After getting my new bike, it was clearly project time. But what to do first? There are plenty of interesting things to do with a bike, but what cinched it was my light being stolen. I decided to mod my helmet by adding LEDs, so that I’m more visible to cars and other cyclists at night, and as a backup against light failure or misappropriation. (also, mental masturbation - LEDs make anything cooler) I followed Becky’s Instructable for the most part, with a few modifications of my own. The basic idea is to use conductive paint to draw traces for the circuit, then attach the LEDs, battery, and switch with conductive epoxy, and finally use regular epoxy and a clearcoat to weatherproof everything. The switch used is a magnetic reed switch, activated by a magnet tethered to the helmet’s strap anchors. Full photoset on my Flickr account.

Testing the circuit
Testing the circuit
Masking for conductive paint
Masking for conductive paint
Final configuration on my head - Back
Final configuration on my head - Back
The original design had a magnet with a hole in the center - I epoxied a small loop of wire to the magnet I had
The original design had a magnet with a hole in the center - I epoxied a small loop of wire to the magnet I had
Final configuration on my head - Front
Final configuration on my head - Front
A final touch
A final touch