LED slippers

These LED Slippers are built to make your life easier. Never again will you need to use your cell phone display to navigate around your home in the night.

Read these imaginary testimonials from real customers:

• "I was getting up to use the bathroom and didn't want to wake my partner, so I didn't turn on the lights. Not only were my feet cold, but I also stubbed 60% of the toes on my right foot."
• "There I was, skipping along my darkened hallways, when all of a sudden I tumbled down the stairs. Wish I'd had these..."
• "I was fighting ninjas in my pajamas, and I just couldn't see where my kicks were going."

They need these. You need these. The world needs these. And now you can make them for yourself. I gifted these to my coworker kazmataz, who had the dual problem of having cold toes and an inability to hit ninjas with her kicks. She was also nice enough to model them for the photo shoot, in between battling said ninjas of course.

Enough talk, let's light up some slippers!

---

Step 1: Tools + materials

Tools: soldering iron wire strippers/cutters wire hot glue gun needle + thread hobby knife indelible marker stiff wire (coat hangar) scissors

Materials: 4x super-bright LED's 4x LED holders 2x button cell battery holders 2x button cell batteries 2x push-button toggle switch slippers heat shrink tubing thin plastic sheet (like from a take-away container) .

Comments

[depotdevoid]

It took me a while, but I finally got them done! I gave them to India as a gift today. No surprise twists I'm afraid, just an extra LED in each slipper!

[mikeasaurus]

These look great, I'm sure she is going to love them! An extra LED is a good idea, even though I used 'super bright' LED's I think when it comes to navigating in the dark more is better. If I were to remake these again I might consider putting some extra LED's in the back too, that way you can see what's going on behind you without having to shuffle your feet around.

Thanks for sharing your version of this, you get a digital patch and a 3-month Pro Membership!

[depotdevoid]

India's mom says I need to make her a pair too, so she can stop stepping on the cat in the dark!

[Solskinner]

These are really awesome! I've been dying to make some light up clothing and this seems like a good project to start with. Can you recommend a tutorial on making a simple led light switch like the one you have here so I don't ruin can experiment with a pair of slippers. :-) I feel I need to perfect soldering the circuitry before I attempt to do this project. I will definitely be making these and posting. Great instructable!

[mikeasaurus]

An easy project to get started on is wiring one LED to a button cell battery. You can easily salvage all the components from old/discarded electronics, and wiring it together is just as simple as it seems: battery to LED. If it's not working you probably have the LED in backwards or your battery is dead. Experimenting like this with trial and error is exactly how I learned.
After gaining confidence with soldering and the components move on to incorporating other elements such as a switch to operate and an array of LED's, you'll soon find the thresholds for all the basic components and understand the differences when you wire in series and parallel.

Beyond that a great place to get messy with simple electronics is to take apart electronics from the Dollar Store and start hacking away, there's loads of variety and it's really inexpensive. When you're ready you'll confidently be able to incorporate electronics into all kinds of things. Good luck!

[Solskinner]

Thanks, I'll try this out.

[ChrysN]

Brilliant, I need a pair of these! I can't tell you how many times I've gotten up in the middle of the night and nearly stepped on or tripped over my cat.

[Chrishugh]

Maybe your cat needs the slippers. Srsly, walk around with a can of coins and drop it near the cat a few times, that will teach him to get out of the way. Cats can be a little too macho for their own safety sometimes.

[ChrysN]

True, I don't know why he hasn't learned to get out of my way.

[mikeasaurus]

Funny how your cat kind of resembles these fuzzy slippers, too.

[fnogueira]

now if they were sound sensitive would be awsome...ill try make some ^^

[LexanPanda]

How practical would it be to put the button switch in the front of the slippers, so a small kick to the ground would turn 'em on? It might not be convenient for late-night ninja battles(strobe lights, anyone?), but I think it would be a nice adjustment.

[Mirime]

As Bill Ingle would say house shoes with headlights. The other night I got a deer with the brights.

[OCLVig]

It's like Al Bundy's Shoe Lights, but without the car battery backpack! lol

[canucksgirl]

ha ha ha... :D

[canucksgirl]

Great idea!

You should make version 2.0 with a toe-pressed button High Beam. It would really come in handy to blind those ninja's you have to fight off in pyjamas. :)

[depotdevoid]

Awesome, I am totally going to make these for someone for christmas.

[mikeasaurus]

Do it! I'd like to see your take on this, I'm sure you're going to add a fun (and probably way more awesome) twist!

[fjordcarver]

Awesome job! Have you seen the Bright Feet commercial on youTube?
Hillarious!
Yours are way nicer. Love the print!

[susanrm]

You're so funny. But no way in heck am I cutting holes in my sheepskin slippers to do this, and those are the only slippers I wear anymore. Plus a judicious combination of LED night lights and good night vision save my toes and navigation abilities. Awesome, though!