Yellow LED anti bug?

[BennyLava]

I live out in the country and bugs of great size like to come to my outdoor lights. Right by my front door. They are always in my face and I got tired of it so I got some of those yellow colored, outdoor lights. Well this really helped me out with the bugs.

However, they consume more power than I would like them to. So I was just wondering if anyone knew of any yellow LED bulbs that would screw into a typical light socket, and that would be bright enough to function as lighting. At least, as well as the other florescent anti bug lights do. So anyone know where I can buy some?

I'm looking for the LED bulbs like they sell at wal mart or Lowes, only in the yellow color.

 

[jeffosborne]

Hi BennyLava! You do not have to buy yellow LED lights to reduce the bugs. Because white LED's do not put out UV or infra-red light, they tend to not attract bugs. I have 5 outdoor lights, all white LEDs, on my deck, my driveway, and at the front door. The only bugs they attract are tiny gnat-type flyers.
Cheers,
Jeff

 

[fyrstormer]

I'm pretty sure moths are attracted to dim blue light, not IR or UV, because dim blue light is all there is at night, whereas bright IR light = sunrise = bedtime. UV is the last color to show up during sunrise, whereas IR is the first, so their perception of UV is largely irrelevant because they've already gone to sleep by then.

That does mean that bright, unshrouded yellow lights will drive moths away, but on the whole they shouldn't be interested in anything that doesn't emit dim blue light and very little IR light. Their obsession with circling glass-shrouded streetlights and house lights (i.e. lights with at least a little blue component and an IR component that is largely blocked by the housing) is a conflict of the instinct to fly towards flowers reflecting dim blue moonlight vs. the instinct to avoid being blinded.

That's also why bugzappers, with their electric-blue lamps, are so fantastically good at killing moths and not much else. (this, by the way, is terribly detrimental to ecosystems, because moths do the same job as bees for night-blooming flowers.)

Mosquitoes, on the other hand, are attracted to blood and carbon dioxide; they don't care what color the lights are, or if there are any lights at all.

 

[kingofwylietx]

I also have led outdoor lights. though we still see a few bugs, it's not anything like you get with incan's or fluorescents. Mine are white 3-head units from Lowes. They have them online.
Here: http://www.lowes.com/pd_161409-52757-ES300L316-10_4294857031+8_4294937087?productId=3122191&Ns=p_product_price|0&pl=1&currentURL=/pl_$200%2Bor%2Bless_4294857031 8_4294937087_?rpp=30$Ns=p_product_price|0

 

[greenLED]

Because white LED's do not put out UV or infra-red light, they tend to not attract bugs.

That hasn't been my experience while using a headlamp out in the field.

 

[Dave_H]

So, would placing a yellow (or other colour) filter over white
LEDs be useful in this regard?

Dave

 

[kingofwylietx]

The led lights I posted above are on both the front & rear of my home. They don't attract many bugs, much less than other lights.

I expect that the optimal light would be from an amber led.

I, too, have had my face dive-bombed by bugs while using a headlamp. I even started a thread about which led's may be best for not attracting bugs.

See this thread:
https://www.candlepowerforums.com/threads/270802

 

[hank]

The older thread on which do/don't attract bugs is a good one.

We use a lot of yellow/amber LEDs for evening lighting, indoors (avoiding the blue range light has cured our insomnia, ymmv of course) and outdoors to have decent walking-around light without glare.

They're getting hard to find now; I bought "turtle safe" amber LED lights from several suppliers that no longer carry them; this is the last supplier I know for sure makes a good yellow LED, and they seem to be giving up on them:
http://store.axiomled.com/Amber_LED_Sea_Turtle_Light_p/ap12ledamber.htm

DX has some yellow and orange 110v lights I haven't tried yet; got a few samples of coming. I don't know if any of these would work outside.
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5148
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12963
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12770

The new thing seems to be phosphor-based yellow and amber LEDs, using a blue or UV led with a coating over it. Likely more efficient, but I dunno how much blue/UV leaks through. Ordinary white LEDs and fluorescents do leak a good bit of blue light, per the LEDMuseum spectra pages.

 

[Kookie]

I understand this may be an old thread but I may have a solution for you:
http://www.lightbulbsurplus.com/ind...ct_info&cPath=622_52_952_424&products_id=3064
I ordered one of these lights to try out. It is on back order until July 3rd 2014. I will let you know how it works.
I have the same problem with my side door light. It is a security light right above the door. I recently, this winter, changed over to led. It still attracts bugs like crazy. In the summer I have to resort to incandescent bulbs because that is all I can find in yellow. The yellow lights heavily reduce the amount of bugs.

