EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT BUG LIGHTS
-Humans often prefer yellowish light (also known as warm white or 2700k color temperature) for reading, living rooms, or bedrooms because it provides more contrast. For garages or yards, humans like bluish-white light (also known as cool white, daylight, or 5000k) because it is very bright and far reaching. The lack of contrast it provides however is harsh and prevents us from seeing detail, which can be very unpleasant. People also use bulbs in-between these two extremes. This all is interesting but not very relevant to what attracts bugs.
-First, bugs like light, period. Moths, stink bugs, flies, beetles, and crawlers obsession for lights often drives them to exhaustion. The less bright, the better. A string of many tiny lights is much less attractive to bugs than a single bright light. Heat also attracts more bugs so LED bulbs are better if they don’t heat up (and the cheaper LED bulbs also do unfortunately).
-Second, different bugs are attracted to different colors (wavelengths), so you can reduce numbers of some types of bugs by not using anything close to their favorite color (or wavelength).
[Shortest to longest wavelengths are: Ultraviolet – invisible, Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Red, Infra-red – invisible].
-Earwigs, and other crawling bugs are attracted most to warm White and Yellow. Click beetles, fungus flies, and bioluminescent bugs (fireflies) are most attracted to Amber. Some species of mosquitoes prefer these colors too but not most.
-Most mosquitos, biting flies, and many disease carriers are attracted to Green & Blue. Bloodsuckers however use infrared & exhaled CO2 to locate their prey, so changing the color of the lights may not help as much as with other bugs.
-A University of Agriculture study in Pakistan found that up to seventy percent of bugs prefer cool blue light while only eight to ten percent are attracted to yellow light.
-A recent Smithsonian study in the tropical rainforests of Peru found that Amber-filtered bulbs attracted 34 percent fewer species and 60 percent fewer insects in total than white lights. (Note that Yellow is very close to amber but Amber attracted less insects in their Peruvian study).
So, if you’re not sure which bugs will come around and are obsessed about it, the very best strategy is to put up strings of many very tiny Amber or Yellow patio lights because bugs notice big lights and fewer bugs like these colors.
For my current situation in the backwoods I decided not to obsess too much about the color or bugs. I bought a couple of 8-packs of these yellow bulbs because I have a lot of outdoor fixtures. The yellow is a good compromise to reduce the odds of bugs but have slightly more brightness than amber. I previously bought and returned some cheap amber lights that got unusually hot and probably wouldn’t last through our hot summers here. These yellow bulbs seem like they may (possibly) have a better chance of lasting than many of the others for sale on Amazon, otherwise I probably would have just stuck with amber.
| Brand | hansang |
|---|---|
| Light Type | LED |
| Wattage | 5 watts |
| Bulb Shape Size | G25 |
| Bulb Base | E26 |
| Incandescent Equivalent Wattage | 60 Watts |
| Specific Uses For Product | Indoor use only |
| Light Color | Soft White |
| Voltage | 120 Volts |
| Unit Count | 4.0 Count |
| Color Temperature | 2700 Kelvin |
| Number of Items | 4 |
| Brightness | 500 Lumen |
| Shape | G25 Globe |
| Material | Plastic |
| Connectivity Technology | Infrared |
| Indoor/Outdoor Usage | Indoor |
| Controller Type | Push Button |
| Included Components | Bulb included |
| Power Source | LED (High End LED Chips) |
| Color Rendering Index | 80 |
| Power Consumption | 5 Watts |
| Item Package Quantity | 1 |
| Light Source Type | LED |
| Item Weight | 0.29 Kilograms |
| Light Source Wattage | 60 Watts |
| Product Dimensions | 3.15"W x 4.7"H |
| Control Method | Touch |
| Manufacturer | Hansang |
| Part Number | Led002 |
| Item Weight | 10.2 ounces |
| Item model number | B07Q1YMMQZ |
| Style | Antique |
| Color | 2700k Soft White |
| Finish types | Soft White |
| Number of Lights | 4 |
| Shade Material | Plastic&Aluminum |
| Light Direction | Up/Down Light |
| Batteries Included? | No |
| Batteries Required? | No |
| Wattage | 60 Watts |
