Clone of On The Road M3 ~$13

Thanks for the input!
I would really like to see what this would look like to the Chinese reader of an auto translated website, English to Chinese. :slight_smile:

Was working on the Clone M3 again. Final revision. It charges!

Specs: Ultimate EDC Light.
MtnE 15mm Fet+1 with D4 v.2 style rampingIOS,
XM-L2 T6 4C on 14mm SinkPad,
ME4056 charger circuit lowered to 550mA
relocated Red LED from ME4056 to the SW board
Green LED always lit except when charging
Hacked a magnetic charge port adapter and mounted where the micro USB used to be.

By far the most complicated mods I have done to a light. Definitely worth ALL the aggravation.

Wasn’t easy stuffing all that into a small light. Used the tiny ME4056 charge board.

Used a completely waterproof magnetic connector, no more Micro USB.

Green LED is lit all the time but green goes out and red turns on while charging. When Charge completes, no LEDs are lit.

That’s very cool, but way too much work for me for just a little EDC light. My U16 works pretty well for $20. Did you do all this for the challenge of it?

Did you swap an original OTR button cover on it?

BTW, I was trying to reshape the metal clip on my OTR U16 (I think the same clip as the M3) and it was so brittle the end broke. I snapped it 2 times. Darn brittle clips.

A clone of a clone, thought they break down genetically or something I remember from a Star Trek NG episode

Thanks,
Button cap is from the OTR M3, as is the clip. That sucks on the clip. Would hate to loose mine, use it on my hat brim a lot.

I mentioned earlier I wasn’t going to repair/replace the charge circuit that failed on my Clone. I really had no idea how to do it.
What got me going on this was seeing a magnetic charger connector, IIRC on an Amutorch?. Seen a few others since.
Found some tiny self contained charger boards and figured “I CAN fix this, make it even better”. It was a challenge and that made it fun to do.

Wow wow wow!Impressive amount of work, skills, knowledge, will and steady hands there! Your work here is representation of what BLF is and why it’s different. It doesn’t matter how much original price of light was. It’s about challenge and will of pushing limits. Your mod is very inspiring.
Working on this flashlight is like listening classical music. From hiting it multiple times with big hammer, soldering tiny pars to again hammering it a bit more and than cuddling it after it’s finished (or is it finished? :stuck_out_tongue: ). Please don’t stop there. We want to see triple, we know it’s doable! :heart_eyes:

HaHa, ya gotta know how to Tweak the DNA and they get *B*etter, *L*ighter, *F*aster ….

OK I failed at the BLF integration.

Thanks,
This one is DONE.
Has had several phases of mods, last was the charger.
No triple on this sad little battery. I use this light the most.
Should still be under $30 total in parts and light. Count in my time it would be close to $400.

Now we need to get The Miller to start a BLF version of this light. :+1:

I was gonna quote The Miller’s ” It’s done when it’s done, ” in the previous post. But just said it’s Done
Well, it’s pretty much a smaller D1 with a charger. Wish it was 18350 but the 1100mAh are NLA.

What do you mean by D1? The Emisar? I thought that was a thrower light, where this Jaxmanve is more a general purpose light.

IMR still has some Aspire 1100mah 18350 if anyone is looking for some.
https://www.imrbatteries.com/aspire-18350-1100mah-battery/

Someone may have asked this already, but on the Ali Exp page it says:

“Chocolate rolling flower, feel fine”

Is this a coded message, or does one get a chocolate flower with the light? If the latter, I am keen to get one. I have never tasted Chinese chocolate.

:smiley:

I believe that’s the auto translation referring to the knurling pattern on the battery tube.

Yeah Emisar D1. I thought the “1” was single emitter, “4” was Four emitter. Thats why I said D1. But my thoughts were D4 size single emitter. Short bezel, short reflector inside. May as well go small on the head OD too.

Shhh, don’t tell where the Aspire 18350’s are! I just got 8 from IMR last week. But the 1100mAh Aspire and Keeps arent made anymore.

What are some good 16340 cells?

Imren 700mah button top?

I know the yellow On The Road Orb1607 are good, but I can’t find them.

Ah, okay. I must have missed that term being used before then. No worries - thanks, Jason.

LOL, guess I shouldn’t tell you that I am using some Old Trustfire 700mAh bought back when the XR-E P4 was New. 6 years old? Still hold rated capacity. Have been UN-protected and re-wrapped recently. If I were to buy more today, I would get the $4 red Efest 700mAh sold by IMRbatteries, Li-IonWholesale or Mountainelectronics.com Made with flat or button top.

I just got my M3 clone in the mail today. The finish and overall quality on the exterior is very nice. It had a charged battery (3.6v) in it and came on as soon as I pressed the button! Good thing it didn’t get bumped during shipping.

I was trying to see if it had LVP, but I’m not sure. At around 2.9v it would flash the main light 3 times and keep doing that every minute or 2. I didn’t see any switch lights come on. Finally at 2.6 volts I decided to stop testing.

From 2.6 volts I charged it on my Miboxer C4-12 and got a capacity of 537mah. Compared to the 670mah to 680mah of my yellow OTR M3 battery.

I dont believe these torches shut of at low voltage. When the low voltage flashing started I kept the torch on for an extended period and it would not shut off just kept giving the low voltage warning flash. Also it would not charge the battery in the one I tested at much below 3 volts. I had to charge mine in a charger to up the voltage before it would charge in the torch.

Question on the UI for this clone, earlier in this thread it was said the “regular 3-mode” is L-M-Strobe. Has that been changed?

Looks like it’s L-M-H (Low, Medium, Height) for the 3-mode group, and strobe is hidden - activated by 3-clicks:


https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Mini-flashlight-USB-charging-EDC-ultra-small-hand-light-portable-16340-miniature-pocket-side-by-flashlight

Can anyone confirm this?