Building LED suit

[David Hewel]

So I just bought an old jumpsuit to convert into an LED suit and wanted to get some advice from those of you who have built your own..

First of all, i've been looking at the LED tape and I've found some pretty good deals it looks like, but what are the best deals you've found?

Also, as for the battery packs, where do I get those and is there a specific kind I need?

Any info anyone could give me would be greatly appreciated!

[Chris Norton]

Roland and Trina have the best leads on materials for these ie zippered LED strips, etc

[Wiggy (aka Scotty MacScott)]

I bought 2 of: Flex Strip 300 SMD White LED Ribbon 5 Meter from LEDwholesalers at $60 each. These are the non waterproof ones. I picked up a battery pack from Radio Shack that holds 8 AA batteries for the required 12 volts. I then put in a push button switch in the line. I will create a small container to better hold in the batteries in the RS holder. I would recommend that you attach the lights to an actual ribbon and then sew the ribbon on the the suit. This way you can take it off the suite. The lights come with a glue backing that is best only used once. Once you remove it, it may not stick so well again, hence the tape.
Hope this helps,
Enjoy,
Wiggy
PS make sure that your lights have the wires attached to one end so you do not have to solder ones onto the to tape. i would also be interested to know if you found cheaper lights. I maybe making brand new wings for the angel. 

[David Hewel]

If anybody else has some good resources for building LED suits, please share them in this thread!

Thanks!

[Chris Romp]

As much as building an LED suit sounds pretty cool, I dunno if I'll have the time.  Does anyone know where one can buy an LED or EL-wire suit?  Sounds pretty cool for night jumps.