of unprotected 14500 would be too high for 1xAA primary or NiMH. So I decided to try this.
I could have done this when the light failed in the field as carry some wire in my PSK and extra AAs if I known. Instructions would have made this easier and more information about the 14500 option would have helped. Also the online manual isn't up to date so Armytek should make an appendix showing any changes until the online manual is properly updated IMHO. Ok so I don't use 14500, though do use 18650 so familiar with this battery type. I speculated the cut off voltage would have to be around 2.8 volts but not exactly sure. A new alkaline is 1.5 volts. 2 X 1.5 = 3 volts. That would provide enough power to run the light allowing me to reset it. If I was able to do this by mistake it's too easy to do. Here is what I found within the online manual:
"To access the Menu press and hold the switch button (when the flashlight is switched off). It will switch on, go through the all availablemodes and then switch off again. After switching off, release the button quickly and click it rapidly again. The flashlight will enter theMenu and the LED will flash about 3 times a second."
But I access modes by allowing the light to go through all available modes as sometimes can't make up my mind. Switching on and off is easy to do as that's natural. A single and double click is also perfectly natural. Do two clicks and the light is now dead and can't be easily recovered. I never noticed a flashing indicating the special power mode was on but then again I was clicking buttons. Also no manual didn't help. Once the mistake was done the light was dead and I was miles in the woods. I had another flashlight so it wasn't the end of the world.
For this issue alone.
Pros:
Clearly the voltage cut-off feature for running unprotected 14500 works.
Cons:
The light can too easily be totally disabled without knowing how or why. If there was more info about the light that is up current and included that might have helped. Or maybe a less intuitive sequence of events to enter the power management special mode. Then again if it's too complex that could be a problem as well. Heck if I know.
Once I got the Tiara going again the headlamp today past the dunk test.
Or rather submerging in a cold brook and then took a **** and after some time removed. Unfortunately the headband was soaking wet and it's December. LOL! I am going to order some 14500 batteries as well.
