I2 trim piece LEDs
 

I know it's been done before, but I thought I'd post how I put LED's in the LSF's bottom trim piece.

I don't have pictures of the batteries, but I simply took 4 AA NiMh that I had lying around here, carefully (quickly) soldered them in series (end to end) with about 1/2" between. Then put them into some heavy duty heatshrink to protect them. With the space between the batteries, they can still curve to the shape of the LSF, and the heatshrink also stops the wires from fatigue. I found they still moved around inside the LSF, so I wrapped some foam around the heatshrink to give them a little more size.

For a switch I double sided foam taped a simple toggle switch also covered in heatshrink near the top of the LSF.

Both the batteries and the switch wires exit at the bottom. Here's a picture of that:

Click for fullsize:
http://forums.segwaychat.com/gallery...LED_wiring.JPG

The connector going through the hole to the outside will be for charging, while the other connector will hookup to the LED's. And yes, that is Cat5 pairs I used (current is quite low). The orange pair comes directly off of the battery. The blue pair is the SPST switch.

And here's the LED wiring:

Click for fullsize:
http://forums.segwaychat.com/gallery...al_I2_LEDs.JPG

The leds themselves are simply hot-glued in. Each resistor for the leds is soldered onto the 'negative' side of the led; the bare wire in the photo is actually one side of the resistor. The 'positive' sides are connected using red, or yellow (because I ran out of spare red) wire. Then a wire from each 'side' goes to the connector.

Then the trim piece gets set back into the LSF with the connector attached:

Click for fullsize:
http://forums.segwaychat.com/gallery..._installed.JPG

The the whole LSF gets mounted back onto the segway. Batteries charged up. And it's now ready to test.

Here's two pictures of the final result: (yes I've insulated my batteries for winter)

Click for fullsize:
http://forums.segwaychat.com/gallery...gway_LEDs1.jpg

Click for fullsize:
http://forums.segwaychat.com/gallery...gway_LEDs2.jpg

I think it'll show up quite well at night, even with the 'headlight' on.

The whole thing draws around 250ma. With my 2300 mah batteries, I should easily get 8 hours.

Cool. Do you have to remove the medallion/frame to recharge the batteries?

No, in the first picture, the connector that comes outside the LSF is for charging. And doesn't run through the switch of course. The other connector plugs into the led assembly, but is switched power.

In the second to last picture, if you view the fullsize version, you can just see the red connector at the bottom.

Ah sorry, I've re-read the original post and it is now clear. An excellent modification. Your white Segway is definitely looking better and better (apart from the insulation!). Very cool. Right from the start I thought the medallion was a light and was a little disappointed that it wasn't. Good stuff.

I think it's going to be looking very good when all the mud and muck spashed up on the insulation gets peeled off easily by removing the insulation, instead of the more difficult prospect of cleaning the underside the usual way!

I2 have tail lights!
 

I put some bright red LED's to good use.

I installed them on the back of the segway. No need to buy segway's tail light now, especially as I think mine are brighter.. There's 4 leds on each side, in a 2x2 configuration. All 8 tail light leds only added 100ma current because the red leds need less forward voltage (than the white), I am able to run 2 in series with each other. That means I'm only drawing the current of 4 leds.


Here's a picture..

Click for fullsize:
http://forums.segwaychat.com/gallery...gway_LEDs3.jpg

I think it'll keep my visibility up at least..

Now I'm thinking of adding light on the bottom, for a 'hover' type look. Don't know what color though. More red? Maybe blue?

That looks great! How did you stick the LEDs on? A close up in day light, with the lights off would be handy (if you get a chance).

For your hover effect - green might be nice, or the blue. But no more red as it won't stand out as much.

I've avoided putting lights on my seg for long enough. You've inspired me to have a go.

Are all your LED's powered by the batteries behind the medallion? I'd love to see pictures of the wiring running to the rear LEDs. I have a black i2, and I have never really modded my Segs, apart from fender vinyl on my first 167 WAY back when... this may be time to start customizing.

BTW, I agree with Gareth's observations about the hover effect.

-Sal

Here's a closeup of the LEDs. Their simply mounted with hot glue again. It holds well enough, but can be removed fairly easily, fairly cleanly too.

Click for fullsize:
http://forums.segwaychat.com/gallery...gway_LEDs4.jpg

Here's the wires going from the front to the back. To get to the other side, I went between the batteries, then back.

Click for fullsize:
http://forums.segwaychat.com/gallery...gway_LEDs5.jpg

And how I get power from the batteries in the LSF.

Click for fullsize:
http://forums.segwaychat.com/gallery...gway_LEDs6.jpg

When I take the insulation off the batteries, I'll have to redo part of how the wires are running. Maybe I'll think of a better way by then..

Thanks Ryan, that's absolutely fantastic work! Thanks for posting. Have you in your gliding experience had any of your lights loosen up, fall, due to bumps, etc?

The more I take a look at your pictures, it seems as though the new platform's nooks and crevices were ready-made for such light mounting! Again, fantastic! (rep points for ya)

-Sal