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turn signal biking jacket

intro
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introturn signal biking jacket

This tutorial will show you how to build a jacket with turn signals that will let people know where you're headed when you're on your bike. We'll use conductive thread and sewable electronics so your jacket will be soft and wearable and washable when you're done. Enjoy!

A version of this tutorial is also on my website.


turn signal biking jacket
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step 1supplies

.Get your supplies. You need:-- LilyPad Arduino main board-- FTDI connector-- mini USB cable-- LilyPad power supply-- 16 LilyPad LEDs (note: these aren't available from Spa…


step 2design

.Plan the aesthetic and electrical layout of your piece.Decide where each component is going to go and figure out how you will sew them together with as few thread crossing…


step 3sew your power supply and LilyPad to your jacket

.First, trim the leads off of the back of the power supplyGet out your LilyPad power supply piece and trim the metal parts that are sticking out the back of it. Small clip…


step 4test your stitching

.Measure the resistance of your stitching.Get out your multimeter and put it on the resistance measuring setting. Measure from power supply + to LilyPad + and power supply…


step 5sew on your turn signal LEDs

.Sew in your left and right signals.Using the same techniques you used to sew the power supply to the LilyPad, attach all of the + petals of the lights for the left turn si…


step 6sew in your control switches

.Place your switchesFind a spot for your switches where they'll be easy to press when you're riding your bike. I mounted mine on the underside of my wrists. I found a good …


step 7sew in your indicator LEDs

.Sew a single LED onto the sleeve of each arm. These will give you essential feedback about which turn signal is on. They'll flash to tell you what the back of your jacket…


step 8program your jacket

.Decide on the behavior you want.I wanted the left switch to turn on the left turn signal for 15 seconds or so, and the right switch to do the same thing for the right sign…


118 comments
1-50 of 118
Nov 6, 2009. 9:41 AMShortedOut says:

Leah, are you still answering questions from your Instructables? I have seen many links out on the Internet, as well as the ones on this page, that are links to your University of Colorado Computer Science area. The pages you are linking to have apparently been removed from that site, which gives a Page Not Found message. Therefore, the code used to program this turn signal biking jacket is no longer available. For those people for whom this could well be a first project, the fact that there is no code available puts a damper on making a purchase of LilyPad products. Could the code be posted on this page, or is it too long? Thanks. I'll also send a message through the SparkFun site.
 


Oct 15, 2009. 5:48 AMcodongolev says:
I want to wear one of these in the halls at school.... use it to passpeople and everything....

"excuse me, I have to merge...."

(also, get a bicycle horn from the dollar store and keep it in my pocket)

Oct 24, 2009. 10:18 PMkomecake says:
  AHAH! Too funny. Or just wear one when you have to go to Walmart. Lol.
Sep 28, 2009. 8:33 PMbanane says:
This is a really sweet product! I'm looking forward to make one when money will be pouring in.

I might ask the same question as Poincare but... first, I know nothing about electronics and I was wondering if any LED was compatible with the other LilyPads? Can I just buy any LED and use it or do I have to somewhat work on them?

Are you going to sell the LilyPad LEDs any time soon? If yes, I'll just wait for it to be available.

Thanks a bunch!
Sep 28, 2009. 8:41 PMbanane says:
Hello again :)
I don't know how to edit my message so... here it goes anyway!

I noticed that the LilyPad Arduido 168 Main Board and the LilyPad Power Supply are washable but when I have my finished product, can I just throw it in the washing machine (after taking out the battery)? If not, what do I have to remove?

I'm sorry if my questions are a burden.
Oct 1, 2009. 6:45 AMannabelleolivier says:
Remove battery and hand wash with mild soap, hang to dry. LilyPad LEDs are available at sparkfun.

Cheers,
Annabelle
Sep 27, 2009. 6:11 PMannabelleolivier says:
Quick question. I did steps one through five and actually went ahead and did five before four....I put the battery in the power source and my lilypad is blinking without my pressing the switch. What could be causing that?
Sep 23, 2009. 1:31 PMblurofred says:
What is your estimated cost for everything?
Sep 7, 2009. 5:40 PMpajjakid says:
perhaps its short for short...?
Aug 26, 2009. 3:50 PMWehrdo says:
Great idea!! I'm starting to think about biking to school, instead of using a whole car just for me. Unfortunately, on a bike it takes about 30 minutes to get there, but it could get me in good shape! Also, my parents aren't too keen on the idea, because getting hit by a car on the highway is not a fun ordeal... =/

Aug 26, 2009. 2:16 PMzoltzerino says:
This is really nice, I might try and make this at school sometime, I shall look for an alternative to the Arduino, perhaps a PIC16Fxxxxx or a PICAXE ( readily available at school).

