Clear vs amber door light?

[catrinka]

I've been looking at light fixtures for outside the door. I notice that most rvs, both big and small, have amber lights outside the door. Wouldn't this attract more bugs? Do I really want more bugs hanging around just outside my door? Is there a reason why most go amber?

[San Diegan]

Cathy,

So called bug light bulbs are yellow to amber. I'm not on solid ground on the science of the concept, though.



Tom

[asianflava]

Supposedly, the bugs aren't attracted to the amber light as much as clear light. I got an amber lens, I'll try it out. If I don't like it, changing the lens out is easy enough.

[Gage]

I've got clear lights now and am planning on putting amber bulbs in them because of the bugs. Every one told me I should of used amber bulbs in the first place but I had to find out for myself.

Have a good day,
Gage

[David Grason]

Over the years, I've been to many rod runs that were held in city or county parks. Many times, the show cars parked out on the grass. This makes for a nice pleasant setting but it's just full of bugs. And if you think there aren't any bugs in the city park, just watch a yellow car pull onto the grass and watch the bugs all land on it in force. There will be more bugs on one yellow car than all other cars combined.

So my question is, how is it that a yellow light won't attract bugs while a yellow car will?

[Nitetimes]

I don't know the science of it but I use those bug bulbs on my back porch and I don't get hardly any bugs, now if I change to a white bulb it looks like I put out sugar water and sent out invitations.
I have 2 coleman lanterns that I take camping, 1 has clear glass the other has an amber colored glass. If you light them both and set them about 15' apart you will definitly see a major difference. The amber hardly gets any bugs at all. I will usually keep the amber one close to the camp and put the clear one as far away as possible (15'-20'). It doesn't keep away all the bugs but it makes a huge difference.

[mikeschn]

Where would a red light fall in the buggy scheme of things?

Mike...

[Big Guy with a Little Guy]

I don't think a red light would put out enough light to be of any use.

I do like the idea of putting a decoy white light away from camp to attract bugs away.

[Guest]

Mike,
You could set up a quickie dark room with the red light, if you are shooting black and white.
I used to shoot Winston Cup Races and would do that in motel rooms to get my prints to the magazines sooner.
Nowdays it's all digital and no... I don't have digital backs for my Nikons.

[purplepickup]

If you left the red light on you might get an unwanted knock in the middle of the night

[subtearanean]

If you left the red light on you might get an unwanted knock in the middle of the night

Who's to say it'd be unwanted?


As for yellow car vs. yellow bulb, does it not have to do with the fact that the car is reflecting (ie bouncing) light, the bulb is emmitting (ie projecting) light? or something like that? So that's it's not perceived the same by the insect?

Edit here: just found this on the web, seems to make sense.

- Bug light bulbs are used in outdoor fixtures to keep most flying insects away from the fixture. A bit of trivia: It's the coating on the bulb, that makes the light nearly invisible to bugs.

And here, from another bulb manufacturer:

How do bug lights work?
Bugs are sensitive to certain colors of light, and other colors they cannot see. Many insects cannot see yellow, and are therefore not attracted to it.

[Jiminsav]

yellow bug lights work in the south..i know, cause if i put a white bulb in the porch socket, well..don't go outside at night or you'll get ate up..a yellow light, and hardly a insect.

[catrinka]

Thanks for all the info guys.

Now if we could just make all this white stuff disappear!

[OurStuff4You]

I don't understand how "many insects cannot see yellow" when my yellow Metropolitan attracts bugs like crazy. If there is a lady bug, beetle or bee anywhere in the vicinity it finds my car in a heartbeat!

[subtearanean]

Well, I for one have been losing sleep over this one..........

I've got a friend that has a cousin that has a friend with a nephew......no wait. That's not right, that's the one with all the $$ to get out of Mozambique, just looking for an honest US citizen to share the wealth with.

It's really a friend with a cousin who's majoring in bug genetics somewhere out in California. Tossed the question to him.

I'm not certain about the answer to your question. People who put out pan traps (bowls filled with soapy water that insects fly into and drown) often use yellow bowls because they attract the most insects. The insects they attract are often seeking flowers (similarly, many insect-pollinated flowers are yellow). However, I don't know why yellow lights at night don't attract as many insects. It could be due to different cause for attraction: while diurnal insects are drawn to yellow for nectar, nocturnal insects are allegedly drawn to lights because they mistake them for the moon and then their navigation technique (keep the moon at a constant angle from their body) makes them circle around the light (and you only see the ones that spiral in, not the ones that spiral out). So, maybe (assuming the moon explanation holds), yellow light is less often confused for the moon, perhaps because the yellow lights aren't as bright as white lights to nocturnal insects. But I'm not really sure.

Works for me. The uncertainty, I mean.