Hi, in order to help a professor taking insect samples in the forest, we want to build an insect trap that lures them with light. Leds are prefered to prevent heat and degradation of the insect samples. We would like something that lights as much as a 60w light bulb, so 800 lumens+, while being efficient. One interesting point is that he would rather not use 12v battery cars since they are heavy for bringing far into the woods. I thought about 3.7 li-ions in series+parallel, to reach whatever voltage the final choice of led is. Ive seen 1w super power leds which sounded great, but theyconly emit 50 to 86 lumens.. maybe 10w leds, i havent found their lumen level. I just read they produce heat, which doeant look good for me. What do you guys think? And which battery pack would you use? Thanks for your great ideas as always
You don't specify what type of insect. If you search for moth traps you will get an idea of how people have solved the problem of catching them with light as the bait.
Heat itself does not seem like a problem to me, you just need to keep the insects away from the heat e.g. using a gauze.
The thing is, we want to measure the ratios of different species around the forest, so there is no particular flying insect.targeted. also, using something like a gauze would filter and dim the light. We really want the samples to be as cold as possible, since they will stay in a bucket for a while. We could also use different wavelengths throughout the night if using LEDs. Based on this, with more efficiency: https://www.bioquip.com/search/DispProduct.asp?pid=2851A
Please post links correctly, like this:
https://www.bioquip.com/search/DispProduct.asp?pid=2851A
You mention different wavelengths. The product you linked to uses "black" (uv) light. So what wavelengths are of interest. I don't know much about insect eyesight, except that those that feed on nectar detect flowers using UV. What attracts other types of insects, I don't know.
Sorry for the link! The wavelengths are not my main concern in this feed, we really are interested in finding the most efficient light emitting circuit. Lets say i start with 10k or more bright light, if a value is required to take a decision. I still think 1 or 10w leds could be good?
Insects are attracted to even very low levels of illumination, and wavelength is extremely important.
You will have to balance battery size and lifetime versus illumination, so how did you arrive at the equivalent of a "60W bulb" or 800+ lumens?
Have you looked into what wavelengths would be best to attract the insects of interest? Keep in mind that LEDs give off light over a limited range of wavelengths.
Yes, wondered about that. I have some 1000+ lumen led bulbs in my house and they must be at least equivalent to 150W incandescent. So 800lm for 60W sounds optimistic. (I say "bulb" because they are that shape, externaly).
I don't think you will need anywhere near that power of light output. You are operating this device in a dark environment and the lightshould shine for miles.
Blue light usually best if I remember correctly.
As an example of distance, we used to use a 3w torch bulb for nighttime surveying, range there was around 5 miles.
JCSB:
Ive seen 1w super power leds which sounded great, but theyconly emit 50 to 86 lumens..
Then for your 800 lumens you just take 10-16 of those. What's the problem?
There are lots of very bright LED lights out there, such as floodlights. One of those lights up a large section of your forest and should attract plenty of bugs. They DO produce a lot of heat, though: LEDs may be pretty efficient, but they still lose like 50-70% of their energy as heat. That's why those high powered lights have cooling ribs. Efficiency actually drops as they get warmer, this in contrast to fluorescents which need to warm up to work well.
Anyway, this doesn't seem to be much Arduino related.
bluejets:
Blue light usually best if I remember correctly.
I remember going to a lecture in 1965 by the esteemed Prof Eric Laithwaite entitled "The Electromagnetic Mating Habits of Moths" . Absolutely the best lecture I ever went to ! In this lecture the Prof indicated that the little antenna on a Moth's head were tuned to a particular wavelength of green light.
wvmarle:
Then for your 800 lumens you just take 10-16 of those. What's the problem?
...
Anyway, this doesn't seem to be much Arduino related.
The problem is that the OP would need a 16W power supply and he does not want to lug batteries in to the woods.
I still don't see why the heat problem cannot be solved simply by distancing the light emission from the heat e.g. in surgery LEDs provide illumination but the light is channelled through optical fibres and output cold to avoid tissue damage.
Well, for the required 800 lumens you just need that kind of power... can't get around basic physics. 10W for a full night would need a 120 Wh battery. That's a 10 Ah 12V lead-acid battery, those weigh 1-2 kg or so. A LiPo battery of the same capacity would be less than 1/2 kg. That's not much weight, very easy to carry a number of such devices by a single person.