LED Light - Up Shirt

My favorite band is Maroon 5 so before I attended a recent concert I decided to try my hand at making a light up shirt that would "attract" the band's attention! I used sew-able LED lights. Of course my shirt color was maroon!

Here is a list of the items that I used to create my shirt. I purchased them from the site, www.sparkfun.com

LilyPad Arduino 328 Main Board

LilyPad LEDs White

Conductive Thread Bobbin - 30ft (Stainless Steel)

LilyPad FTDI Basic Breakout - 5V

SparkFun USB Mini-B Cable - 6 Foot

Craft Puffy Paint

I "grouped" about 8 LEDS and used the conductive thread to stitch them. As you can see in the picture I had five sections. I sewed all of the negatives on the LEDs using one line of conductive thread.

You can see the running stitches from the LEDs down to the Main Board. I used ports A1, A3, 13, 9, 7, and 12

I used the Arduino software to program the 328 Main Board so that each port would turn off/then on creating a blinking pattern. Below is the code I used:

int led = A1;

int led1 = A3;

int led2 = 13;

int led3 = 9;

int led4 = 7;

int led5 = 12;

// the setup function runs once when you press reset or power the board

void setup() {

// initialize digital pin 13 as an output.

pinMode(led, OUTPUT);

pinMode(led1, OUTPUT);

pinMode(led2, OUTPUT);

pinMode(led3, OUTPUT);

pinMode(led4, OUTPUT);

pinMode(led5, OUTPUT);

}

// the loop function runs over and over again forever

void loop() {

digitalWrite(led, HIGH); // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)

digitalWrite(led1, HIGH); // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)

digitalWrite(led2, HIGH); // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)

digitalWrite(led3, HIGH); // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)

digitalWrite(led4, HIGH); // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)

digitalWrite(led5, HIGH); // turn the LED on (HIGH is the voltage level)

delay(1000);

digitalWrite(led, LOW); // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW

digitalWrite(led1, LOW); // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW

digitalWrite(led2, LOW); // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW

digitalWrite(led3, LOW); // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW

digitalWrite(led4, LOW); // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW

digitalWrite(led5, LOW); // turn the LED off by making the voltage LOW

delay(1000);

After I tested out my shirt to make sure it worked correctly, I purchased Puffy Paint from a craft store and covered my conductive thread with it. It helps to keep it in place and protect it.

In this picture you see the FTDI board attached to the 328 Main Board. Then I attached the USB cord to the FTDI board through a slit I made in the shirt and the USB attached to the Energizer battery. I just kept the battery and cord in my jean pocket.

I am sad to say that no band member acknowledged my flashing shirt -- but it sure got me the attention of those around me!!!