This is the Tyvek Bicycle Brake Light! It works with simple push-button Arduino code. For this project, I wanted to create a bike accessory that I could actually use. The brake light comes in handy while riding in heavy traffic!
Above is the initial sketch and first Arduino mock-up.
The light is comprised of two 12V LED strips, wood and acrylic. A Tyvek FedEx envelope holds the electrical components which are zip tied to the bike frame. To make the light I used an online box generator to create the geometry for the wooden pieces. Then I created a hexagonal pattern in AutoCAD for the “BRAKE” text which was laser cut into the surface of the acrylic. I am quite happy with the esthetic of the piece, but I wrestled for hours over the electronics. Richard helped me figure out that I had the batteries wired up incorrectly, and that’s why my TIP120 transistor was overheating. I think I got a perfect circle burned into my fingertips from the transistor!
The next step for me would be to fit an FSR sensor to the brake lever so that it would trigger the light.
