# Review – YQ8007 DIY Programmable Bicycle Wheel Light



## Mountainking7 (Nov 8, 2014)

Item Reviewed: YQ8007 DIY Programmable Bicycle Wheel Light:







Product link: YQ8007 DIY Programmable Bicycle Wheel Light RGB 3528 144pcs LED IPX6 Waterproof for 26 inch Bike Wheel-40.09 and Free Shipping| GearBest.com
Price: $40

YQ8003 Bicycle Light DIY Programmable LED Wheel Light
Procuct link: YQ8003 Bicycle Light DIY Programmable LED Wheel Light Waterproof for 26 inch Bike Wheel-28.99 and Free Shipping| GearBest.com
Price: $28

*Table of contents:*
Manufacturers description
Main features (as per manufacturer)
Items testing/review (Charger, battery carrier, battery, SDcard, Bike light)
Videos of the bike light in action
Installing the unit
Pros/Cons/Relative
Uses
Conclusion

*Manufacturer's description:*
YQ8007 programmable wheel light was designed for safety night time riding in all weather conditions with practical, high performance, waterproof, shockproof, durable, easy to install features. You can connect the light to your PC and program your own designs. Both sides emitting creates a 360 degrees visibility which protects you of being seen. Without replacing your current wheel, you can simply clip these lights on your spokes and make the entire bicycle visiable from miles away. It is perfect for daily commuters, urban cyclists, casual evening riders.

*Main Features: (Manufacturer's)*
Processor: High-performance embedded ARM processor
Built-in position sensor ( display different designs according to the speed ) 15km/h to show full graphics
Built-in vibration sensor ( turns on LED while riding, and turn off the LED two seconds after stop riding )
Display range: Both sides
LED color: RGB 3528
DIY programming, you can make any graphics as you wish
Voltage range: 3.0V-5.0V
Powered by 1 x 18650 battery ( battery included )
Operating current: 35mA
IPX6 waterproof, can work normally under water
Applicable: 26-inch wheels and above
Led Quantity: 144 Pieces
Working time: 15 - 20 hours
LED service life: 100000 hours


*Package contents:*
9 black zip ties (18.5cm X 3mm)
4 white zip ties (14.5cm X 7mm)
Card reader, manual
512MB sandisk MicroSD card.
Sensor, Downloader
Battery Charger
Rechargeable battery
Ribbon








*Items testing/review
*
*Charger: (3/5)*







The charger is a universal LION charger with a US plug. The rated input is 110-240V. This means US as well as other citizens (Europeans, Australians etc) will be able to use the charger. It accepts 10440 to 18650 cells and will charge cells upto 4.2V. The output is 550Mah. This will thus charge the supplied cell in about 3.5-4 hours.
The charger performed well in testing and should be good for its intended use. It has a led indicator which is RED when charging and turns GREEN when charging is done. What I did not like is that the charger looked a bit on the cheap side when compared to the other supplied components.

*Battery carrier: (3.5/5)*







The carrier is made of a decent quality matte finish ABS plastic. It opens at only one end. It has a spring at one end which totally prevents battery rattling while riding. It also comes with an O ring on the tail cap which should efectively prevent water ingress.

Initially I thought there was no indicator of the terminals (positive and negative) of where to put the battery but it was there. It is there. I just had to look closely!

The carrier came with a double band adhesive (to glue against your hub) and holes to insert 2 cable ties to further lock down the carrier on the axle.

I tried fitting a keepower 18650 3200Mah protected cell in it. *It was a very tight fit* and the battery did not even go full way inside the carrier. So tight in fact that I did not fully push it in, as the *battery would have got stuck inside*. Removing the outer plastic would definetely solve this problem. Unfortunately, I do not have other less capacity batteries to test.








I have another problem with the 'design' of the battery carrier but I fortunately have a 'fix for it! If you use the double sided scotch provided to glue the carrier to your axle, it will not be easily removable. What a PITA. I recommend using a piece of 'rubber' as pictured below to have a non-sticking carrier which will allow easier removal.

*Battery: (4/5)*







The supplied battery is a 'flat top' 18650 battery. Rated capacity is 2200Mah and is a 4.2V

battery. A big plus of this non-proprietary setup is that users will be able to buy/change batteries when this one goes dead or as backup. It is shorter than the keepower protected battery which leads me to believe it is an unprotected cell. This will not be an issue in real life usage as the bike light only uses 35Ma.

I ran down the battery provided with a flashlight on high to test the charger and the battery capacity. The battery as received (no charging). I switched off my flashlight after about 20 minutes as it was getting very hot on high mode (500 lumens) with no air flow. Charging it in my Xtar VP2 took about 2 hours (from 3.6V). I would rate the specified capacity as believable. battery looks good.

