Introduction: Bicycle Rim Lights
Here's a look at the lights in motion:
Here how it looks when using the bike:
Step 1: Investigate
I couldn't find any details on how LED rope lights are constructed, so I took the plunge and bought a 12ft. blue one. After I ripped open the package, admired the glow, I decided to take some measurements to see what I was dealing with. I used a multimeter to measure the DC voltage coming out of the converter and got 110VDC. That's when I knew I was in trouble. That's going to take a lot of batteries.
Materials:
LED Rope Light
4 3-Battery Holders
12 AAA Batteries
Hot Glue
Solder
4 10 Ohm Resistors
Wire Ties
Rubber Bands made from old bicycle tubes
Tools:
Multimeter
Soldering Iron
Hot Glue Gun
Razor Blade
Wire Strippers
Wire Cutters
Needle Nose Pliers
Step 2: A New Plan
I took apart the end of the rope and found that under the outer cover there was another plastic section that insulated a postive and negative wire and third wire in the center that strung the LEDs together in series. It emerged from one of the side wires, traveled about 3ft down the rope then connected to the other side wire. After every 4-5 LEDs there was a resistor. The LEDs had about 2.8V across them and the resistors had 4.6V. I cut the wire and ran it thru my multimeter to measure current and got 13.7 mA.
At this point I was stuck and considered giving up. I slowly realized I had to rewire the whole thing to make it work with batteries. I thought about using a 9V or 2 AAA batteries, but decided on using 3 AAA batteries to power the rope. By using a battery pack on opposite sides of the wheel it should balance out.
I decided to place the LEDs in a parallel circuit without a resistor on each LED. It's generally good practice to place a resistor on each LED when used in parallel, but it would be just too much work soldering all those resistors. So instead I used one resistor on the whole thing. I'm not sure if using only one defeats the purpose of having a resistor in the first place, but lets just go with it.
I used an online resistor calculator and entered 4.5V (3 x 1.5V) as the source voltage, 2.8V for the LED voltage, and 178 mA (13 LEDs x 13.7mA) for the total current. It recommended a 10 Ohm resistor.
To double check I use Ohm's Law which I remember as V.I.R. or Voltage = Current x Resistance. (Current is always an 'I', I don't know why.)
So if I have: | V = I x R |
Then: | R = V / I |
Numbers: | R = (4.5V–2.8V) / 0.178 A |
and I get : | R = 9.5 Ohms |
Step 3: Strip
I weaved the rope into the wheel and end up up cutting a 33 in. section for my 26 in. wheels. I couldn't pull the innards out so I had to cut the outer section to take it apart.
Once I removed the inner section I began cutting the insulation off every 2.5 in. Having the LEDs close together looks cool, but it's more work. Every 2.5 in. seemed good enough. Removing the insulation was harder than I expected. I used wire stripper, a razor blade, and needle nose pliers.
Step 4: Solder and Glue
I used a battery pack I had lying around to test each LED to see which lead was positive. I pushed the led into the plastic part and wrapped the LED wires around the main wires. Then soldered away. To solder the battery pack to the rope, I double checked which wire was positive, soldered on the resistor, then soldered the red battery pack lead. I connected the black battery lead to the the other wire.
I used hot glue to insulate and attach the wire to the battery pack. I also injected hot glue into the rope where the soldering was done to insulate the wire and help keep it all together.
Step 5: Finish
To finish up, I used wire zip ties to hold the battery pack onto the LED rope. I made one tie really tight and left one loose enough to slide over so I can add and remove batteries. To keep the battery pack from flopping around on the wheel I used some rubber bands made from old bicycle tubes to attach it to a spoke.
Once all four sections were complete, I weaved the rope into place, and wrapped the rubber band around a spoke to secure the batteries. It's turns out to be really easy to add and remove the lights.

Runner Up in the
LED Contest with Elemental LED

Participated in the
Bicycle Contest

Participated in the
Hurricane Lasers Contest
55 Comments
4 years ago on Introduction
can i trade for these led lights. i have a cool 10 dollar bike that i would like to put these on.
i have a cool fortnight account that is for trade if you would want to. i spent $1000 on the game and it is level seven with 1 win.
Reply 4 years ago
Thanks, but no. There are a lot of options now to purchase bicycle rim lights like Activ Life or Brightz.
Reply 4 years ago
yes i am able to trade
Reply 4 years ago
oh wait thats me
7 years ago
This is similar to the eye popping electric silhouette style BikeHalo.com wheel lights. Specifically designed for your wheel.
7 years ago
looks great! if it shows up gif image, it would be much cooler!! www.geekleds.com/wheel-led-light
8 years ago on Introduction
I like glowing stuff. I like bikes.
This is awesome.
8 years ago
great. But you needed a converter or a 12V strip.
8 years ago on Introduction
Nice idea! :D
I have to do this!
9 years ago on Introduction
i love bikes and would love to do this on one of mine
10 years ago on Introduction
Nice build! I was wery inspired and I'll make one for my kid. I have a few thoughs about balancing it with one battery pack:
------Mounting it near the center of the hub. This way it will not suffer the same amount of sentrifugal force (G).
------Connecting it with thin insulated wires glued on the spokes will hopefully be descrete enough to make it look good.
I hope this is a good idea. Anyone tried it?
10 years ago on Introduction
this is so cool
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
Thanks!
10 years ago on Step 5
Quite the impressive results!
...wouldn't the whole endeavour have been easier with the application of EL-wire?
(Here, link:) http://youtu.be/D4ZcCuBsfuM
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
EL-wire is a great option too. I went with LEDs because they are brighter.
Reply 10 years ago on Step 5
I would just like to add a few things
EL Wire is a thing of the past, for a few reasons.
*LED's are brighter than EL wire (as the author has mentioned).
*LED's last longer than EL wire.
*EL wire slowly looses brightness by design, similar to neon. Good quality LED's will not lose brightness.
*EL Wire requires a high voltage inverter (which will eventually die) to power it making it dangerous for hobbyists to work with. LED's use low voltages and consume very low amounts of current making them safe for hobbyists to work with and also ideal for battery-powered projects.
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
EL wire is not only less bright, but the glow is really thin
Reply 10 years ago on Step 5
Insightful and informative. Thank you.
10 years ago on Introduction
Do any of you think it would be possible to run the lights on one of those bike generators? I have been thinking of doing something like this with rechargeable batteries and the generator?? any ideas? I'd love to have the batteries recharge when I go downhill from work. joule thiefish?? tricklecharger??.....just wondering
Reply 10 years ago on Introduction
Getting power from the bike frame across the axle to the tire would be very tricky. If you could somehow mount a generator on the axle itself that might work, but they aren't made to mount that way. Sounds like a challenging project.