Very well made, documented and produced!

5 stars :-)
Aug 20, 2009. 10:06 AMDoItOrDie says:
This is brilliant! Not to mention really cool. Though it might be a bit warm on those hot summer days.
Aug 6, 2009. 1:52 PMNASAguy says:
he you should sell them because they r awesome
Jul 21, 2009. 11:05 PMotoupalik says:
That is awesome. Anything to help drivers see you more clearly at night is definitely a plus!
Apr 20, 2009. 5:25 AMsebberdreng says:
Omg i look so nice i wanna try make it.
Jun 29, 2009. 8:21 PMtazdev says:
Agreed!!!!
May 2, 2009. 1:20 PMMuratas says:
Creative, Great Idea
Apr 27, 2009. 2:35 PMGjko says:
great work!
I want to do it!
Apr 24, 2009. 1:34 PMFeedTheGrid says:
Hands down; best instructable ever. Great work.
FTG
Apr 23, 2009. 10:21 AMwarpling says:
I just thought of a project with two temperature sensors on the end of your bike handles and Led turn signals on the back, it would only activate in the dark (light sensor) and the blinkers would come on when you move your hands to the ends of the handles :D
As soon as summer comes I am doing this.
Apr 14, 2009. 7:59 PMWankaah says:
May I ask, do you feel the lilly pad on the other side? can you email me at t-g-l.crackelin.cracka@hotmail.com :) this is exiting
Apr 3, 2009. 4:19 PMMarksson says:
This is absolutely BRILLIANT! (pardon the pun) I just came into a beautiful old bike and I'm converting it to fixed gear when I get the chance and maybe, just maybe, I'll construct one of these. I've added this page to "my favorites" in my "InstructablesAWESOME" folder. Wicked cool 'ible.
Feb 7, 2009. 12:15 PMPoincare says:
Is it necessary to have LilyPad Led's? I mean can't you just cut up a small piece of PCB and a 603 resistor and solder them.
Jun 21, 2008. 5:20 PMT3h_Muffinator says:
Yet another awesome innovation from Leah!

I've been reading your tutorials on making e-textiles and I'm currently working on a mega-168 controlled 14x7 LED array on a t-shirt. Right now, I'm sewing with 4-ply thread and it keeps on fraying. should I try getting the 2-ply and using a sewing machine? Also, is switching from raw AVR to arduino difficult? I'm thinking about just using your lilypad arduino, in conjuction with my controller. I'm going to be automating my room from the little bugger, monitoring my sleep patterns and movements with an ir camera and several sensors, and hope to be able to display me in my sleep on my shirt during the day. I'm also thinking about adding in different modes where it can graph my movement with an embedded accelerometer as well as other various functions. As of now, I've got the mega-168 mounted on the controller board with a jumper interface to the shirt (which has a header sewn on), as well as a binary clock mounted on the controller board. I've not yet learned how to interface with a computer via usart, but that should all come pretty easy.

Again, great work and excellent instructable.
Jun 21, 2008. 7:46 PMhide98 says:
That sounds incredibly difficult, you definitely have to post that when you're done. Good instructable too!
Jun 22, 2008. 4:38 AMT3h_Muffinator says:
It shouldn't be too hard - it's just a matter of learning how to do things. I just learned USART communications this morning after about 20 minutes of reading, and now I've decided that if there will be more than one AVR uC, I'm going to go with SPI rather than USART (that baud rate stuff's not for me).
Jun 22, 2008. 7:13 AMleahbuechley (author) says:
your project sounds great! I would love to see how it comes out!

If you're working with the mega168, switching over to Arduino is *super* easy since that's the chip Arduino is based on. You can basically just copy and paste your C code into the Arduino IDE (with some small caveats). Arduino is essentially a collection of great libraries + a GUI wrapper for avr-gcc. So, I'd recommend the switch. It will make using the USART on the AVR trivial, for one thing :)

I'd recommend using the USART weather or not you make the Arduino switch. There are good C code examples on the AVR site for how to do this if you stick w/ raw AVR. There are also a lot of hardware devices (like the LilyPad USB link) that make it easy to attach your controller's USART to a USB port.