A 16650 keepower protected cell was loose inside the carrier. Closing the tail cap properly locked the battery and no amount of shaking resulted into any battery rattle. This means that a number of different size LI-ION cells can be used without any problem.

*Wheel light: (5/5)*








That thing is oozing quality. It looks absolutely awesome. The materials used are definetely of a good standard. At the 2 end of it, are 2 holes for locking down the wheel light to the spokes.

I installed the wheel light in less than 10 minutes (sorry for the cable tie mess, I was in a hurry!). It is a very easy process. I used the default picture/animated image for testing purposes. It was an absolute pleasure. You will definetely BE NOTICED and SEEN at night. That thing is bright enough to be seen in broad day light too. The images and the animated image were perfectly displayed on the wheel. Unfortunately, the video below does not do it justice. IT DOES NOT HAVE THOSE PWM BARS. It is a camera problem. I have added a gearbest video of the light in action and it does show the product as it really runs.

*Videos of the bike light in action*
My video failed a bit. So I am 'borrowing' gearbest's video. This is how the light actually perfoms.





*My video which my camera failed to capture properly...It was tested with the factory supplied animations*





*Installing the unit.*
This could not be easier and the supplied video from the supplied microsd card has been uploaded on youtube. It literally took about 5 minutes to get this setup.





*PROS/CONS/RELATIVE*

*PROS:*
- Perfect be seen light at night (This alone is a deal maker for me if you are into night riding/commuting)
- Reusable white zip ties to allow easy removing and fixing of wheel light. You are even provided a spare set.
- Programmable design can be personalised by riders for many uses.
- Great runtimes on a 18650 cell.
- Non proprietary battery/charging solution.
- Very easy to choose your custom images/animations as the software allows for any image sizes. Saves the hassle of getting images in proper size, resolution or colour.

*CONS:*
- The adhesive tape used to lock the carrier is more of an annoyance. There could have been a better engineered solution to allow easy removal of the carrier from the axle.
- It might be a problem fitting fatter 18650 cells in the battery carrier.

*RELATIVE:*
- Weight? For some weight weenies, this might be a stumbling block. If you ride/train at night, get this! The only thing that remains is a less than <50 gram plastic carrier once you remove the battery and bike light.
- Price? Honestly, for what you are getting (card reader, sd card, charger, battery and a quality product) it is reasonable. Personally, I would have bought the $28 one if on a budget)

*USES:*
- Be seen at night / early morning. Great for commuters, riders or people who train at night. Riders understimate the importance of side bike lighting.
- Cool factor  You can program this thing. Personalise your rides.
- could be creatively used for advertising, displaying your name, saying someone 'I love you' or whatever you want to 
- Excellent gifts for your kids / mates who rides.

*Conclusion & Disclaimer*
Honestly, if you commute at night or ride/train, this could be a welcome addition to your security for being seen. Personally, for me, the price is a bit steep at $40 but you can get its smaller brother for $28. It still is a great product for anyone wanting security, cool factor or being gifted!

Thanks for reading! If you have any querries, I can try to answer them.

*Disclaimer: *Provided free of charge for a review.


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## allenhuffman (Aug 8, 2015)

Thank you for posting this. It is about the only thing on the internet discussing these.

As you mentioned, there is the YQ8003 that uses USB and the YQ8007 that uses an SD card and programmer thing. The 8007 seems to have more video features, more LEDs, and would be easier to program since you don't need to hook it up to a computer via USB.

There is also a YQ8008 which has three LED arms, and is a completely different design. By adding the third arm, like the SpokePOV from Adafruit, you can see images at lower speeds. That model is over $100 currently.

There is also a four arm one called HaloWheel or XuanWheel. It had an IndieGogo campaign this year, but it was not funded. Still, I find a seller on Amazon with it for $89, and two eBay sellers at around $73. It looks promising since it uses Bluetooth and you program it via Android or iOS phones. It appears you can link both wheels together and they will stay in sync, and also offers some basic tracking since it can count how many times the wheel rotated.

I am researching all of these for my site. I bought a cheap one sided blue LED one last year, programmed using an IR dongle, and it was much fun but didn't fit any of my bikes so I ended up fastening it to the spokes with zip ties 

i have an 8007 on order, and as soon as I find out if the HaloWheel/XuanWheel will fit my bike, I am going to try one of those. I will report back, if so.


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## allenhuffman (Aug 8, 2015)

HaloWheel video:






The comments provide a link to the Amazon listing.


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## allenhuffman (Aug 8, 2015)

And there is a YQ8005 too... I think I need to make a chart!


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## Mountainking7 (Nov 8, 2014)

Hi allenhuffman. You seem to have many of those. I see this as a safety item first before its programmable factor. Id even take one with static images. They would serve the same purpose of being seen.


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## allenhuffman (Aug 8, 2015)

Mountainking7 said:


> Hi allenhuffman. You seem to have many of those. I see this as a safety item first before its programmable factor. Id even take one with static images. They would serve the same purpose of being seen.


