Sofirn HS05 Review - AA/14500 - Full Runtime and Battery Graphs

Okay, I thought your only issue was that the indicator flashed red in strobe. Are you saying that your light doesn’t show a red light when the battery is low? Sorry for my comment, it wasn’t 100% clear reading your posts.

I suggest running the light to the point it cuts off, it should be 2.7v, make a video showing the battery voltage with a DMM, then reinsert the battery to show the red light doesn’t function when you reinsert the battery.

Most sellers require a video showing the issue, if you haven’t done so, this is why they’re refusing a warranty. This can be frustrating for some issues like yours, but it’s understandable to need some kind of proof.

You need to post this issue publicly on the Sofirn Facebook Group. Faults get sorted really well on there, good service.

I email Sofirn the video of the light issues. Sofirn want to use their email address instead of going though Amazon where Amazon monitors all warranty or other issues.

Sofirn just refuses to acknowledge there’s an issue. Worst customer service I dealt with. I dealt with other flashlight manufacturer before and it was trouble free.

Post on the Facebook group….

I think many people would find it hard to call this defective, including Sofirn. Do you notice any issues when it happens? Like lower light output…it’s not shutting off or anything is it?

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the Sofirn drivers I’m aware of and I think most light drivers, give strobe modes full blast just like turbo. That’s a strong pulse load on the cells, and many can’t really give that oomph very well. You didn’t say which Vapcells you got but the H10 is the best one as far as delivering at higher current (the gold 1000 and purple L10 are very good but are only 3A cells). Does the indicator come on when you go into turbo? That would be a strong hint that the cells are just not as happy as they are at other current draws. And if perchance the cells aren’t really fully charged (not all chargers bring them up all the way or tell the truth in their voltage readouts) then that could add to the sudden sag under strobe/turbo.

If your Amazon question never made it to the page it’s because no customer answered it, not because Sofirn had anything to do with it. After a certain period of time if a question gets no replies (initially sent out via email to some customers…not sure how it works exactly) then it doesn’t post and you should receive an email from Amazon stating the same.

If the light is functioning in output and low voltage detection (on the low end of cell capacity/charge) then I don’t think I’d worry at all about that red indicator light popping up in this case. We do see odd behavior with switch and other indicator lights sometimes…usually just a sign of poor firmware (either coding or meshing correctly with the hardware used). But if you can confirm that the light functions otherwise then it’s just an irritation and not a defect to be concerned about.

Exactly, if the light is shutting off at its cut off, I measured 2.6 volts, then there’s nothing to worry about regarding lithium cells over discharging.

I found it hard to get a straight clear response to questions, which is why I thought he was just complaining about a red light on strobe. Re-reading it I can make sense of it now, but it wasn’t clearly written.

I can’t confirm that there’s a low voltage warning by the switch lighting red at X volts, but the switch will turn red for the first 5 seconds after it’s turned on.

This is something that wouldn’t bother me in the slightest. Now, if the LVP wasn’t working and a cell was discharging below 2.5v, I’d be claiming warranty.

The Vapecell description says 10A.

Is it normal for low voltage warning to come on with a fully charged 14500? It doesn’t matter what mode the light is in, it’s not.

Oddly behavior light are called defective.

My friend tried a 14500 with 2.8V resting and it did the same. Under load the cell must of went under 2.5V. The light didn’t acknowledge the voltage.

It supposed to have a green light when it first went into strobe not red.

You’re confusing me.

I thought you were saying the LVP red light doesn’t work at all, and the switch light is red on strobe, only.

Now you’re saying it’s red all the time…

I gather that your issue is that no matter what battery you use, let it be 14500 or AA, the switch indicator is only showing red, never green?.

It can take hours on Eco for a battery to reach 2.6v from 2.8v. Eco is only 1 lumen. I measured 20mA current which would take a very long time for the HS05 to reach 2.6v.

If it’s only showing red, even on Eco, Low, and Med, and you’ve tightened and cleaned all contacts, then yes, you are well within your rights to claim for warranty.

As mentioned above you should post your problem on the Sofirn Facebook Page

I believe that you haven’t been clear to Sofirn support on Amazon either, this would be why they haven’t done anything. Sofirn most likely would believe that your battery just needs to be charged. You should share your video on here.

Ok, so that’s a good cell - or should be. We can probably assume that one or both chargers you’ve used are charging correctly, but have you actually used a multimeter or something to check the voltage of the cells when fully charged, and after resting awhile to be sure they aren’t self-discharging?

It’s not that nobody believes you, by the way. It’s just that with 14500 cells there is necessarily a wider margin for error and bad cells. It’s only been very recently that we’ve had these few models that can deliver some good energy like their larger 18650/etc brothers. It’s always possible to get bum cells for one reason or another, and since we’re dealing with a voltage indicator, the power source is what needs to be confirmed first. Lots of light manufacturers react just like Sofirn did and just say “try battery” right away, but often it’s the reason. :slight_smile:

Also…red light indicating on turbo or not?

No, it’s not normal for that warning to go off on a fully charged cell that is capable of the current needs and fully charged. That assumes good electrical design also, as well as clean electrical contacts, etc…of course. We don’t always get the good electrical design with flashlights (budget or not). I mean look at Wurkkos so far. As nice as their lights are and despite the good attitude they have shown us, a few of their lights have issues such that they just should not have been released for sale until those bugs were fixed…but the lights still work. There’s a difference in culture when it comes to “works” or “good enough”, too…some companies will bend over backwards for customer complaints and some are more choosy. Sofirn seems a little inconsistent there now that they are well established (but they are also never charging us much for the lights, and charging that bit of extra would help to cover warranty/satisfaction returns or exchanges…something that tends to get better with companies the more money you spend/more profit they make).

