Pictures of the current circuit
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Hello ​​​I'm very knew to anything electrical but my son (a little over one year old) has a tonka firetruck that has a flashlight on the front that is powered by batteries and a trigger in the handle. When we got it for him(thrift store) the bulb was out of place and had no batteries . But he loves the thing and I think he would love it more if it was completely working. I've taken it apart and the circuit looks really simple but, I'm not exactly sure what everything is and or if I could put a led circuit to prolong the life of the firetruck. If anyone wouldn't mind to teach me or show me where to learn what would need to be done/ need to be bought to bring this toy back to life It would be greatfully appreciated.

 

Welcome to the forums.

It looks like a very basic setup.
Three AA batteries, some type of power switch and an incandescent bulb.
You could probably fix it immediately by replacing the bulb.
Flashlight bulb

It would take a bit of hunting for an LED with lens as a replacement. It might be more cost effective to go to the home improvement or dollar store and pick up a cheap flashlight just for the lens and LED.

 

THank you for the response, I was thinking the bulb probably needs replaced but when taking it apart I seen one of the red wires is loose and the resistor? I'm guessing, is a little corroded


​​​​​​Pictures of the exposed wire and corrosion

 

Interesting. That's not a resistor. It looks like it may be a varistor. A device used to reduce and smooth out the voltage to the bulb. Not something I'd expect to see in an incandescent flashlight circuit.

 

Yea it looks very lazy wiring , but I'm assuming of course that the red wire that is loose is suppose to be attached to the bulb the black wire is on a peg connected to the bulb then there's a spot on the very end of the bulb where I can see sodder so I'm assuming the wire came loose. That's why I was curious if there was a smarter more efficient way to wire it myself

 

I agreed with looking for a LED bulb to replace the incandescent (drastically lower current draw) but with a varistor, it might be better to wait a bit for more comments.

 

I was thinking of rewiring all of it, just don't know where to start really, I doubt it should be that difficult really from how it looks now. I think if I make a new circuit I probably wouldn't need the varistor. But that's just me thinking, I don't know anything about it. But yea I'll wait and see what others say and or ideas. Thank you

 

I see nothing wrong with the wiring that's there. You can replace it if it makes you happy.
If you do switch to an LED then a resistor will be needed to go in place of the varistor as 4.5v is too high for most LED's. It looks like the red wire coming from the switch gets connected to the bulb.

 

I don't mind which way, I just want it to last as long as he wants it to you know? I'm gonna try rewiring the red wire to the bulb and see, what would be the best way to remove the corrosion if it's even that.

 

Just incase anyone was curious this is the vanister, was trying to look online for a matching one but I don't know how or what the letters and numbers stand for. And I added the back of the bulb where I think the red wire should go.

New photos

 

You can get LEDs that work fine at 4.5v.

<img src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41FgB8xFf5L._SY90_.jpg" width="90" height="90"/>
3PCS E10 4.5V 0.5W White LED MES Upgrade Bulb Lamp Replacement for Torch Flashlight Headlight Bicycle - AAA / 3C / 3D Cells Price: $6.50

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1