Woot Light Costume Hat

Though this is labeled as a "Woot-Light" hat, a quick change of colored materials can net you just about any other "Lighted" hat. Drop the name and add your favorite hockey team to the foam and you have a hockey goal hat. Switch the yellow out for some blue or red and you have a police light hat. All but the resistors and LED bulb were found parts around the house. Total cost was about $8.00 for the resistors and LED bulb.


Parts List:
One Gallon Ice Cream Bucket (scrape the logo off of the side with a razor blade)
One spare male USB cable - cut from some cheap USB device that broke
One Bic Stic Pen
One large click pen - The barrel must fit over the Bic Stic pen's barrel
One spare computer fan motor (I think that is where I scavenged it)
Probably 30 inches of wire
One 25,000 mcd white 3.5 - 4volt LED bulb
One 220 Ohm resistor
One 50 Ohm resistor
Two Dixie cups
about one square sheet of aluminum foil
One heavy duty rubber band
Choice of colored film
15" x 17" of foam
5 volt USB charger (or simply plug into your USB port on a computer)
Electrical tape

Tools list:
Solder iron
Voltage meter
Hot glue gun

Step 1:

First take the ice cream bucket and remove any logos on the side. I found a straight razor blade did better than a power tool or sand paper. Remove the bucket and hold onto the lid, as it will be the base for all of your components.

Take the USB cable and plug it into something. Grab a voltage meter and find the two power wires. Mine were white as positive and beige as the negative. Not sure if this is universal among all cables so it is best to double check. I taped up the other two wires and glued them in an out-of-the way location. Cut a hole about an inch in from the edge of the lid and feed the USB cable through the hole. Hook the positive cable up to the positive of the motor and the 220 ohm resistor. Connect the negative of the USB cable up to the negative of the motor and the 50 ohm resistor.

Side note: These resistors are for taking the voltage down from 5 volts to a voltage the LED bulb can handle. I am NOT an electrician and I found this information by searching the interwebs. It has worked fine for me, but if you change the bulb to another voltage I cannot help you, sorry! :)

Comments

[crouchingwolf]

WOW this is really cool! good job!