I've played with this = much fun - take a look at a new $20 bill! also look at your striped tie. ANyway, more light = better picture and longer wavelength = less visible to rats (but I bet they see IR better than humans do!) but longer wavelength = decreased photo detection by CCD and poorer resoultion. So may I suggest, use a seperate light source - a nice gel cell motorcycle battery should give many hours of high current output and you could charge it during the day with a photocell!