Monday, Apr 23, 2012 at 11:39
The reason that LED attracts less insects than fluro is that the fluro outputs quite large amounts of UV and the LED almost none.
You will note that most bug zappers use a UV fluro.
Red will simply be reducing the amount of light.
Red does not cause our eyes to iris down and our eyes stay adapted to the dark better...this is why there are red lights on submarines and in cabs of other boats.
Our low light monochrome vision still works reasonably
well under red but our red colour vision is very poor( rods and poles and all that technical stuff)
A red night light in the
camp is not a bad idea.
Yellow is suposed to be less attrctive to insects, but it is only partilay effective.
We see reasoably
well under yellow light and it will tend to wake us up.
There will be bugger all difference between warm white and daylight(
bright white) LEDs in insect attraction but you will see far better with a daylight colour balance and tolerate a lower wattage lamp.
If you are looking at making your own filters, forget the celophane, go to a theatrical lighting supplier and buy a sheet of theatrical filter gell, it will be far more durable and a far more effective filter.
The problem will be choice of colour....there are over a dozen yellows, then there are oranges and ambers.
I recon "rosco #312 canary yellow" would be a good start..its transmission is 85% in the pass band and deep cut below.
All animals have a patchy sense of light, WE see 3 bands greeny yellow, bluey yellow and violet......the rest our brains make up......we see almost no UV or infrar red
Different insects (and all animals for that matter) respond differently to light and see different parts of the spectrum.
The yellow/UV difference works for moths and most flying insects, but mosquitos react poorly to light...mosquitos respond to CO2 and moisture on the air.
As has been mentioned by far the best idea is to have a
bright decoy light away from where you are, and either a coloured or lower brightness light nearby.....when the bugs get a bit much..turn the near light off and they will go to the brighter decoye..and mostly stay there.
But in the bush you will be attracting every flying critter for
miles.
cheers
AnswerID:
483902
Follow Up By: Member - Boobook - Wednesday, Apr 25, 2012 at 11:12
Wednesday, Apr 25, 2012 at 11:12
Interesting and obviously
well informed post Bantam.
I agree that LED lighting is justified just on the basis of less insects than fluoro and they produce a lot less electrical noise. I don't think yellow filters do a lot for insects beyond that. But I do like the red lights on my head torches to avoid light blindness, and I might also set up a fluoro decoy light as you suggest.
Bantam, if I do a search on 'LEE Lighting filters' and look at international sellers there are lots of gel filter sheets in 21" x 24". Are these what you are referring to and is $15 inc delivery ( $6 plus $* delivery) competitive with a local theatrical
shop. These may not be the best quality but good enough for what I want.
FollowupID:
759373
Follow Up By: The Bantam - Wednesday, Apr 25, 2012 at 11:36
Wednesday, Apr 25, 2012 at 11:36
The yellow light thing and its reduced attractivness to insects is a proven thing but the important thing to grasp is "REDUCED attractivness", if its the brightest thing for 20
miles they will still come for the yellow light.
If you are running yellow lights and the
campsite 20 meters away is running white.. :) ..guess what.
LEE is one of the 3 or 4 major manufacturers of filter gell in the world, for theatrical use I prefeer the ROSCO supergell because it cops the heat longer and the colour is encapsulated and I was braught up on rosco/strand.
But for the sort of work under discussion the LEE with be perfecly fine and way way better than domestic celophane.
Lee run a different numbering system to supergel......In LEE ( or other euro standardised gell) 101 yellow or 102 light amber I recon would be the go.
The standard LEE product will also be chaeper per square than supergel and a little thicker & stiffer, which can be usefull sometimes
The price you have is reasonable, the walk in price at most lighting shops in AU will be arround $16 a sheet.
One advantage of going to some of the bigger theatical lighting shops is you can often buy, off the roll rather than precut sheets, this is particularly good when you are making up colour tubes for 4 foot fluros and such.
cheers
FollowupID:
759375
Follow Up By: Member - Boobook - Wednesday, Apr 25, 2012 at 18:21
Wednesday, Apr 25, 2012 at 18:21
Thanks, for that price I will buy locally.
Great information. Thank you very much.
Cheers - appreciated.
FollowupID:
759419