So, about the thread. The 2-ply thread is very easy to work with, but unfortunately is has a relatively high resistance. For peripherals like LEDs that aren't too far from your chip this is fine, but it won't work for power supply connections or other connections that need to carry a lot of current. It also won't work well over long distances. What I sometimes do is machine sew with the 2-ply as top thread and the 4-ply as bottom thread.

Jan 4, 2009. 5:28 PMNunavutnewsrules says:
what exactly is the difference between the mega168 and arduino?
Jun 22, 2008. 1:04 PMT3h_Muffinator says:
Thanks for all the tips! I guess I'm sticking to USART, then. I actually didn't check my budget, but it seems as if I'm going to have to wait a bit until I can switch over to arduino... *grumbles about how tutoring while school isn't in session does not work*

I haven't yet tried machine-sewing with a 4-ply bottom thread. Will it fit in most machines?

Jun 22, 2008. 10:03 PMleahbuechley (author) says:
so, I've never had any problems using the 4-ply in the bobbin. I've used a few different & pretty standard home sewing machines.

As for your Arduino dilemma, it's also really easy to use the Arduino IDE to program AVR chips. Just burn one of the arduino bootloaders (the LilyPad bootloader if you don't want to deal w/ an external clock) onto your mega168 & you're good to go. There's good documentation on the arduino site about how to do this & ladyada's site is also a fantastic resource.
Jun 23, 2008. 8:04 AMT3h_Muffinator says:
Oh, sweet! I didn't realize I could just load the bootloader myself..... I think I'm going to need an external clock, though - I plan on keeping the time so I don't have to wear a watch ;-).

Thanks again!
Jul 6, 2008. 5:55 AMT3h_Muffinator says:
So I finally "sewed-out" the matrix on a shirt..... after going through two others due to using tight stitching that ended up ripping the shirt... and just as I start testing it, there are shorts in the grid grr. I think I'm going to try and use a small rectangle of a thicker, canvas-ier fabric, then jump that via headers into a shirt. As an added bonus, I can simply sew a few traces on to several shirts without having to sew on more matrices, making this much more versatile.

This morning I'm going to experiment with the arduino bootloader.

Thanks for all of your help, and CONGRATULATIONS on your win!
-Josh

Jul 14, 2008. 3:23 PMleahbuechley (author) says:
ack, shorts! they are the major pain you struggle with in this medium unfortunately... Denim is probably the ideal fabric to work with: thick & non-stretchy. Also, what I do when I'm sewing out a grid is to stop stitching w/ the machine & just jump (no stitches) for a centimeter or so around the crossing points. This really helps prevent shorts.

I like your patch idea! would love to see pics!
Jul 15, 2008. 3:55 PMT3h_Muffinator says:
Okay! Denim it is! I'll go out to the local fabric store during lunch to pick some up.

So... it turns out I got here a few (probably somewhere around 10) hours after you left?! (I'm interning again this summer). I didn't know you were going to be here!

Anyhow, I looked into the bootloader, and you don't need one so long as you're not programming with rx and tx (usart). But... it gets better! I finished making the "professional" version of the board yesterday, and made another board that does the usb to usart conversion (the dock), with a built in male header for easy breadboard prototyping! I'm sending out both designs today w/ batchPCB, and I'll hopefully have this whole thing done (relatively) soon. The board has 2 1M i2c eeprom expansions on it, along with 2 8bit shift registers for column sinking/driving. I'm aiming for a 14x7 matrix, but I should be able to expand it to a 22x7 matrix if I really want to using a pseudo-charlieplexing technique. I ditched the onboard clock idea - it just took up more space. Right now the board's only 2X1.5X.25", excluding Li-ion batteries.

I'm really excited to get cracking on this - I'll upload pics of the patch as soon as it materializes.
Glow_Garb.pngGlow_Garb_sch.png
Jul 16, 2008. 8:05 AMleahbuechley (author) says:
oh... nice boards!

sorry I missed you! I was kicking myself after I left for not hanging out longer & seeing more stuff anyway, though 10 hours might have been a stretch ;)

looking forward to seeing more pics soon!
Jan 4, 2009. 4:59 PMRadioactv Biohazard says:
It was only a matter of time until someone came up with this. It's funny and creative. Great job!
Dec 22, 2008. 12:43 PMDefault117 says:
Haha. You look like Iron Man in the last picture.
Jun 26, 2008. 5:51 PMthebookofkevin says:
are the "Lightboard" LEDs at Aniomagic the same as the LilyPad LEDs?