Now, whether a glitch is a problem enough to put a light in a narrower definition of “defective”……often with budget lights it isn’t, or at least not at first with folks that respond to customer issues after the sale. Like…ever try to deal with Banggood on a clear problem? lol.

So…curious as to why the voltage is indicating low on strobe. If it’s on turbo, too, then that’s helpful to know. We do know that turbo takes a little over 3A on this model (I don’t think anyone has measured current in strobe modes but it should be similar, possibly a tad higher). So the H10 cells if they are healthy should be fine (even though you just bought them and from a trusted supplier, the only truth teller is actually measuring their charged voltage and monitoring their resting voltage for stability…every cell, every brand). If the power source is truly good and no mechanical issues with a wonky buttontop weld/cap or dirty contacts, then it’s probably a glitch in the driver hardware (components or design) unless they bumped up the low threshold in response to customer feedback to a point where these high modes can trip it briefly.

But the most important thing about this low voltage indicator is not what it’s showing you in strobe mode…it’s that the low voltage circuit is reading at a correct low end level to let the low voltage protection circuit cut off power. You do need a way to measure voltage to confirm that and any $5 multimeter will serve that purpose. Once you’re sure that’s there then you can not worry about this as a safety issue and remain curious about the weird strobe indicator behavior while enjoying a light that works.

Sofirn isn’t perfect and they’ve changed a little over the last couple years, it seems, but they’re very good and mostly very agreeable folks. I’m not defending them or their decision here, just throwing it out there from experience and hoping you understand what their thought process might be for “defective” and this light in particular. I know a better explanation of what’s happening in the light would be great, but it’s possible they can’t provide that, or that since the light is working they don’t want to invest in tracking down and correcting a bug they might see as inconsequential. And that’s usually how it is with many companies/manufacturers, unfortunately. Even more successful ones like Nitecore and Lumintop that surely could refund/exchange more if they wanted to (although those two usually have more in the way of failures rather than design glitches, so to speak).

The red light only comes on in strobe mode. When going into other mode, like turbo the light would be green. Which is normal for the green light.

I did clean the contact, like you mentioned before. Nothing change.

Just saw the other replies…sorry. Yeah, at 2.8V that cell is functionally way past empty and not capable of much current load at all. It will sag immediately. Even at something like 3.3V the load of turbo/strobe will make it sag immediately. Usually in that case a light will just go to very low levels, or flash the emitter as a warning, or however that driver is designed. So yeah, you’d expect it in that case.

If it helps to understand a little of what Sofirn/we are looking for, this test graph from HKJ shows the black Sofirn 14500 and the Vapcell H10 under constant current testing loads. It’s not a direct performance measure for what happens in the light usually but it shows us a lot about the cells themselves. I can’t direct link to the graph results so I snipped the image. I chose only the 3A current since that’s around the upper end of this light. You can see how the fully charged cells differ greatly in the current they can handle and how fast they sag. At lower starting voltage levels, the same current loads would cause them to sag even more dramatically right off the bat. With the H10, you might not expect that to trip the red indicator light until the cell is pretty depleted, but…for whatever reason that seems to be happening in your light. But knowing the cell is actually healthy would help…and keeping in mind that as long as the actual protection circuit works, basically it’s all good.

HKJ’s landing page for the 14500 lithium tests…have to select the cells from the dropdown lists: Battery test-review 18650 comparator

Here a good question.

How come the red light doesn’t come on with a Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA, only 14500?

Well, the way you explained things has had me confused. Now we’re back at the very start of the indicator showing red on strobe, it’s green on other modes incl Turbo.

When you used the battery that had a resting voltage of 2.8 volts, did the switch indicator show red or green? If it was green, then yes, there’s an issue. If it was showing red, then there’s no issue there, unless you can confirm that the cell dropped below 2.6 volts and the light was still on.

My answer is only an educated guess based on other multi-fuel drivers (Convoy mostly) but I would suspect that the low voltage circuit is not active at all for cells at voltages lower than it would expect to see for lithium-ion chemistry. Since depletion to Dead is not a safety risk with lithium metal primaries or with NiMH/alkaline, there’s no need for the protection limit. Adding that protection to include both lithium-ion and the other types might be too much to include in such tiny boards with limited space for components and chips with small capacity for holding programming code (and it could also be yet another way to save costs and/or keep host dimensions within a desired size). Sofirn would have to confirm this in their driver design, though, unless someone else has reverse engineered it and shared what they found.

I just pulled mine out and used my UNI-T UT210E and strobe reads just under 2A, Turbo was close to 4A at turn on.

That confirms there’s a slight issue, most likely with the driver for the lithium side of things.

I can’t say this is enough for a warranty claim though for something so minor. I understand that it shouldn’t be doing this, but for brands that are fairly cheap to begin with, you can’t always expect a replacement for something so small when the light is working perfectly otherwise.

It showed red with the 2.8V 14500.

It supposed to flash red with low voltage but it doesn’t.

The issue is kids will be using the light. They like strobe mode. I can’t be watching for the red light to come on if it doesn’t work as it should.

Thanks for checking!

I didn’t know if there was a way to check.

The 14500 are brand new, the S4 plus charger is brand new. I don’t think the 14500 or the charger is the cause.

I think there’s something wrong with this light when running Li Ion, 14500 cells.

I going to check to see if I have a low voltage alkaline or NiMH battery around to see if the low voltage warning comes on.

Okay, I just tried an AA and the indicator light doesn’t work at all, so this means that the driver is only able to sense the voltage of a 14500, from 2.6v up to 4.2v.

Edit: it only works when the battery is low, it flashes red and the LED blinks a couple times before it turns off