Rechargeable LED Illuminated NightShoe

Hey Everyone! In this Instructable I'll show you how to light up your walk with your own LED illuminated shoes!

At first you may think that this is useless and an absolute waste of time. However, it serves an important purpose...
In my locality, accidents involving pedestrians, usually at night, have been increasing. Add to that the problems of rash driving, jaywalking and inadequate footpaths.

These LED shoes add a degree of safety while walking at night, while looking tremendously cool. So now you don't need to think twice when going for a late night walk!

Time: ~1 hour

Cost: (excluding shoe) $5-10

Difficulty:

Requirements: Very basic knowledge of electric circuits

Materials:

• A Shoe
• LED Strip (RadioShack)
• Rechargeable 9v battery* (eBay)
• Paper clip
• 9v Battery Snap
• Insulation tape
• PVA glue
• Cynoacrylite or hot glue

*My LED strip requires more than 8.2v to run, so i needed a 9v battery. If you have an LED strip that can run on 5v, then using a power bank is better...

First of all, remember to solder wires to the LED strip's terminal. Usually you'll get it done already when buying.

Stick the LED strip to the base of the shoe, as shown in the pictures above. Use a little PVA glue to keep the strip down firmly.

See the above pictures for help...

I'll power the LED strip with a high power rechargeable 9v battery. Due to this the LEDs will last no more than 3 hours, but for me, that is enough. You can use power banks (made for phones) instead, but they give out only 5v, which wasn't enough for my LED strip that needed at least 8.2v to run.

After making sure the battery is charged, clip it on to the battery snap. And there it is - your own LED illuminated shoe! The LEDs should light up nice and bright. If it doesn't, check for loose connection and check if you've connected the LED strip's terminals correctly to the battery.

By the end of this make, you'll end up with a pretty cool looking sport shoe, that increases visibility at night while walking, reducing the chances of accidents and adding to your fashion statement! One problem with this shoe is rain... So I recommend that you stick the LED strip with hot glue or cyanoacrylite glue firmly to the shoe. You may not be able to run the LEDs when wet, but you certainly can after doing them.

Even then, you probably won't be able to play sports with it. However walking or running isn't at all a problem with this shoe...

Going Further...

Energy Harvesting

Many may suggest to harvest the energy generated by walking no power the LEDs. This was shown in ASCAS's Instructable.