Light Up Cycling Jersey

Step 6 Connect the LEDs to the Arduino

NOTE: Conductive thread will NOT be used to connect the LEDs to the arduino. To connect a LED to the arduino take a lead and strip approximately 1 inch of insulation off. Take approx 1 inch of 3/32" heatshrink (available at practically any hardware or electronics store) and thread the lead that you are connecting to the ardino through it. Then, insert the exposed wire though the pin hole on the arduino and twist the wire back upon itself so it forms a sort of "loop" around the arduino. Next, move the heatshrink flush up against the arduino so that it covers the exposed wire of the lead. Use a heatgun to shrink the heatshrink. 

Take the positive leads of each of your six LEDS. Looking from the outside of the jersey, the leftmost star should be connected to pin 8 on the arduino. The LED directly to the right of the last star should be connected to pin 9 on the arduino. The next LED to pin 10, and so on and so forth until the last LED is attached to pin 13 on the arduino.

Take each of the negative leads for the LEDs and label them with masking tape as "NEGATIVE" and leave aside.

Extra: The reason conductive thread was not used is because using conductive thread in a constricted area can prove to be very difficult, and in this case, exposing conductive thread to human sweat could prove to be dangerous to the user.