Outdoor lighting is a valuable addition to your home, enhancing its unique features and extending your living space. However, it can attract insects during the summer, making it difficult to enjoy a quiet night on your porch or deck. Bugs are attracted to the brightest light in the sky, like the moon, but modern outdoor lights confuse them. This persistent problem poses an irritating and persistent problem. To minimise the effect of outdoor lights on bugs, consider using outdoor bug lights, which can make lights less appealing to buggy visitors. There are several ways to keep insects away from your landscape lighting. This includes understanding the types of bugs attracted to it and choosing lighting options that minimise insect infestation.
Why Are Bugs Attracted to Outdoor Bug Lights?
Insect Attraction to Lights:
- Unnatural light interferes with insect navigation – Insects like moths use light sources like stars and the moon to maintain course. However stationary light sources like lightbulbs alter this angle.
- Bugs perceive lights as food – Certain flowers emit UV light, attracting insects.
- Some insects perceive light as a clear path – Some insects perceive light as unobstructed, causing them to fly into hot light bulbs intentionally.
What are outdoor bug lights?
Outdoor bug lights are a popular solution for preventing insect attraction in outdoor spaces. These lamps, made of filtered yellow glass, are designed to be less attractive to insects, allowing them to avoid the dreaded cloud of bugs in outdoor fixtures. The warm colour temperature of bug lights, either incandescent or CFL, is shifted so far to the ‘warm’ side of the colour temperature spectrum that many insects struggle to detect it. While bug lights provide security and comfort, they do not kill bugs, but they do attempt to keep them away from fixtures. While some bugs may still buzz around the light, most of their friends will likely go to a neighbour’s party instead. Overall, bug lights offer a solution to keeping bugs away from outdoor spaces.
How do they operate?
Humans and insects have different perceptions of light. Light from the “longer” portion of the light spectrum tends to be the most visible to humans. Insects respond visually to the “shorter” end of the spectrum, which is closer to ultraviolet light. Yellow outdoor bug lights draw fewer insects than ordinary lamps because they reduce the short-spectrum light output that is most attractive to insects.
Do bug lights work?
- Outdoor bug lights are light bulbs that emit colourless, virtually undetectable light to bugs.
- Bug lights do not repel bugs but emit light invisible to insects or too dim for them to notice.
- Bugs use UV light and the infrared spectrum for navigation and food location.
- Bug lights are not 100% effective but are effective at reducing bugs by excluding light used by the majority
- LED lights emit virtually no heat and use less energy than incandescent or CFL bug lights.
Top Benefits of Installing Outdoor Bug Lights
- Reduces Insect Activity: Specially designed bug lights emit wavelengths less attractive to insects, reducing pests in outdoor spaces.
- Eco-Friendly and Energy-Efficient: LED technology used in outdoor bug lights consumes less electricity and lasts longer than traditional bulbs.
- Low Maintenance and Long-Lasting: LED lights offer long-lasting performance with minimal maintenance, ensuring durability.
- Improved Outdoor Ambience: These lights enhance the outdoor atmosphere by providing a soft glow, making outdoor spaces more inviting for evening gatherings.
How to Install Outdoor Bug Lights for Maximum Effectiveness
- First, choose the ideal location, such as patios, doorways, or seating areas where bug activity is highest. Install the lights at 6–8 feet high for broader coverage.
- When wiring, ensure the power source is turned off and use weatherproof connectors to prevent exposure to moisture.
- For effective bug repellency, position the lights away from main sitting areas and entrances, as this will help keep bugs further from where you gather.
- Use LED or yellow outdoor bug lights, as they emit wavelengths less attractive to insects.
- In terms of safety, always check the weather forecast before installation.
- Avoid working with electricity outdoors in wet or stormy conditions.
How Can A Yellow Bug Light Perform Better To Keep Bugs Away?
Bug light is a popular pest management tool that helps deter flying insects from entering homes. Sunco Lighting LED Yellow outdoor bug lights are a simple and appealing solution to deter bugs at doorways and near outdoor dining areas without the use of harmful chemicals. Insects see a smaller portion of the Visible Light Spectrum than humans, with wavelengths of light from approximately 300 to 650 nanometers.
They do not see warmer colours beyond yellow wavelengths, making them less attracted to yellow-orange LED light bulbs compared to blue light bulbs or fluorescent lights. When light transmission wavelengths are greater than 550 nm, the sensitivity of a bug’s range of vision can affect phototactic response. To discourage attraction to exterior bug light bulbs above a patio table or other dining space, use a warm, high-quality LED that is outside the range of vision of most flying insects. LED light bulbs emit nominal or no UV light, while incandescent bulbs emit UV light.
Other Benefits of Yellow Light vs. Blue Light
The A15 LED Yellow Light Bulb, a yellow-coloured light bulb, not only deters insects but also promotes the body’s natural sleep cycle and melatonin release. It simulates sunset, tapping into the human circadian clock, and can be a comfortable night light in a child’s bedroom or nursery.
Suncoast Lighting offers two LED bug light bulbs: A15, a compact indoor or porch light with a low-blue comfort light or night light, and A19, a night light bulb with a Dusk to Dawn Sensor. Both bulbs are dimmable and have the same 600 lumens of brightness as an equivalent, higher-wattage incandescent or halogen lamp. The bulb is designed for use at night and has a 9W=40W brightness. Suncoast Outdoor Lighting’s outdoor bug lights offer an effective way to illuminate your outdoor space while keeping bugs away. With their current promotion, you can enjoy high-quality, energy-efficient lighting solutions, perfect for any backyard or patio. Take advantage of their exclusive deals and upgrade your outdoor lighting today!