Xiaomi Yeelight Candela review

Winter is coming! So that means shorter days, Christmas, spending a lot of the time inside with the heater on, and burning candles! My wife buys lots of candles. But they are dangerous, pricey and make me have to repaint the living room a lot sooner than I want to because of the black smoke.
There is now a solution and stylish solution for that! As they done before successfully, Xiaomi backed Yeelight again therefore we talk about: Xiaomi Yeelight YLFW01YL 6.5W Rechargeable Dimmable LED Night Light Bluetooth Control Table Lamp.  Or in short: the Yeelight Candela. A portable table desk lamp with many uses.

Specifications

We ordered the Yeelight Candela at Banggood, where the following product specs are stated:

Yeelight YLFW01YL Candela Light starts a revolution and lights up your world. Yeelight candela light combines the latest BLE Mesh technology with an elegant minimalist design to reinvent tour candlelight experience

Main Features:
● Design aesthetics combine with light bringing you a new different visual experience; mental light lamp post with high light-transmission PC lampshade presents you the most realistic lighting
● Clockwise and counterclockwise rotating to sleeplessly adjust the light bring you an unprecedented interactive experience, easy to operate
● Easy and convenient charging via Micro USB interface, long standby at “ON” mode under the maximum brightness of 6 hours of life; anytime, anywhere warm atmosphere ready to come out
● High-quality light beads with 1800K color temperature gives out healthy and warm light; the perfect appearance can decorate your table while the warm light dress up your food
● Bluetooth connection adapter Yeelight APP, multi-lamp interconnection, editing group, control switch, brightness adjustable, your lights you have the final say, bring you the most comfortable intelligent experience
● Built-in 2100mAh rechargeable battery, repowered via common USB cable ( not included )

Brown copper candlelight simulation
Minimalist design, rotation control, IoT smart device
Simply rotate a Candela to control all connected candelas
Control your Candela and other Yeelight smart lights with Android or iOS apps.  
The built-in 2100mAh battery allows for up to 8 hours of continuous use on a single charge.
Candela fits perfectly in any bar or restaurant or any scenes.

Expectations

I’m used to the quality and prices of Xiaomi and Yeelight. So I expect a really easy to use product with a premium quality.

Packaging

Product weight: 0.4300 kg 
Package weight: 0.6920 kg 
Product size (L x W x H): 7.20 x 7.20 x 19.50 cm / 2.83 x 2.83 x 7.68 inches 
Package size (L x W x H): 9.80 x 9.80 x 24.50 cm / 3.86 x 3.86 x 9.65 inches

What’s in the box

The package contains the following:

• A Candela Light (Xiaomi YLFW01YL Night Lamp)
• Short manual in English
• Micro USB cable with a length of 1m (according to the specs on the this should not be included, we expect they meant the charger).

Test

There are 3 switching levels at the bottom of the Yeelight YLFW01YL:

• 1: Off
• 2: Turns the light on (manual operation)
• 3: Bluetooth (BLE) for app usage.

Manual operating mode

Rotate the top glass cover to adjust intensity. Simple as that. In this mode you cannot use the app. 

Activate the flickering mode (like a real candle): Rotate to one direction and rotate back quickly, then flicker mode will begin.

Bluetooth mode

In this mode, you can use a mobile app to control the Yeelight Candela. There are two apps you can use:

The Yeelight app and the Mi Home app (useful when own other products from either Yeelight or Xiaomi). Both apps are available for iOS and Android. When using the apps you can adjust intensity, set timers and create light groups. Because this Candela uses BLE technology you can use up to 30000 Candela lamps at the same time. This makes the Yeelight Candela also a very good application for table lights in for example a restaurant.
The only functionality both apps are missing right now is the flickering mode which can be only set manually as I explained earlier.

Testing both lamps

The choice for a color temperature at 1800K is not a coincidence. This is the color temperature that most closely resembles a candle light. The effect of this choice is that the Led light produces a very pleasant warm light and gives an almost as relaxing or romantic feeling as actual candles. 

Because of the integrated 2100 mAh battery, the Yeelight Candela can be used wireless. It can be charged with the included micro USB cable (though no charger is included). Yeelight claims that it can run for up to seven hours when on the highest brightness level, but I found it reaches only six hours. Luckily it can operate while charging and on the bottom of the light the indication led shines red when it is charging and switches off when the battery is charged.

Compatible with Domoticz or Home Assistant

The lamp is using BLE. There is a python library for Yeelight’s bedside lamp and Yeelight Candela. On github you can see how to install, scan, connect and use in Home assistant. I haven’t tested this And not find a plugin for Domoticz yet. But I will keep looking. https://github.com/rytilahti/python-yeelightbt

Build Quality & Design

The Yeelight Candela feels like a really solid and premium light and replaces dangerous old-fashioned candles easily. The metal is matte which works really well in combination with the glass cover and the light element. And where I said glass cover, I meant poly-carbonate cover. It is not real glass, but much safer and you will not see the difference. 

Portability / Mobility and Usability

Since the Candela is equipped with the earlier mentioned 2100 mAh battery you can use it practically anywhere. If you need more battery power than the included capacity, than you can easily connect to a powerbank. 

Because of the BLE technology, they are able to create a mesh network with up to 30000 Candela lamps at the same time. Handy for a big place to put a candela everywhere and control them from 1 candela. I’m thinking of restaurants for example.
Also handy in situations where real fire is not allowed, with this lamp you can still create a nice ambiance.

Price quality

The Yeelight Candela is not the cheapest light but I found them worth every euro.

Where to buy?

You can buy them here at banggood