turn signal biking jacket

Step 5: Sew on your turn signal LEDs

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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 signal together and to a petal on the LilyPad (petal 9 for me) and all of the + petals for the right signal together and to another LilyPad petal (11 for me). Attach all of the - petals of the lights together and then to either the - petal on the LilyPad or another LilyPad petal (petal 10 for me). Refer back to my design sketches if any of this is confusing.

Remember to seal each of your knots with fabric glue to keep them from unraveling. Be careful to avoid shorts; don't let one sewn trace touch another. In this case, the - traces for the LEDs are all connected, but you want to make sure that the + traces for the left and right signals do not touch the - trace or each other.

Test your turn signals.

Load a program onto your LilyPad that blinks each turn signal to make sure all of your sewing is correct.

Note, if you don't know how to program the LilyPad, work through a few of these introductory tutorials before proceeding.

Here's my test program:

int ledPin = 13; // the LED on the LilyPad
int leftSignal = 9; // my left turn signal is attached to petal 9
int rightSignal = 11; // my right turn signal is attached to petal 11
int signalLow = 10; // the - sides of my signals are attached to petal 10

void setup()
{
pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT); // sets the ledPin to be an output
pinMode(leftSignal, OUTPUT); // sets the leftSignal petal to be an output
pinMode(rightSignal, OUTPUT); // sets the rightSignal petal to be an output
pinMode(signalLow, OUTPUT); // sets the signalLow petal to be an output
digitalWrite(signalLow, LOW); // sets the signalLOW petal to LOW (-)
}

void loop() // run over and over again
{
delay(1000); // wait for 1 second
digitalWrite(leftSignal, LOW); // turn the left signal off
delay(1000); // wait for 1 second
digitalWrite(rightSignal, HIGH); // turn the right signal on
delay(1000); // wait for 1 second
digitalWrite(rightSignal, LOW); // turn the right signal off
delay(1000); // wait for 1 second
}

If your layout is the same as mine, you can just copy and paste this program into your Arduino window.

If your turn signals don't work, use your multimeter (and the instructions from the last step) to test for shorts or bad connections and make sure that your program matches your physical layout.

insulate your turn signal stitches

Cover your traces with puffy fabric paint. Remember, you don't want to cover traces until you're sure that everything works! Use good judgment in when to coat traces.

Comments

[lizrincon]

I was testing the sewing on the jacket, and found that the left signals were not blinking.

I tested resistance, all was fine, so I went into the code and first changed left to right signals.

Once I was sure I had not messed up with the sewing, I modified the loop code so that both blink when testing, helping me make sure that connections are correct.

I wanted to share it here, in case someone else is testing it and wants both signals to flash:


int ledPin = 13; // the LED on the LilyPad
int leftSignal = 9; // my left turn signal is attached to petal 9
int rightSignal = 11; // my right turn signal is attached to petal 11
int signalLow = 10; // the - sides of my signals are attached to petal 10

void setup()
{
pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT); // sets the ledPin to be an output
pinMode(leftSignal, OUTPUT); // sets the leftSignal petal to be an output
pinMode(rightSignal, OUTPUT); // sets the rightSignal petal to be an output
pinMode(signalLow, OUTPUT); // sets the signalLow petal to be an output
digitalWrite(signalLow, LOW); // sets the signalLOW petal to LOW (-)
}

void loop() // run over and over again
{
delay(1000); //wait for 1 second
digitalWrite(rightSignal, HIGH); // turn the right signal on
delay(1000); // wait for 1 second
digitalWrite(rightSignal, LOW); // turn the right signal off
delay(1000); // wait for 1 second
digitalWrite(leftSignal, HIGH); // turn the left signal on
delay(1000); // wait for 1 second
digitalWrite(leftSignal, LOW); // turn the left signal off
delay(1000); // wait for 1 second
}

[DrWilliamHorriblePhD]

Thanks. +1

[oneeb]

how did you get the stitching not to show on the outside, did you paint it?

[leahbuechley]

The fabric was thick enough so that I could conceal the stitches on the inside. see page 3 of the instructable ;)