LED light vs. attracting insects

After yesterday’s longer walk with my new light: Wurkkos WK30 I found out diffrent light wavelenghts seem to attract insects with diffrent intensity.

Tried to search for some info here, found two threads but these did not clarify my suspections.
LEDs and Insects
Which light bulb attracts the fewest bugs? Study reveals surprises

I’ve noticed red light (620nm in WK30) actually does not attract insects at all. And I mean it. I had walked for like an hour not disturbed by any insect. At all. Just for experimental purposes from time to time I turned white (5000K) or UV (395nm). After changing from red to other, within 10 seconds I was surrounded by a cloud of diffrent insects, must run away to get out.
Furthermore I had a strong impression UV light attracts insects far more than white. So the ascending ‘attractivness for insects’ order would be: red~~white~~>UV. The direction of wavelenght changes might indicate the rule: the shorter wave the more attractive, but this is more my guessing than a research conclusion.

Thus a question, do you have any knowledge/experience related to insects attractivness?

Thanks , that was an interesting link . I was a bit surprised to read warm white led was the least attractive .
They didn’t mention red though … As far as I remember.

Hornets are attracted (get irritated) by blue light and thus also by cool white light (high blue content). If there is a nest near you and you turn on such a light they will come to you as soon as they notice (quickly). They leave when you turn it off or replace it with warm/reddish light.

Interesting… Hornets must hate Policemen, they most often use blue emergency light.

Coming back to red - please give it a try. When using light during warm weather, not having insects around is a great comfort…

Some days ago I was playing with my RovyVon Aurora A8U, turned OFF all the lights in the room, and lit up the UV light. Suddenly, a mosquito that I couldn’t catch before appeared in front of the UV light. Then I turned ON the white light and it hide again. Then, again with UV, I could catch it because it got attracted more than with the white light.

Maybe this is the reason why the “”mosquito cacthers”:https://www.google.com/search?q=mosquito+catcher&safe=active&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiWnNSyrqrkAhVQxhoKHU7rDxUQ_AUIESgB&biw=1280&bih=679” have purple/blue lights, no?

About RED light, some time ago I went to see bats at the evening in a explained visit by some bat expert. I asked the lady what kind of light didn’t affect them while they are eating and flying around and she said that RED light doesn’t affect them negatively. Hence, I also supposed, as you now mentioned, that it wouldn’t affect mosquitos that much, otherwise it would also affect the bats hunting a activity. (BTW, in that night in instantly regretted I hadn’t take my Odepro KL52 with RED dropin to see some bats hunting :smiley: )

Interesting!! In my parents home, in a small village, we have big and small hornets around at night. Outside the house we have a CW lamp that serves to “attract” them so that they don’t enter the house. But now I realize they may get “irritated” more than attracted.

Thanks for the information shared :+1:

Often, if you go to the right retail store, the associates will mention something along the lines of “LED bulbs tend not to attract insects” as an informal sales pitch - the manufacturers certainly never state this.
Anecdotally, I use a 5000K 1600 lumen porch lamp, and the bug attraction is far lower than the previous bulb (a warmer CFL bulb, not sure if ~800 or ~1200 lumens). There are still some bugs, but it seems to be limited varieties… The warmer-white LED bulbs, in my experience, attract even fewer bugs, but I like having a big harsh daylight porch lamp.

Most of the lights I use and build are in the 4000k range. I can tell you that they sure do attract bugs! When I go to the garden after dark and turn on a light, not even bright, I am immediately surrounded by all kinds in a cloud. I have not tested it any further, but have been meaning to before winter gets here.

We use Yellow lights round the house and on deck to keep flying objects away
It works.

I’ll put a piece of yellow tape over one of my lights tomorrow and try it.
I know the alternating 5mtr White (Yellow every third) 12v strip lights attract a lot less midgies etc than neighbours All white ones at fishing camp.

Naw, that was already common knowledge after the Headlamp Wars. Some swore by CW for visibility, others WW to not get swarmed. Me, I’d take WW anyday to not attract bugs. Bad enough I’m like sugar to them…

And don’t forget that all “white” LEDs have something of a Blue Peak. Only the warmest-white LEDs where the phosphor just blankets the chip will blue be absorbed well.

So 2200K would be even better than 2700K. Red even better than them all (zero blue content).

Glad I got the FW3A XP-L Hi 7A 3000K. Sounds like some non-scientific experiments will be run one of these warm nights. And maybe a red flashlight like we used aboard ships for night vision, but updated, is a good idea. Any suggestions for a good one? Thanks.

Just use a E21A 2000K 9080 headlamp. You get as close to zero blue wavelength as possible yet with excellent ultra high CRI color rendering. Insects will not notice the light but you will see everything in high fidelity (once your eyes are adjusted to the color temp)

The WK30 is all the rage nowadays, and for good reason. Red on its brightest setting is pretty bright.

Dedicated red lights include the HS-801, and can commonly be had in red and green (go for the red). Throwier, though.

A while back someone wanted a light made to attract bugs specifically. Here’s the thread. IIRC, it was said that bugs are mostly attracted to the blue spectrum. Like Lightbringer said above, you need to remember that ALL white lights are going to have some blue spectrum light in them. If you truly want to avoid attracting bugs, you need to emit zero blue light. Green, Amber, and Red LEDs should be fine for that. A lot of LED “bug lights” (the ones made to NOT attract bugs) use amber LEDs exclusively.

There are also “hunting” lights with the choice of red or green emitters. You can find “hunting” versions of the C8 and the Brinyte B158 zoomie for sale this way.

That’s what the ’801 is generally used for, given its deep-dish reflector. Pushes the spill way out in front vs a shallower reflector.

I got a few of ’em, ’though in green. Sold as “hog lights”.

Apparently the Hog Invasion has people going out in droves gunning ’em down before they take over.

Talk about going “hog wild”…

It’s hardly like they tend to show it on TV. Most of us that are hunting them down here are doing it to protect our land and property from the damage they do. It’s not droves of us out there with AR15s with a bunch of lights and lasers attached to the barrel like I’ve seen major medias report it as.

Most of the issues we have had have been out of staters trespassing because they heard they can go anywhere and do anything to chase hogs down here.

Never saw any of that on teevee. :slight_smile:

But yeah, I’ve seen pix of what damage they can do, digging up things, knocking down fences, etc.

And they’ll kill ya dead if you turn your back on ’em.

Think I’d want a minigun if I went anywhere in Hawg Country…

A hollow point .22 works just fine. Most of the time after the first shot they all scatter, heck a lot of times they scatter before that first shot. I grew up hunting them long before the epidemic (at least 20-25 years). All I’ve ever used was a .22 mag 6 shooter if we are using dogs (don’t 99% of the time as I don’t believe in it). If I’m still hunting em I’ll use a marlin 336 in 30-30. No need for anything full auto as I live in timber country and you rarely get a 2nd clear shot. I’m also not one of the idiots that will wound an animal to let it run off and die. Most of the horror stories you see deals with a cornered animal or you get between a sow and her piglet. Any animal does the same thing in those cases.

heck yeah. best super warm emitter :smiley: