Using the AWR Nano


NanomanualBattery:
The battery must be installed with the positive side toward the head... in many cases there will be a tiny tiny magnet on the bottom of the battery and that must be centered on the negative side of the battery. This magnet is just a spacer to make up for the foam donut being just a bit too thick.. and in many cases it is not needed or after the foam wears in it won't be needed.. keep the magnet (if you got one with your light).. in-case you need to fine-tune the battery connections in the future.


Operation:
Simply twist the head in a 'righty tighty' fashion.. as the head is screwed into the body... it will make contact with the battery turning the light on in 'low' mode.. continued turning will engage 'medium' and then 'high'.. Since the switch is a linear switch but you operate it by twisting.. it is quite possible to inadvertently 'pull' the head toward the body as you twist and it can make the light 'blink' when you don't expect it.. this is absolutely normal.. you can simulate this by turning the light from low to medium and than backing off just 'til it switches to low.. at that point.. pull the head toward the body and it should 'blink' into medium.. i'm sure this could actually be used to signal if you'd want.. this will actually also work between med and high and off and low.. and though 'low' is sub-optimal for signaling it would work.
You should 'get aquatinted' with the operation using two hands to see exactly how the switch works without adding additional operations inadvertently..
It will take a while for the threads to seat... they are freshly machined surfaces.. i put a lubricating contact enhancer on the threads and o-ring before shipping (pro-gold).. and it usually works in very nicely, making the head turn like butta after a week or so of use.


Brightness Levels:
Most nanos are built with 3 levels.. the average current is about 40-225-450.. you should expect to be able to get about 6hrs on low.. 70 minutes on medium and 30 minutes on high.


Known issue you should know about:
Since the switch is actuated from linear motion.. it is quite possible that the light will actually warm up enough to lengthen enough to change the brightness setting... i.e. you twist it to high beam.. set it down.. the light warms up and get longer.. it will in-fact switch to medium mode.. simply turn the light a little more to get it back where you desire.
When the battery dies... you will slowly lose the ability to engage the brighter modes..
Example.. you may be able to use low beam and med. beam... but suddenly you will not have access to 'high beam'... avoid the temptation to try to turn the head harder... if high beam doesn't kick in with the usual amount of force.. most likely this is just because the battery is mostly depleted... you will notice that after high-beam no longer functions.. it won't be long before medium no longer gives you an appreciable improvement over low... once there is no difference between med and low and high.. it means you are about 95% depleted on the battery and even low beam will just be an exponential decay of brightness. You should be able to use low-beam for quite a while even if medium only kicks in 'a little bit'.. amazing difference when using 1/5th the current.
When in-doubt.. charge the battery!


Battery charging:
If you have 'package one' and only have one body and two heads (one for charging one for blinding.. i mean.. lighting things up)... you simply unscrew the light head and screw on the charger head.. I usually plug it in first so i can confirm that it has power before attaching to the battery tube...
If you have 'package two' (or three).. you can use the same method to charge the battery in the light... or you can charge the 'spare' battery using the similar motions... there are two very significant differences between the 'charger' body and the 'flashlight' body...
ONE: the charger body has a mechanical reverse polarity protection built in... if you put the battery in backwards.. (positive down into the tube).. there is a mechanical limit that will prevent the positive nipple from making contact... the charger will act like there is no battery in it and it will prevent you from killing the charger which has no tolerance for reverse polarity of the battery. (so... be very careful if you use a charger in the flashlight body.. since you can in-fact put the battery in backwards and it will damage the charger if you do).
TWO: the flashlight body has a specially designed foam donut at the bottom. The donut has two jobs: 1) anti 'blinkie'.. and 2) anti-rattle.. it's extremely effective and gives a much more distinct engagement for 'low' when first turning on.
You can use either body for either but will lose the specific benefit of the design.
Indications on the charger;
Power on: 'blinks'.
Charging: solid
Charged: off

© 2005 AWR