 

[Canuke]

Feit has some LED based color bulbs on the market, I've seen them at Fry's and Lowe's, around $13-$15 each regular price. Red, orange, yellow, green and blue. I have a few of the red ones, they run cool on only 3 watts. Not that bright, but much more efficient than colored CFL's, at least in red.

Edit: yeesh, this IS an old thread. Lots has happened since 2010.

 

[FRITZHID]

I recently tested r,g,b, amber, pink, cw&ww ,uv & IR LEDs for insects. Amber was least attractive, uv was worst for #s of bugs, and cw was worst for mosquitoes.

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[MichaelW]

Amber was least attractive,

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G730A using Candlepowerforums mobile app

Was that direct Amber, or phosphor converter Amber?

 

[FRITZHID]

Oh direct of course.

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[markr6]

Hi BennyLava! You do not have to buy yellow LED lights to reduce the bugs. Because white LED's do not put out UV or infra-red light, they tend to not attract bugs. I have 5 outdoor lights, all white LEDs, on my deck, my driveway, and at the front door. The only bugs they attract are tiny gnat-type flyers.
Cheers,
Jeff

I can confirm this! I never really realized it until last night. My front porch light was usually filled with bugs flying around the bulb (open on bottom) and hanging all over the wall. Since I started using the CREE 40w equivalent bulb, there are only a few of those tiny bugs like you mentioned.

 

[MichaelW]

Oh direct of course.

PC does look better, but might attract slightly more bugs, depending on the spectral width.

 

[FRITZHID]

Yes but I find that any pc LED attracts. Some of the nuv sneaks thru and attracts them


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[MichaelW]

Lumileds PC amber >=10% from 540-695 nanometers. It looks to emit nothing from 465-515 nanometers, and then it looks to emit 1% at 450nm.
Sneaky ******* indeed.

 

[TPA]

In my experience here in Florida, white LEDs attract even fewer bugs than a yellow CFL.

I have a Lights of America (yes, I know it's junk) white LED flood lamp mounted in a carriage-style post lamp, burning base-down for a few years now. I painted the inside of the carriage lamp with high-gloss white appliance paint. Because of the way the LoA bulb is designed, the LEDs are recessed from the metal "bell" heat sink and can't be seen from outside the fixture. Instead, all of the light gets reflected off the painted top of the fixture and reflected back down. It's actually quite slick and I love the gentleness of indirect lighting outdoors at night. You can still see everything but without any glare.

This setup's been running for 3 or so years and I've yet to clean any bugs from the fixture. I used to have to clean this fixture once a year or more with the yellow CFL bug lamp.

My theory is that it's the intensity of the light + heat which attracts the bugs. In this case, the light is indirect and has no point-source so the bugs aren't attracted to it. My theory could well be wrong, but the results speak for themselves -- it works!

LoA bulb in question: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005KPDUZC/?tag=cpf0b6-20

Somehow mine's been working for 3 years 24/7 in the Florida heat, but I will admit it's a terrible light bulb otherwise. The LEDs in it are covered by a clear plastic dome so the light is just terribly harsh. However, using it as a light source for an indirect lighting project like this is perfect. When it dies I'll probably throw a CREE LED flood in there and build a shroud around the diameter of the bulb to keep the light source hidden from the street.

 

[TPA]

I recently tested r,g,b, amber, pink, cw&ww ,uv & IR LEDs for insects. Amber was least attractive, uv was worst for #s of bugs, and cw was worst for mosquitoes.

Just curious, what methods did you test with? Were you or other mammals around during this? From my experiences, mozzies are attracted to heat/moisture/carbon dioxide/rotting plant matter. I've never tried testing light alone. I've heard that bug zappers won't attract mosquitoes, but I've found the 80 watt Flowtron zapper DOES attract them and can knock down the population in an area in a few nights.

My fav. mosquito eradicator is a large fan with a screen attached to the suction side and a bunch of dead vegetation soaking in water in front of it. They come for the scent then get sucked into the screen. I've been using a box fan & hard drive magnets to hold the screen on. Probably would benefit from a larger fan, but this seems to work for now. I'm now wondering if I should be adding lights to the contraption.

 

[mcnair55]

Whilst living in another part of Europe and with the cafe culture thriving simple tea lights or candles placed on the tables seemed to do the trick keeping away the bugs.