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Research Shows UVA Green Light Technology Works Better

Insect-O-Matic units fitted with Green Light Technology (Synergetic lamps) catch on average 30% more house flies than units fitted with UVA lamps in a given period. In a food environment, the quicker flying insects are trapped the health risks and contamination are less likely. Traditionally, lamps emit light only in the UVA spectrum and appear blue. UVA output can vary significantly depending on the cost and quality of the lamp. There are heated debates between the manufacturers as to the effective merits of their lamps but what is not in question is the degradation of the UVA phosphor in all lamps as explained by Dr. Peter Cottee.

To test this Insect-O-Matic scientists looked at catch ratios with 12 month old UVA versus Synergetic lamps against houseflies. Insect-O-Matic units fitted with the Synergetic lamps caught on average 82% more flies than those with the UVA lamps. This result confirms the hypothesis that Synergetic lamps become more attractive to house flies over time relative to UVA lamps. Some major lamp manufacturers try to promote their version of green light to the industry. These lamps emit highly intense green light with no UVA and are more commonly used in discos and chicken rearing pens. In-house tests found these lamps to be no more effective than common white fluorescent lamps in attracting flies.

A good quality lamp will lose 15% of its UVA initial output in the first 100 hours of use and a further 20% in the next 900 hours. After 30 weeks the UVA output is down to 50% and declines steadily thereafter. Green light output, or any other light in the visible spectrum, is virtually unaffected with time. Degradation of the phosphors that make up the green spectral peak is under 2% in the course of the year. Synergetic lamps maintain over 98% of the output of the green attractant phosphors and it is known that many insects have an attractant peak in the green spectrum.