Arduino Controlled Wireless Wearable 3rd Brake Lights

"This instructable was created in fulfillment of the project requirement of the Makecourse at the University of South Florida (www.makecourse.com)"

This project is meant for the semi-experienced coder who would like an extra bit of safety whilst riding their motorcycle. This could also work for a bicycle with limited modification, but there would be easier ways to do so.

Step 1: Step 1: Arduino Set Up

Setting up the Arduino control system is the hardest part of this project, so let's star with that!

You will need two UNO boards or similarly set up control boards.

The first (labeled "TX" in the picture), will be your transmitter. Pretend that the little button is the hot(meaning powered) wire for your brake light. **Note** you will need significant resistors to run from a 12V system (standard bike battery) to the 5V system that your Arduino is used to, don't make the same mistake as me.

The second (labeled "RX" in the picture) is your reciver, Pretend the little LED is the strand of brake lights on your jacket.

The easiest way to set up the boards is exactly like in the pictures, I tried to use the voltage regulators that you can get for these radio transcievers, but I could not get that system to work.

Step 2: The Coding

I lied. This part is way harder than the first part, sorry about that, but if you did the first part wrong then this step wont matter, so double-check all your connections again.

If you know how to code anything, then you're much better off than me.

This is the code I used for both the transmitter and the receiver:

**NOTE** I suck at coding, this probably will not work for you. Do yourself a huge favor and try to learn some programming before looking at these codes, and you might be able to improve on my designs.

Step 3: Hardware

Ok, THIS is the easy part. All you have to do is take your second favorite jacket and attach your strand of LEDs all around the back and shoulders.

**NOTE** It only looks bad when bundled up, when actually worn the LEDs flex over the length of the jacket if they are positioned correctly.

You will need an external power source to run the 5V LED strip **NOTE** I said 5V, double check or you will burn out your LEDs

Then, to insure proper power delivery you should put a 1000 micro farad capacitor (I only had 470mf ones, so I had to improvise) along the leads to the Lights so you don't shock them