LED night lights for my 2.4 meter light wind genki kite. I purchased a $6 flashing LED band, which is normally velcro'ed around a push bike riders leg as a safety measure. I used this without modification on my stunt kite, but was not happy with it. All that material made the light weight band still quite heavy, and flash rate was too low to ensure safe control of the kite. I pulled the band to bits to try and find if I could increase the flash rate but found it was fixed inside an IC chip. All the LED's in the band flash in unison 1/2 sec on, 1 1/2 sec off which is great for a static line kite like the genki but hopeless for a stunt kite. The Electronics consisted of a 3 volt 'button' calculator battery, about 2 cm across and 3 mm or so thick. This was attached to a 2cm x 2cm pc board containing a wax/rubber in-cased silicon chip to do the flash and a leaf switch on the flip side to to turn the lights on (flash) or off. This pc board was then attached to 4 brilliant red LED's connected together in parallel along bright reflecting yellow band. I purchased some very fine enamel insulated wire (hair thickness) which I hand sewed into the zag-zag hemming of the genki along the leading edge. The wire connects some broken IC sockets, into which I can insert the LED's, making them easily removed or replaced as required (haven't needed to yet). These sockets were then spaced along the leading edge in five places in parallel. I also sewed some velcro patches with a hole in them (using a soldering iron, through the main sail) where the led can sit and face downward. The LEDs (whose legs are bend at right angles into the sockets) are then held in place by the other half of the velco. The fine wires are connected to the battery/flash_chip/switch package I took from the bicycle flashing band. The 3mm thick battery was replaced with 2 thinner calculator batteries of the same diameter which fits where the single battery sat before. This provides a 6 volt supply, instead of the original 3 volts, for stronger LED flashes, and a shorter battery life (2-3 hours long) To fly I switch the unit on and with a long line start get the genki into the higher up light winds. The winds at night are very light but with almost zero wind at ground level. After it is up I then slowly let out more line to bring the kite up to the Australian legal limit of 90 meters. The five LEDs are along the leading edge at the tips, the spar pockets and one in the center. I also plan on adding two more at the lower corner tips, to completely frame the kite. The battery pack sits in the center just above the main cross spar. NOTE: The fine wires are fragile, but when hand sewn into the hems zig stitch with some slack it doesn't catch anything to break it. The battery pack I arranged to be removable while I just leave the LED's in place for day flying (minimal weight). Additional... Craig Marley wrote... | I had a similar idea when I took apart the flashing bicycle tail lights | we had. It has three LEDs and two AA batteries. NiCads are very light | next to alkaline, so I was thinking of using a modified bike flasher for | some tests this summer. That should be fine though these units seem be to attached to a very heavy plastic case. They however do flash brighter and more often than my unit. I just did not what to spend that much on a trial unit in terms of both money and weight. Anthony Thyssen 12 January 1998