Safety vest with modular lighting system

1. A personal lighting system comprising:

a wearable safety garment having a front surface and a rear surface, at least a portion of which comprise reflective materials;

a battery pack contained in a weather resistant pocket formed on said rear surface;

a plurality of adjustable water-resistant front LED modules located on said front surface;

water-resistant power cables running from said front LED modules to said battery, said cables concealed under flush-mounted reflective strips, wherein said safety garment has tear-away seams comprising hook-and-loop material, and all of said front LED modules, said cables, and said battery are located above a horizontal tear-away seam so that said cables will not interfere with the tear-away function; and,

at least one water-resistant rear LED module located on said rear surface.

2. The lighting system of claim 1 wherein said garment comprises a high visibility fabric in a color selected from the group consisting of safety yellow and safety orange, and said garment conforms to an ANSI safety vest standard.

3. The lighting system of claim 1 wherein said battery pack is rechargeable.

4. The lighting system of claim 1 wherein said front surface comprises patches of hook and loop material.

5. The lighting system of claim 1 wherein:

each front LED module comprises a plurality of LEDs of selected color(s) whose output may be adjusted by a user among a plurality of power levels,

each front LED module includes an adjustable mounting bracket providing a range of rotational adjustment and having a plurality of detents to hold said module in a selected position after adjustment, and,

each mounting bracket is attached to the surface of the vest by a hook and loop fastener so that the position of said front LED module may adjusted over some selected area of the front surface.

6. The lighting system of claim 1 wherein said rear LED module comprises:

LED devices of a selected color,

an integral rechargeable battery, and

a control circuit.

7. The lighting system of claim 1 wherein said safety garment further comprises a flotation device.

8. A personal lighting system comprising:

a wearable high-visibility safety vest having a front surface and a rear surface, at least a portion of which comprise reflective materials;

a battery pack contained in a weather resistant pocket on said rear surface;

a plurality of adjustable water-resistant front LED modules located on said front surface and wherein,

each front LED module comprises a plurality of LEDs of selected color(s) whose output may be adjusted by a user among a plurality of power levels,

each front LED module includes an adjustable mounting bracket providing a range of rotational adjustment and having a plurality of detents to hold said module in a selected position after adjustment, and,

each mounting bracket is attached to said surface of the vest by a hook and loop fastener so that the position of the front LED module may adjusted over some selected area of said front surface; and,

water-resistant power cables running from said front LED modules to said battery, said cables concealed under flush-mounted reflective strips; and,

at least one water-resistant rear LED module located on said rear surface, and further comprising:

LED devices of a selected color,

an integral rechargeable battery, and

a control circuit.

9. The lighting system of claim 8 wherein said safety vest conforms to a standard selected from the group consisting of: Class 1 ANSI Safety Vest, Class 2 ANSI Safety Vest, and Class 3 ANSI Safety Vest.

10. The lighting system of claim 8 wherein said safety vest includes tear-away seams comprising hook-and-loop material, and all of said front LED modules, said cables, and said battery are located above a horizontal tear-away seam so that said cables will not interfere with the tear-away function.

11. The lighting system of claim 8 wherein said LEDs in said front LED modules comprise individual devices with colors selected from the group consisting of: white, yellow, red, blue, IR, and UV.

12. The lighting system of claim 8 wherein said front LED modules comprise white LEDs and said modules are provided with a plurality of snappably-engaging color filters so that a user may change the output color of said module by changing said filter from one color to another.

13. A personal lighting system comprising:

a wearable fabric garment having a front surface and a rear surface;

a battery pack contained in a weather resistant pocket formed on said rear surface;

a plurality of adjustable water-resistant front LED modules located on said front surface, wherein said modules comprise white LEDs and said modules are provided with a plurality of snappably-engaging color filters so that a user may change the output color of said module by changing said filter from one color to another;

water-resistant power cables running from said front LED modules to said battery, said cables concealed under flush-mounted fabric strips; and,

at least one water-resistant rear LED module located on said rear surface.

14. The lighting system of claim 13 wherein said fabric garment comprises a color selected from the group consisting of: camouflage green; camouflage tan; black;

and orange.

15. The lighting system of claim 13 wherein:

each front LED module comprises a plurality of LEDs of selected color(s) whose output may be adjusted by a user among a plurality of power levels,

each front LED module includes an adjustable mounting bracket providing a range of rotational adjustment and having a plurality of detents to hold said module in a selected position after adjustment, and,

each mounting bracket is attached to said surface of the vest by a hook and loop fastener so that the position of the front LED module may adjusted over some selected area of said front surface.