Creative Switch Project:

The Bright Belt

Created by Peter Rattin

In today’s society it  appears we are getting closer and closer to the futuristic clothing we’ve seen in movies like Back-to-the-Future and shows like the Jetsons. We’ve seen shoes, dresses, coats and other clothing covered in lights in hopes of becoming the next most talked about fashion trend. However, many of these products appear awkward and unnatural. The bright belt is a very subtle design concept that will draw the eyes of everyone in the room without overwhelming them.

The bright belt illuminates the minute you tuck the belt slack underneath the holder. It can be used if going to a concert with lots of strobe lights, going to a funeral with a lack of strobe lights, or matching the rest of your LED wardrobe. 

The supplies you will need are:

1. A Leather Belt 

2. 3 LED’s

3. Soldering Iron and Solder

4. Electrical Tape

5. Copper Tape 

6. Wire

7. Wire Strippers

8. 2, 3-V Button Batteries

Step 1.

First, take your wire and lay it across the entire back-side of the belt. Strip one end of the wire and allow it to lay across the back of the metal buckle as displayed above. Tape the wire to the back so that it does not move.

Step 2:

Once the wire is in place, take your first LED and put it through the front of the last hole on your belt so that the prongs are sticking out the back. You will then Solder the positive prong to the wire that is stretching across the belt. Then, take you next LED and do the same thing except you will be soldering the negative prong of the first LED to the positive prong of the second LED. Repeat this step one more time so that you have 3 LED’s connected in series.

Step 3:

After the LED’s are all soldered together you will take the final prong of the last LED in series and solder it to a new piece of wire that will stretch to the end of the belt. Strip both ends of the piece of wire and one side will be attached the LED while the other will be taped to a surface at the end of your belt. At the end of your belt you will take you copper tape and create a conductive surface to attach your wire to.

Step 4:

Once the wire if attached to your conductive copper wire surface, you will take your two button batteries and lay them both positive face down on top of the strip wire we left on the back of the buckle. This will connect the positive end of the battery to the circuit. Then you must your copper tape and place it on the negative end of the battery and wrap it around to the front side of the buckle as shown above. Now this conductive surface on the buckle will make contact with the other conductive surface on the end of the belt when the belt is put together. This will keep the lights off until the belt is in use in order to save energy.

Step 5:

Once you are done you should not see any wiring sticking out from the back of the belt and only the LED’s should be visible. The lights should remain off while the belt is not buckled together, but when it is…….

It should illuminate and you will be ready to stand out at any event!