Kitronik Light Up Dog Coat

Dog safety at night is an issue that many dog owners are concerned about.

This is a step by step guide to make a light up dog coat for owners to put on their dogs when it gets dark to ensure the dog is visible to pedestrians and cars.

Here is a list of the equipment and components you will need to create your light up dog coat.

• A dog coat which consists of two layers of fabric that can be un-stitched.
• Unpicker
• 10 Kitronik LED's
• Kitronik Sewable slide switch
• Kitronik Battery cell
• Kitronik Battery cell holder
• Kitronik Conductive thread
• Crocodile clips
• Needle
• Pins
• Sewing machine
• Thread
• Velcro
• Material for middle layer
• Scissors

Using the switch, battery, battery cell holder and LED's check all the components using crocodile clips. You can also create a mock up of the circuit you will eventually sew into your dog coat.

Unpick the dog coat and save any extra features that may come apart. Depending on your coat you may not need to unpick all the stitches, just enough to be able to sew in your circuit.

Once unpicked, create a template of how your circuit will fit in the coat. Then replicate this with the components on the material you have chosen to be your middle layer. Cut out your circuit and sew it to the bottom layer of the dog coat.

Pin around the dog coat to keep the layers in place then cut holes in top layer for switch and LED's to come through. To secure the holes around the switch and LED's sew around the edge of the components so they do not come apart from the layer.

You must now create an opening for the battery to be changed, this can be made with velcro. Sew 2 strips of Velcro to the top and bottom layer where the entrance to the battery would be.

Sew the layers of the dog coat back together, including any extra straps that may have come off when unpicking the coat.

If you wish, you can brand your dog coat with a logo. As I used Kitronik components I used the plotter cutter to cut their logo as shown in the pictures.

Create your logo on 2D design (Remember to flip it the wrong way round), then print it onto the correct size paper. Peel away the parts of the sticker you do not want and then iron it onto your dog coat.