Wearable Flashlight (featuring the CPX)

Hello everyone,

I made a wearable flashlight that can be worn around your hand. I used code from Adafruit, a coding website where you put blocks of code together.

In this instructable, I will tell you what I did to code the CPX (Circuit Playground Express) and how I designed my wearable flashlight. I'll also show you the process I went through by showing you my prototypes and how my ideas changed.

You will need a needle, thread, a worn out sock, a CPX(Circuit Playground Express) and a battery pack(with batteries). All of these items are pretty easy to obtain.

In Adafruit, there are a bunch of options on the side where you can easily find all the colored blocks. The ones I used effected the lights so if I touch the pin called A6, which is on the CPX then it will pick a random color that I chose and the lights will be that color. The next column does the same thing, but not every time you touch something, this changes only when the CPX is turned on or if you click the restart button in the middle of the CPX. The next column does a rainbow sequence when (pin) A4 is touched. It just goes through every color that has been put underneath it. The last part changes the brightness if (pin) A2 is being touched.

In this step, all you need to do is cut the worn out sock at the tip (where your toes would be). Then you stitch the CPX onto the sock, I suggest you stitch in the pins that are not being used. Basically anything that isn't pin A6, A4 or A2. Once that is finished, use the part of the sock that you cut to make a pocket for the battery pack. If it has a hole where the toes would be, then stretch it out a little bit, but not too much so that there would be a big hole. It should be just enough to snugly hold the battery pack.

Then stitch the pocket to the sock tightly, make as many rounds as possible because the battery pack will fall with the pocket if the pocket isn't stitched enough. Also, make sure you can access the on/off button on the battery pack.

Then you will be done. The next steps after this is if you want to see my progress and how I changed my prototypes.

This is my first prototype, I was thinking that I should encase the battery pack and the CPX can be exposed. The only problem with this prototype is that I can't access the on/off button. Also, getting to the CPX can be a little difficult. For this prototype, I just used the CPX, the battery pack and some felt.

Prototype 2 is very similar to prototype 1, the only difference is that I put a sock underneath it to see if the case would fit on the sock. It did by the way, but the case was too long.

For prototype 3, I added some cardboard to stiffen the case. Once I made this prototype however, I decided to get rid of the case idea and simply stitch the CPX on the sock. This way the case wouldn't fall, and it wouldn't be hard to bend your hand with the case on either.

For prototype 4, I stitched the wire from the battery pack to the felt. I also stitched the battery pack to the felt (poorly). The battery pack fell out plenty of times since I sowed lightly. I also stitched the CPX onto the felt to see how it would look. Since I used felt, I also needed to stitch up the side together so it would make a wristband- like object that I could use for testing.

This prototype is one that I used the sock that I was going to use for my final project. I ended up using this prototype as my final product. As you can see, there is a pocket which is well stitched to the sock. The CPX is also firmly stitched onto the sock. In my last prototype, the wire was stitched onto the felt, but I decided not to do that. so that if the batteries need to be replaced, then the battery pack can be removed easily.

This is how my final project looks now. The only thing I added was a hole for my thumb so that it became more of a glove then a wristband. I am happy with my result and I hope, if you decide to make a wearable flashlight, that you are also happy with your result. Just a tip, use a soft sock, my sock was really soft so it made the glove more comfortable.