I personally only own one of these, which are around $20 (but I found one, shipped from California, and won it for $6 -- picked up two):

PC Programmable Wireless LED Custom Message Bike Bicycle Motor Wheel Lights | eBay

It won't fit on my Trek, so I had to zip tie and rig it.

The XuanWheel (aka HaloWheel) can be seen in a few videos. I am tempted to get one, now that I believe it would fit my bikes:










I just found those two videos. There are a few others (one official one from the IndieGogo page).

Yes, when I ride at night, these things make a HUGE difference. I have one on my front wheel, and just a cheap spoke light on the rear, and then my back blinker has the lasers (another $3 China thing) -- if anyone runs in to me, it better be because I ran in front of them and they couldn't stop


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## allenhuffman (Aug 8, 2015)

*Manufacturer located ... I think.*

I believe I have located the actual manufacturer of these items:

????-????????-??????????????

They have YQ8001 to YQ8009, though 8009 does not appear to be the same type of device.


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## Mountainking7 (Nov 8, 2014)

Thanks for the link allen. I will have a look at it. I got one free. Getting a cheaper second one is in my plan for night riding. You can never be too cautious at night especially with poorly lit streets and night risks such as reduced visibility, tired/sleepy drivers or downright dangerous ones. I have noticed that the most irresponsible driving occurs at night.


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## allenhuffman (Aug 8, 2015)

Here is my list of wheel lights, so far:

Bicycle wheel LED light displays | Sub-Etha Software

I have much to add to it, but have been e-mailing the makers of the YQ devices and the XuanWheel to get more information. I am waiting to hear back from Hokey Lights and Monkeylectric about their models.

Indeed, my biggest fear is night riding. I'd have EL wire all over my bike (like a TRON light cycle) if I could -- it's easy enough to not be seen on a bike during daylight!


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## allenhuffman (Aug 8, 2015)

XuanWheel is down to $79.99 on Amazon with free shipping from China. The YQ8008 (three arm) model is $74 from a newish e-Bay store with free shipping from China as well. I also found GearBest.com had the YQ8007 for $40.

I have created a comparison chart of what I have found so far, including thinks like Monkey Light Pro, Wheel Writer, Hokey Spokes, etc. People keep sending me links to other models.

Thanks for posting the initial review -- without that, I don't think I would have gotten in to this.

Here is where my comparison chart is:

Bicycle wheel LED light displays | Sub-Etha Software


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## rsilvers (Aug 23, 2015)

Your chart says 24 LEDs per arm for the YQ8008. It is 36 per arm.


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## rsilvers (Aug 23, 2015)

I just ordered an 8008. It is nice that the XuanWheel has four arms and Bluetooth, but I like how the 8008 has video and full RGB.


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## worldstock (Nov 12, 2015)

Hi,

first of all thanks for the decent reviews here. 

Am struggling a bit with the YQ8007 Software, can not manage to download more than 3 gifs, get an error message that is in chinese. 

Has someone tried this and can get more than 2 or 3 Gifs uploaded?

Thanks


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## Mountainking7 (Nov 8, 2014)

worldstock said:


> Hi,
> 
> first of all thanks for the decent reviews here.
> 
> ...


You mean you cannot flash the gif image to the bike light? What error message are you getting and what windows are you using?


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## worldstock (Nov 12, 2015)

Mountainking7 said:


> You mean you cannot flash the gif image to the bike light? What error message are you getting and what windows are you using?


No, eaven earlier, when I try to download more than 3 GIFs into the software it gives a Chinese error message, maybe 3 is just the maximum capacity that can be downloaded.


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## Mountainking7 (Nov 8, 2014)

Hum a bit late here. I was sick for some time and didnot really consult most of forums. To be honest I really cannot see what the problem could be...Maybe it has to do with big gifs? If you are still here, can you post the gifs you are trying to upload on the unit?


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## allenhuffman (Aug 8, 2015)

rsilvers said:


> Your chart says 24 LEDs per arm for the YQ8008. It is 36 per arm.


Good catch. Fixed. Thank you very much.


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## nomeata (Dec 13, 2017)

Thanks for this review, I bought a YQ8003 based on the information here… and then I reverse engineered it and wrote a custom firmware, which produces more stable pictures and is (in my opinion) easier to program than the official one.


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## rsilvers (Aug 23, 2015)

Impressive you would write that.


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## allenhuffman (Aug 8, 2015)

nomeata said:


> Thanks for this review, I bought a YQ8003 based on the information here… and then I reverse engineered it and wrote a custom firmware, which produces more stable pictures and is (in my opinion) easier to program than the official one.


Do you have this posted somewhere? I just picked up another four arm one, and haven’t looked at how it works yet. I just know I don’t care for their software.


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