# Looking for lights for pontoon that won't attract bugs



## neergn (Jun 22, 2014)

We have a night time parade on our lake. Everyone decorates their boats with lights and parades around our lake on the night of the 4th. Last year some of the boats had so many bugs they had to turn off their lights.

Can anyone suggest lights that won't attract bugs but still be entertaining?


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## FRITZHID (Jun 22, 2014)

Well, as far as I know, yellow bulbs have always been used in the past, you may be able to get away with Amber LEDs. As far as color friendly light that don't attract bugs, none that I've heard of, Sry.

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## mcnair55 (Jun 23, 2014)

Not sure if this works but is worth surfing the net and finding out,i stop for tea and toast in a cafe on my way to work each morning and on the outside tables the cafe girls have lit tea candles on all day as they keep away all the bugs and other flying nasties away.


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## StarHalo (Jun 23, 2014)

Bugs can't see, and are therefore not attracted to, red light. If there's one night you could get away with just red light on a boat, it'd be the Fourth..


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## FRITZHID (Jun 23, 2014)

Bugs can't see, and are therefore not attracted to, red light. If there's one night you could get away with just red light on a boat, it'd be the Fourth..
..........




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## StarHalo (Jun 23, 2014)

FRITZHID said:


>



True story, bugs get the advantage of compound eyes for near 360-degree vision, but the catch is no red cones since it's all geared for the lower/ultraviolet part of the visible spectrum to find flowers. You can test this yourself in a pitch dark room; per usual, bugs will flee from being swatted using a regular white light, but using a purely red light, you become invisible - you can squash them moving at casually slow speed.


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## TEEJ (Jun 23, 2014)

StarHalo said:


> Bugs can't see, and are therefore not attracted to, red light. If there's one night you could get away with just red light on a boat, it'd be the Fourth..



I think the confusion was due to the compound sentence phrasing.



The context made the meaning clear to me at least, but, I could see a quick read appearing to say that bugs can't see red because they're blind.


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## StarHalo (Jun 23, 2014)

TEEJ said:


> I think the confusion was due to the compound sentence phrasing.



Ah, gotcha. At least I didn't end a sentence a preposition with. But yeah, some bugs are almost blind, like ants..


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## DIWdiver (Jun 23, 2014)

StarHalo said:


> Bugs can't see, and are therefore not attracted to, red light. If there's one night you could get away with just red light on a boat, it'd be the Fourth..



I'm not a grammarian, but it seems to me the commas set off separate phrases with a common object. This is a contraction of the sentence "Bugs can't see red light and are therefore not attracted to red light. The second comma makes all the difference.

If I was grading the paper, I'd not take off points for the construction, but would for the double period at the end, Yoda. :devil:

If you can get away with Red and Amber, you could do some cool fire-theme decorations.


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## MichaelW (Jun 24, 2014)

What kind of power? AC/DC, low voltage, line voltage?


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## TEEJ (Jun 24, 2014)

DIWdiver said:


> I'm not a grammarian, but it seems to me the commas set off separate phrases with a common object. This is a contraction of the sentence "Bugs can't see red light and are therefore not attracted to red light. The second comma makes all the difference.
> 
> If I was grading the paper, I'd not take off points for the construction, but would for the double period at the end, Yoda. :devil:
> 
> If you can get away with Red and Amber, you could do some cool fire-theme decorations.



Yeah, the second comma, made it correct to me, but, it was a compound construction, and, some people have trouble with that, as they need to maintain more than one thought at a time, and then combine the parts to get the entire sentence's meaning.


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## StarHalo (Jun 24, 2014)

I picture a few strings of red LED Christmas lights coming off a basic car inverter, plugged into the usual marine 12V socket; would be pretty quick and straightforward.


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## FRITZHID (Jun 24, 2014)

StarHalo said:


> I picture a few strings of red LED Christmas lights coming off a basic car inverter, plugged into the usual marine 12V socket; would be pretty quick and straightforward.



Be better to use a string of red and/or amber 12v LED strips. Much lower power consumption then battery/inverter/Xmas light strings. Allot more light per watt as well.
If this were my project, I'd custom a reel of LEDs with 2 amber and one red per segment and then string them up or maybe mount them to poles that could be easily handled, but I have all the equipment needed to swap smd LEDs. So..... I suggest just using the 2 types together, for every red strip you use, match with 2 amber strips.

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## ETX_LED_GUY (Aug 27, 2014)

neergn said:


> We have a night time parade on our lake. Everyone decorates their boats with lights and parades around our lake on the night of the 4th. Last year some of the boats had so many bugs they had to turn off their lights.
> 
> Can anyone suggest lights that won't attract bugs but still be entertaining?



Most color LED's don't produce the wavelength of light that bugs can see.

You'd be especially safe going with some yellow or amber LED's.


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## realdreams (Jan 10, 2015)

StarHalo said:


> True story, bugs get the advantage of compound eyes for near 360-degree vision, but the catch is no red cones since it's all geared for the lower/ultraviolet part of the visible spectrum to find flowers. You can test this yourself in a pitch dark room; per usual, bugs will flee from being swatted using a regular white light, but using a purely red light, you become invisible - you can squash them moving at casually slow speed.



Good to know, I am gonna try it out


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## Anders Hoveland (Jan 10, 2015)

They sell various types of specialty LED bulbs. Some use amber LEDs, others are very orangish 2500K white LEDs, some use blue-emitter LEDs covered with enough yellowish phosphor that virtually none of the blue gets through, sometimes passing the light through an additional yellow filter.

https://www.lsgc.com/fg-01147/
http://www.feit.com/led-lamps/perfo...erformance_led/color_leds/color_led/a19-y-led

From a distance, insects mostly tend to be attracted to blue to UV wavelengths of light. When the insects get in close proximity to the lamp, heat starts becoming a factor in whether and how long they will want to stay around. Being more efficient, LEDs produce less heat than other types of lighting.


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