EL Wire Bike Helmet

1. I ride my bike a lot at night in a very car oriented city, so I needed to find a way to make sure I was seen at night. Using EL Wire, scotch tape, Elmers Glue, and a hot glue gun (not pictured) I came up with a cheap way to add lighting to a bike helmet. It's simple and easy, and I think you'll agree it looks pretty sweet at night.

I have a Nutcase helmet. This helmet is nice because it has a lot of surface area, which makes attaching the EL wire easier. You can probably figure out a way to do this with another type of helmet as well, I just happened to already own this one.

You want to begin creating a pattern with your EL wire. It is a good idea to sort of free hand your design first with the wire, and try and get a sense of how much wire you have for your design. My design was kind of free flowing, just made it up as I went. You want to begin by taping the battery pack in place at the back of the helmet. This is just to temporarily secure it while you tape the rest of the EL wire in place. You also want to tape down the begging of the glowing part of the wire. This is your starting point for the design.

You want to begin to wind your EL wire around your helmet, taping it down every 2 inches or so to ensure that the wire is always in contact with your helmet. Be creative and make whatever design you want!

Next, take the Elmers glue and begin to apply at the base of the EL wire where it connects to your helmet. You want to do this for the entirety of the EL wire and on both sides of the wire. You are basically creating a small channel into which the EL wire sits. You can see the glue in the image for this step.

Once glue is completely dry, it should be clear. Take your time removing it from the helmet. You may want to use your other hand to hold down the EL wire at the points where you are removing the tape to ensure it does not lift off the helmet.

The last step is to hot glue the battery pack to the helmet. I used a good amount of hot glue on the battery pack and stuck right onto the back edge of the helmet. I then used more hot glue around the edges to make sure it was not going anywhere. Make sure you glue it in such a way that you have access to the power button and actual battery so you can replace the battery.

That's it. Enjoy your new EL Wire bike helmet and feel relatively safe on the streets.