more importantly, will they work just the same?

second question: any plans to design a sewable LED driver board so that we can program these LEDs individually?

also, awesome awesome tutorial.
Jun 26, 2008. 6:44 PMleahbuechley (author) says:
the aniomagic lights are mostly the same. the main difference is that they do not include resistors, so you would want to add a resistor in series w/ your lights if you used these.

as for a sewable driver board... you can use the lilypad main board to run up to 14 individual LEDs (22 if you're a bit of a hacker & use the analog input pins as outputs) & if you multiplex the LEDs, you can run up to 121 (11x11). see my wearable display tutorial for info on multiplexing ;-):
http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~buechley/diy/diy_tank.html

Dec 11, 2008. 9:53 PMGravity Boy says:
You can sink many more LEDs if you use the lilypad to turn on transistors (or off if you are using a PNP type.)
Jun 26, 2008. 7:34 PMthebookofkevin says:
hmm. looking at the diagram, it seems like you'd have to change the wiring around to get as many lights up as possible. for instance, it seems that the switches and LEDs are each connected to two pins, rather than one pin and a rail.

two and a half more questions:
where are the contacts for the other three ADCs? and it's impossible to tell from the photos online, what contact is at 12 o'clock? lastly, are there digital ports 14 and 15? it seems peculiar to me that the chip only has 14 digital i/o's. those 6 contacts in the middle seem like they could be the culprits...
Jun 26, 2008. 8:36 PMleahbuechley (author) says:
so, for your first question. yes, you would need to reorganize your design to run more lights. I was using digital I/O pins for ground pins simply because I had extra pins & this simplified my wiring. of course to do any other design you'd need a different wiring :)

as for the second half of your questions. I was a bit of a dork in my last reply! ;) The lilypad has 14 digital I/O (0-13) and 6 analog input pins (0-5) for a total of 20 pins, not 22! The pin at 12:00 is pin 0. the atmega168 that the lilypad is based on has a total of 16 digital I/O & 8 analog. 2 of the digital are devoted to an external clock source on most arduinos, that's why there are only 14 digital petals on the lilypad & 2 of the analog pins are only available on the SMD atmega168s, that's why there are only 6 analog petals.

those "six contacts in the middle" are an SPI programming interface. useful if you want to use a traditional AVR programmer w/ the lilypad. this doesn't affect being able to use any pins on the chip as regular I/Os.
Jun 26, 2008. 11:54 PMthebookofkevin says:
aha. thanks a ton for the info! i'll post pictures and stuff if i can get funding for the project (see: parents' wallet :)

my idea is to add some flashy blinky stuff for visibility, solid-on for stop, and the standard left-right turn signals.

i'm still in awe of how awesome this is.

oh, and would you recommend 1k or 10k for the current limiting resistors? there's no data on the aniomagic LEDs and i don't want them to be too dim. alternatively, how soon will the sparkfun LilyLEDs be ready?
Jun 27, 2008. 10:00 AMleahbuechley (author) says:
I'd recommend 1k or even lower. The thread will also add a little resistance.

Not sure when the sparfun LEDs will be out, soon I hope!
Oct 15, 2008. 1:13 PMBriguy9 says:
lol on picture four if you look carefully at the screen of the ohm meter it says 5hrt, looks a lot like Shr, which looks a lot like Shirt, right?
Sep 23, 2008. 11:26 PMoneeb says:
how did you get the stitching not to show on the outside, did you paint it?
Sep 26, 2008. 9:31 AMleahbuechley (author) says:
The fabric was thick enough so that I could conceal the stitches on the inside. see page 3 of the instructable ;)
Sep 18, 2008. 11:31 PMkrisbkreme says:
I am thinking about starting an e-textile project using the LilyPad. I want to make a sweatshirt with LED's around the hood. Is there a particular reason why you sew the LilyPad on the outside of the garment? Why not sew it on the inside?
Sep 19, 2008. 6:53 AMleahbuechley (author) says:
You can sew it on the inside or outside. I just liked it on the outside :)
Sep 6, 2008. 6:59 PMdontwealllovebuda92 says:
Incredibly perfectly awesomely amazing best bike instructable ever!!!! My dad is a big spin/bike fanatic. It would be cool to make him something like this.
1-50 of 118

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