Need a light for a four year old

My boss has charged me with the task of building or find his kid a flashlight. The kid is four years old and all day he'll take his flashlight (2d cheapo) into the closet and read a book in the dark. He often leaves the light on so the batteries go dead and they have to buy more. He wants me to make something (I'd rather buy) that is bright enough that he can read by, but not so bright it'll hurt a 4 yr old's eyes or anyone else he shines it at. Also it has to have battery life enough so that if found left on overnight it won't be doa. My recommendation is that it does not get hot if left on overnight as well. haha. I really have no experience with making a not-very-bright light so I haven't done the research, I figured it would be worth a post to find somebody who has. Thanks in advance.

g

An inova x5 maybe?
I was really thinking of something rechargeable but I don't know of anything that'll survive a night left on...

Maybe a g2l with a diffuser cap running on a 17650 could do that but then again, it'd be a bit pricey.

If you were certain he wouldn't attempt to swallow it, maybe a photo micro with a cr3250 could do the trick?

How about a Gerber infinity ultra. Bright enough to read with, single AA and will run for 25+hours easily.
Other alternatives I can think of that are similar are the Inova X1, or perhaps one of the Dorcy LED lights.

How about a MiniMag with the Nite-Ize 1 watt LED and IQ switch. The switch turns the light off automatically after 14 1/2 minutes if the button is not pressed again, so it will go of when he leaves it.
Nite-Ize sells these two together as a kit for the MiniMag.

Streamlight ProPoly 2AA Led - 15+ hrs on 2AA batteries - just remember to scrub off the black paint on the side ( the paint on the Streamlight logo rubs off easy ) - non-metallic so less damage to teeth if the child chews on it or bangs the furniture -

might be worthwhile to stick with a light that uses rechargeable batteries to save money in the long run.

I made my son a very simple led light, lasts forever. It's a 4aa battery holder with wires from radioshack, a radioshack toggle switch, 3aa batteries, some wire and 3 led's. I put the switch and 3 leds in one of the battery slots, wire the leds in parallel and the switch in series with the 3 leds. Then just add the 3aa's in the remaining slots. Nice and bright when you use new batteries, but it will eat some "dead" batteries from other devices too. He sometimes forgets to switch it off (reads in bed and falls asleep, drool soaked books are no fun btw!) and it lasted about 6 months of intermittent use beore I got tired of it's "dim" output on the batteries that were approx .8v each and found some "fresher" 1.2v alkalines in my dead battery bin. I justmake sure they are all the same voltage and same brand before I replace them. I think we are into the 13 months total now.

Cost about 8 bucks I think with the swith, leds and battery holder. I'm estimating as I actually had all of the parts in my work bench. I'd just recomend you buy the 4aa holder that has a lid. Mine does no but my son knows better than to eat alkalines (he's 7).

Oh and I almost forgot...to seal up the led's and wiring and switch I borrowed my wife's hot glue gun and just filled the cavity, it gives a cool glow when on...I should have put glow powder in there now that I think about it!!!

I now own my own industrial size glue gun!

I was thinking maybe you could modify a G2 to use a single 5mm LED (in place of the Lamp) and put a low current regulator in there, make it run on 2 2/3A NIMH batteries, safe indestructible, and easy to charge.

Thanks for the ideas guys. I decided to go with a used minimag I already had that had a good terralux led in it. I picked up an iq switch and led from niteize from my target for a few bucks and dropped in a couple eneloops and an old charger that came with em. Should fit the bill pretty well and I'm only out 15 bucks The nite ize thing is pretty cool, not very high quality or much light output but its a great idea. If somebody'd make a q5 dropin with a similar switch i'd buy it. The two parts in the kit are not made to work together, so if you snug down the head it turns off and won't come back on. I think I'll loctite it in the middle of the range. Thanks again, Ill letcha know how it works out.

g

Mission accomplished!

One other idea... I use a inova x1 (old style) for my 4 year old son, and loc-tite the threads so it is momentary only. Not too bright to do damage, and he has not gone through the first battery yet. 10 hours of usage on momentary only will last an eternity.

The same principle would work with x5 or surefire G2, if I ever want to upgrade him.

4 years old is a good age to plant the seeds of flashaholism in my opinion

g

Good choice.
I would have also recommended the Nuwai River Rock, 1AA at Target. The black one with Nichia LED. It'll run a long time between charges.

I did the nite-ize 3-LED drop in on my mini, dim the lights and the kids use it as a bath tub toy. it also makes a great emergency back-up around the house. Didn't bother with the tail switch mod though. Its surprising how durable the 20 year old design is, although it probably only does 6-7 Lumens.

I'm surprised no one has developed a cree/seoul drop in yet for the MM.

These are a fantastic LED torch with an aserpheric lens
http://www.flashlightmuseum.com/flashlight_view.cfm?item_number=EV00900

My Grandson loves he's. He ignored all his other Christmas presents to play with it.
Norm

He's 4 YEARS OLD. I'd say stick with the 2D grocery store light.

There have been a couple of threads about this in the last month or so. One other option that seemed real popular was the old reliable Fisher Price flashlight. It is a small lantern style, with a filter switch to move either a red or blue filter in front of the lamp behind the lens. The big kicker is that it has a timer so that it will turn itself off after like five minutes. One poster modded one with an led to get better runtimes and little more light. He said it changed the dimming time somewhat, but it still shut itself off. Search on Fisher Price and you can probably find the details.

I gave each of my four grand children one of the following 2xAA lights from Lowes. They're soft enough not to cause injuries and I gave each of my daughters a MAHA charger and some Eneloop batteries to go with it.

All of the kids (1 1/2, 2 1/2, 3 1/2, and 4 1/2 years old) learned pretty quick about turning them on AND off and their mothers keep a pretty close eye on them.

Task Force®
2AA cell Gel Grip Krypton Flashlight W/Batteries


Item #: 227322 Model: FT-2019-2AA$3.98