Bottle Cap Light
--Turn your personal beverage into an urban awareness glow stick!
So here's the deal. Every morning I wait at the bus stop for 5-10 minutes. Many cars pass at 40+ MPH just feet by me. Daylight savings helps, but it will only get darker until winter solstice. Every morning I like to take a bottle of water for the bus ride and morning classes. I saw this contest, and thought, "Whatever glows cannot be a piece of clothing that you change everyday. It must be something that doesn't need to be washed." So this is my solution.
This bottle cap you can use all the time, and it will light up the cap, illuminate the entire water bottle! This will show everyone in the street exactly where you are.
Materials:
- LED
- Water bottle
- 2 identical caps for your water ball
- two 1.5v button cells
Tools:
- Hot glue gun
- Awl tool
So here's the deal. Every morning I wait at the bus stop for 5-10 minutes. Many cars pass at 40+ MPH just feet by me. Daylight savings helps, but it will only get darker until winter solstice. Every morning I like to take a bottle of water for the bus ride and morning classes. I saw this contest, and thought, "Whatever glows cannot be a piece of clothing that you change everyday. It must be something that doesn't need to be washed." So this is my solution.
This bottle cap you can use all the time, and it will light up the cap, illuminate the entire water bottle! This will show everyone in the street exactly where you are.
Materials:
- LED
- Water bottle
- 2 identical caps for your water ball
- two 1.5v button cells
Tools:
- Hot glue gun
- Awl tool
Insert the LED Into the Cap
Poke two holes in the top of your cap. You want them to be just wide enough to fit the wires from your LED of choice into (I ended up choosing green).
Put the LED wires through the two holes, until the base of the LED is up against the cap. You want the LED to be inside of the cap, the side with the threads on it.
Then hot glue around the LED, making sure you do not get glue on the threads. One the LED is covered with glue on the sides, add a dab to the top of the cap, where the wires come out.
Make sure you do not cover the end of the led with glue, this will diffuse the light.
Put the LED wires through the two holes, until the base of the LED is up against the cap. You want the LED to be inside of the cap, the side with the threads on it.
Then hot glue around the LED, making sure you do not get glue on the threads. One the LED is covered with glue on the sides, add a dab to the top of the cap, where the wires come out.
Make sure you do not cover the end of the led with glue, this will diffuse the light.
Install the Button Cells
Here comes the tricky part. (And the hard-to-explain part :] )
Glue the button cells down to the cap a little less than a centimeter below the two wires.
Remember:
LED stands for Light Emitting Diode. A diode only allows a current to flow one way, so make sure you glue your button cells with corresponding polarity with the LED wires.
I bent one of the wires into a "U", pressed it up against the batteries, and glued it in place. In other words This wire will stay connected at all times.
The other wire I bent into a "L", with the wire being a few millimeters from the battery. This will be our "switch".
Once the glue dries, test it out!
Glue the button cells down to the cap a little less than a centimeter below the two wires.
Remember:
LED stands for Light Emitting Diode. A diode only allows a current to flow one way, so make sure you glue your button cells with corresponding polarity with the LED wires.
I bent one of the wires into a "U", pressed it up against the batteries, and glued it in place. In other words This wire will stay connected at all times.
The other wire I bent into a "L", with the wire being a few millimeters from the battery. This will be our "switch".
Once the glue dries, test it out!
Install the Cover
Now lets hide this heap of wires, batteries and half a pound of hot glue with your identical bottle cap!
I poked a hole in the side of the second cap, this is where our momentary switch will protrude.
I put beads of glue all around the edge of our first cap, then placed the second one on top. The wire sticks out just far enough to press.
The second picture is very modest. I straightened it out (there was just enough time before the hot glue dried), and took an X-Acto knife and scraped the dips of glue off the side.
It looks much more streamlined now.
Good luck if you want to try this! If you do, try different methods, better methods! Keep an open mind and stay safe this winter.
P.S.
If you want to make an urban awareness Instructable, here are some nifty glowing items to get you started!
www.sciplus.com/recommend.cfm/recommendid/3138
www.sciplus.com/recommend.cfm/recommendid/11234
www.sciplus.com/recommend.cfm/recommendid/11604
www.sciplus.com/recommend.cfm/recommendid/662
www.sciplus.com/recommend.cfm/recommendid/14457
I poked a hole in the side of the second cap, this is where our momentary switch will protrude.
I put beads of glue all around the edge of our first cap, then placed the second one on top. The wire sticks out just far enough to press.
The second picture is very modest. I straightened it out (there was just enough time before the hot glue dried), and took an X-Acto knife and scraped the dips of glue off the side.
It looks much more streamlined now.
Good luck if you want to try this! If you do, try different methods, better methods! Keep an open mind and stay safe this winter.
P.S.
If you want to make an urban awareness Instructable, here are some nifty glowing items to get you started!
www.sciplus.com/recommend.cfm/recommendid/3138
www.sciplus.com/recommend.cfm/recommendid/11234
www.sciplus.com/recommend.cfm/recommendid/11604
www.sciplus.com/recommend.cfm/recommendid/662
www.sciplus.com/recommend.cfm/recommendid/14457