Night Rider: the Late Night Safety Backpack.

The Safety backpack for any active person at night. Have you ever wanted to go run,jog,walk, or bike at night but afraid of maybe getting hit because you were not seen. Well that is a fear in the past with night rider. The backpack has working headlights and running lights by the press of a button but also a hazard light that comes on with the help of the darkness of night. Now follow the steps below and build your own. Have fun and be safe!

Step 1: Materials

The Materials You will need for this exact project.

1. Wire Strippers

2. Wire Cutters

3. Soldering Iron

4. Solder

5. Processed Wire

6. Solid Core Wire

7. Heat Shrink Tubing

8. Electrical Tape

9. E.L Wire (Blue & White) (2pc per Color)

10. LED Car Running Lights (2pc)

11. NeoPixel LED's (4pc)

12. Arduino Uno

13. Backpack or Camelpack

14. 9 Volt Battery (2pc)

15. AA Battery (2pc)

16. Sewing Kit

17. 1k Resistor

18. Photocell

19. Bread Board

20. Jumpers

21. Rear Car Reflector

22. Buttons

23. Box Cutter

24. Zip Ties

25. 9v Battery Adapters for Arduino

Step 2: Deciding on Which Lights to Do What Function.

During the process of making this project I ran into many problems on which lights I wanted to use.

First I wanted to make the lights all E.L wire for a flexible and discreet light. But I then ran into the problems of powering the E.L wire with an Arduino without a EL Escudo - EL Wire Arduino Shield which did not come in time for the due date of this project.

Second I was going to use a factory made LED running light for your avg vehicle. But then I ran into a very similar problem where the Arduino couldn't power the lights to their full potential.

So that is when I settled on NeoPixel LED's. These turned out to be the best style of light to use with the Arduino to create a form of Blinker/Hazard light for the backpack.

I ended up using the E.L wire as a form of running lights/ style points and the Running lights as a Form of Headlight for the Bicyclist, Runner, or Walker to use during night activities.

Step 3: Solder NeoPixels

After you have decided on what lights you want to be used correctly you will want to solder the NeoPixel LEDs together. During this process be careful as the LEDs are very small and if you get even the smallest amount of solder connecting two pin points your circuit will short and not work. This is why I say you need at least 4 NeoPixel LEDs. At this step you can also solder any wire to the solid core wire so you will be able to plug into the Arduino.

After Soldering up your lights you will then want to run a test sample code from the NeoPixel LEDs library used for an Arduino.

Step 4: Coding

After testing your lights you will want to start coding your Arduino to run your lights. This is the code that I used it is very simple at the moment and I plan on working on it to add blinks and flashes as well.

#include #ifdef __AVR__

#include #endif

#define PIN 6

#define NUM_LEDS 2

#define BRIGHTNESS 50

Adafruit_NeoPixel strip = Adafruit_NeoPixel(NUM_LEDS, PIN, NEO_GRBW + NEO_KHZ800);

int photocell= 0; //This is the value for analog input pin

void setup() { Serial.begin(9600); strip.setBrightness(BRIGHTNESS); strip.begin(); strip.show(); // Initialize all pixels to 'off' }

void loop() { Serial.println(analogRead(photocell)); // Measures and writes values to Serial monitor

int value= analogRead( photocell);

if (value <= 600){ // <= means less than or equal to, This our test colorWipe (strip.Color( 0,0,0,255) ,5); }

else { colorWipe (strip.Color( 0,0,0), 5); } } // Fill the dots one after the other with a color void

colorWipe(uint32_t c, uint8_t wait) { for(uint16_t i=0; i

Step 5: Bread Boarding Your Code

To test your code you will have to bread board your circuit to see if the code is calling the right function. in the pictures you can see me using multiple colored jumpers, this is used for the reason of multiple objects needing to plug into the same spot on the Arduino. In our case it is mainly the 5 volt slot and the Analog 0 slot. I used the green jumper to represent 5v, yellow to represent gnd, and orange to represent A0. In the 5v slot you will need to plug in the wire coming from your 5v pin from your NeoPixels as a leg from your photocell. You will then plug in your 1k resistor with 1 leg to gnd and one leg to A0. You will also plug your other pin leg from your photocell to A0. After completing the setup for our photocell we will know want to finish by plugging our gnd wire from our NeoPixels into gnd and then our data pin into pin 6 or whatever pin you chose. Also when bread boarding remember to make sure everything is lined up correctly as if not you will be searching for a big problem when in reality it is so small.

Step 6: Making the Healight Circuit

This circuit is very simple all by twisting the 3 positive wires together and then the 3 negative wires together from the 9v battery adapter, the headlights , and the button will give you a cool yet simple circuit to run your headlights off a button without a specific code.

Step 7: Wiring Into the Backpack

Even though this sounds like it may be hard it is actually quite simple if you take your time and focus. The good thing about using a backpack is all the slots and holder you can hide wires in.

First thing I did was wire in and hide the inverter for the E.L wires.

I first made pin holes from an inside pocket to the location of the E.L wire to run the lights throught as The pocket was the disguise for the inverter.

I then sewed the lights in place using a black thread to blend in with the black bag.

After I had the E.L wire sewed into place I then wired in the headlights and its button to control them.

Now having the headlights on their own power source just like the E.L wire made it very simple to wire in.

I first made a pin hole in the side and back of the bag to run the wire from my button to the source of power and lights.

I then attached the holders for the headlights with zip ties and then made a pinhole to run the wire through and up the strap to the pocket that was going to hold our power source.

Then I twisted all the matching wires back together and re soldered them to complete the circuit again. Make sur to use any heat shrink or electrical tape on any solder joint so the two points don't touch and short your circuit.

Lastly I wired in the NeoPixel Circuit.

I first made a Pin hole to slide the wires through the backpack into the front pocket.

Then I made a pin hole to slide the wires for the photocell into the backpack as well.

I then recreated the circuit as seen before and then made 4 pin holes to zip tie the reflector to cover and protect the NeoPixels.

Now all you have to do is power it up and have fun while being safe on your late night run,jog,walk, or bike.