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kend40's avatar
kend40
Explorer
May 23, 2014

LED outdoor lighting in insect heavy areas

A question for those of you that have installed LED strip lighting under your awnings (especially the multi colour ones)
Has anyone been able to determine if there is a "best" colour, as far as creating the least attraction to flying insects ( I am in Saskatchewan, so read Mosquitos and Gnats) .
I have installed such a light strip and am hoping to shorten my own "learning curve!"

I read somewhere that white light attracts most attention, and that Green is easier on the eyes, but i have no first hand experience.
  • Yellow is the least attractive to a wide variety of insects, but I don't know if that color comes in LED.

    Lots of mosquitoes are attracted to blue, but the release of carbon dioxide by a warm blooded animal is the main attractant so light color is not an issue. If you can stop breathing........
  • I had purple rope lights wrapped around our deck railing for several years. They did not attract bugs like other lights I had used previously.
  • Are LED lights attractive to insects or not?

    Because most LED lights don’t emit UV light and generate little heat, they tend to have little attraction to insects. However, some insects may be attracted to one or more of the light colors used in the color mix used to produce the LED’s “white” light. While insects are attracted to light, LED lights give off little heat, and also emit the wrong colors of the visible light spectrum for most insects, resulting in that minimal numbers of insects are attracted to them.

    Some LEDs are specifically manufactured to produce UV light, such as those used in mosquito light traps and as plant grow lights. Then there are those that are used for disinfection, sterilization, and curing of certain industrial coatings (e.g., dental tooth-colored fillings, also called composite resins).

    Not all LED spotlights are invisible to insects. UV LED spotlights, cool white LED’s, and neutral colored LED’s may attract insects to the same degree as fluorescent or halogen bulbs. A better choice is a warm white or off white for LED spotlights.