The bulk of available stellar activity observations is frequently checked for the manifestation of signs in comparison with the known characteristic of solar magnetic modulation .
The problem is that stellar activity records are usually an order of magnitude shorter than available observations of solar activity variation .
Therefore , the resolved time scales of stellar activity are insufficient to decide reliably that a cyclic variation for a particular star is similar to the well-known 11-yr sunspot cycles .
As a result , recent studies report several stars with double or multiple cycles which serve to challenge the underlying theoretical understanding .
This is why a consistent method to separate ’ true ’ cycles from stochastic variations is required .
In this paper , we suggest that a conservative method , based on the best practice of wavelet analysis previously applied to the study of solar activity , for studying and interpreting the longest available stellar activity record – photometric monitoring of V833 Tau for more than 100 years .
We find that the observed variations of V833 Tau with timescales of 2 – 50 yr should be comparable with the known quasi-periodic solar mid-term variations , whereas the true cycle of V833 Tau , if it exists , should be of about a century or even longer .
We argue that this conclusion does not contradict the expectations from stellar dynamo theory .