Solar Costume

The point of this halloween costume is to get in my opinion the most important message out, this message is alternative energy. When i wore this trick or treating it was the best thing since sliced bread. Everybody understood what the meaning was, and some even said that they wanted to turn their homes green(not with paint, but alternative energy).

-Solar Cells
-Peg Board (i stole mine from my dads workbench, shhh)
-Acrylic
-2 Side Release Buckles
-Shoulder Strap from a Laptop Bag
-Foam
-Outlet
-Outlet Box
-Outlet Cover
-Tile Spacers
-2 Side Release Buckles
-Silver Panit
-Old Baseball Helmet
-Old Pair of Ski Goggles
-Old Bookbag
-Nuts and Bolts
-Wire
-Sharpie
-Duck Tape

Tools:
-Soldering Iron + solder
-Dremal
-Jigsaw
-Wire strippers
-Acrylic Knife
-Ruler or Tape Measure
-Safety Glasses
-Hot Glue + Hot Glue Gun
-Screw Driver

For this step i used electrical tape to layout the design on the acrylic. Once its on, use either an acrylic knife or a dremel to cut on the lines.

Lay the cut out acrylic pieces on the peg board and then outline it with a sharpie. Take the acrylic off, and use a jigsaw to cut out the shape. To make the peg board look better i painted them with silver spray paint.

This step will up the awesomeness of your costume, it will give it definition, like a "3D look."

First set the foam on the acrylic, then cut  the foam at a diogonal(i used a knife to shave/cut the angle). Once done with the shaping shaping of the foam hot glue it in place. 

The cells that are parallel i just soldered them together, the tabbing wire from one to the back of the other, and so on.

I took the cut out peg board and put it up against the acrylic with the foam, and then marked off where to cut so it would fit nicely on the foam. Once that was all finished i layed the solar cells how i wanted them and then wired them all together. After i soldered some together i would put the tile spacers in to hold them down. And so on.

Next drill a hole in the foam for the wires to run through, to connect to the outlet.

This step is just about the same as the front. Once it was all done i took the wires and ran them through the shoulder straps to the front so i could connect them to the outlet.

Once you have the solar cells where you want them to. Place the acrylic under the peg board and use a sharpie to mark where you want to attach the 2 with bolts. Next drill the hole. Each bolt uses 2 nuts, one that goes between the 2 boards and one on the bottom of everything.

Take the side release buckle and run the straps through them, then use some glue to fold over the strap(this prevents the strap from coming out). To make sure it holds i used a clamp. Do this twice.

On the acrylic part that is ment to cover the shoulders, use a dremel to cut a slot big enough for the strap to fit in. Then fold over and glue, then tape it.

Next we need to do the side straps. I just guesstimated the size i needed to have the straps be. once youve figured that out, grab the trusty ol duck tape and attach it to the inside of the acrylic(between the peg and acrylic). 

After i painted the electrical box thing, i cut about 1 inch from the middle. then glued the 2 halves together.

Trace the box onto the foam, then cut out the hole in the foam and the acrylic.

When all of the wires from the front and back are in place its time to connect them to the outlet. I took each wire and took a wirfe clip thing(i dont really know the name, but its in the picture), you have to slide the wire through and then use pliers to close it. Then just connect them to the outlet and add the cover.

Probably the easiest step ever. Take your goggles put them on, then put the baseball helmet on over the goggles.

Thanks for looking at my instructable, hope you liked it.

okay i know this doesnt work 100% just yet, but it does get a small charge. im working on fixing the problem and hope to get it posted soon. but i was mostly just trying to get the message green across.