Spotted: Do-It-Yourself LED Strip Helmet Illumination

Riding even at the best of times can make you feel invisible in a sea of minivans and teen drivers. Worse yet, when splitting lanes during rush hour traffic in LA you can easily expect to detect the fine odor of (...did someone hit a skunk?) burning herbs a couple of times every few miles, and if you ride at night, your chance of being seen by every single tired, texting, potentially stoned driver is close to zero.

If you're dedicated to surviving this melee you do everything you can to increase your visibility, so when I spotted a co-worker who modded his helmet with an LED strip to ensure he gets spotted, I knew I had to snap a picture. Forgive the less-than-perfect cell phone shot.

The strip of LEDs is attached to the back of the helmet with silicone or glue, and a wire runs down to a battery pack in the pocket of the jacket.

My buddy Vince soldered an audio jack into the wiring so that he can unplug the helmet when he takes it off without worrying about the wiring running to his jacket.

You can easily put together something like this with an LED Strip, battery holder and a bit of soldering and ingenuity, or if you'd rather something pre-assembled, you can get a kit from LumenFlex.