Omten Switch Dissected

Flashlight Modding and DIY Parts
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Have you ever wondered how the Omten reverse clicky switch works in a lot of our flashlights? I decided to take one apart to see.

Overall it’s a pretty simple design. Here are the parts:

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And here it’s put back together:

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Here’s the underside of the upper body and rotating parts, which works like a retractable pen:

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Here’s what it looks like when the switch is off and then on. In the on position, the 2 tabs are connected to the metal cap which allows the current to flow between the flashlight body and switch spring.

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And in case you’re interested, here’s a very informative post from djozz that tested Omten switches 9(!) years ago: switchtesting

djozz: “I stopped the 16A test after 2 hours because nothing much was happenening, I got bored, and I want to go to bed.”

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2

Omten switches are somehow standard. Very good and very robust as we can see by Djozz tests. I wish they have less audible “klick” sound. Is there any progress regarding that in switch world?

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I think the audible click is inherent with a mechanical switch. Perhaps it could be quieter if the spring was weaker, but then the contact between the tabs and the metal cap may not be as good.

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4

There are very smart people here on forum. Could you guys invent silent mechanical switch in Omten style?

Or maybe there is way to mod it somehow? Maybe the crucial thing is friction elimination between 2 surfaces?

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I’ve found the genuine Omten switches work far better than the generic ones that come in $1-$20 flashlights. The cheap white ones are only good to about 6 amps before they collapse and/or melt. The PBS101 is the standard clicky for high power applications. The Nightwatch NS series uses them.

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Ive had the spring inside the switch melt through the plastic and touch the PCB on one or two of them but Im 98% sure it was me holding the iron down too long doing a spring bypass lol

I wouldn’t mind lowering the resistance of those little white ones a bit though if there’s a cheap way to do it. I wonder what would be the easiest… I tried stretching the spring once but I just messed it up lol. Maybe you could cut some nickel strip to size and replace the tiny strips it comes with.

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I recall reading that somewhere here on BLF before and have always just replace them with a genuine Omten.

Maybe I should take a generic one apart and see if there’s a difference. :thinking:

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Indeed. I replace them with genuine ones from mtn electronics for modded lights with fet drivers. For the stock drivers up to about 3 amps continuous the generics work fine, but fail rather quicky if you go over. Its totally worth the extra $1.00 to get the genuine ones. I’d like to see what the dofferemce between a genuine one and a generic is.

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How can you tell if you’ve got a genuine Omten switch or not?

One flashlight I’ve got, the length of the switch’s plunger/ button is critical to the switch working correctly. I was sent out a couple of spare switches by the manufacturer and it seems the length of the button varies from switch to switch. Some switches weren’t reliable, but others work.

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You should be able to see “Omten” printed on the switch:

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Okay, these ones all seem to have “XmKg” (or something similar) written on them. :thinking: Google doesn’t even help with that…

This is the switch in question: Maeerxu Replacement Rear Clicky Tail Switch XT3 XT4 MT3 DF01 DF02 DF03 – JLHawaii808

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I’m planning on taking a generic one apart to see if there’s an obvious difference.

I’ve just been busy with some family things recently and not able to get to it yet.

Hopefully next weekend I’ll be able to. I’m very curious to see what their insides look like.

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black lumintop tool AA
The second pineapple
The third original omten from convoy store

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14

Thanks andrx!

Big difference between the metal parts:

  • The metal hat on the Omten has the ridges on it and the others are smooth.

  • The connector tabs are a lot wider on the Omten than the others.

  • And it appears the Omten spring, besides being silver vs black, is also longer.

I suspect the ridges on the Omten metal hat is to help with making a better contact with the connector tabs. Seems it’s stamped that way for a reason.

I would venture to guess that these differences allow the Omten switch to handle more current than the others.

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15

The omten spring is a little bit harder, however in my opinion the omten switch is less noisy than the black one from lumintop

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Thanks for the teardown comparison. Very informative. Really shows how the genuine one can hold up better under higher currents and probbly increases the reliability/durability a lot!

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Are you able to do a decibel test between them? :grin:

JK, but I wonder if that’s due to the difference in plastic? From my experience the white Omten switches have a very low temperature tolerance. You have to be very quick when soldering them else they will melt.

I recall someone here on BLF quipped that they appear to be made out of some type of candle wax!

Maybe the white plastic is less rigid and thus makes less noise than the black one?

18

well, no

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