Have been browsing individual threads on each of these products and just thought I'd start my own thread with a more specific format to gather info that highlights the pros and cons of each. I have emptied my pool and want to install one in the pool and spa, but am stuck between the two. I have read all the stories on the Haywards crapping out after a year, so I'd love to hear an update from anyone who has a recent, more revised model like the 4.0 to see if those kinks are worked out (lip/tab/seal issues, etc.) I like the Sangria controller for the CL4.0 better, but I won't install it if the core functionality is still in question. I would also be interested in knowing if either product can be found cheaper. I have found the Pentair for ~$500 online but haven't had much luck with the Hayward outside of "authorized retailers." My local pool shop wanted $2600 to come and install a pool LED and spa LED along with the transformer wiring. This was without the controller, IIRC. This seemed a little high, and I am considering doing it myself, but don't know if it's such a good idea since I'm not a licensed electrician.
Pentair Intellibrite 5g vs. Hayward ColorLogic 4.0
- Thread starter dest2ko
- Start date
- Jul 3, 2013
- 9,028
- Pool Size
- 15000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool SJ-40
Welcome to TFP 
The one thing in your statement that has me concerned is "you emptied your pool and spa" and you just went through a major downpour, how high is the ground water around your pool?
Pools pop out of the ground with no water in them, they become boats and it is not a pretty site..
The one thing in your statement that has me concerned is "you emptied your pool and spa" and you just went through a major downpour, how high is the ground water around your pool?
Pools pop out of the ground with no water in them, they become boats and it is not a pretty site..
Welcome to TFP
The one thing in your statement that has me concerned is "you emptied your pool and spa" and you just went through a major downpour, how high is the ground water around your pool?
Pools pop out of the ground with no water in them, they become boats and it is not a pretty site..
Bleh. I have heard this before but wasn't sure what was considered a long period of time to have a pool empty. I've had it drained for 3-4 weeks. This is my most recent measurement I can find, but as it says, that was a month ago. I am scared now. Maybe it's time to shelve the light plans for next season.
USGS Well Information
Station:
325548097314701
Name:XU-32-04-6xx (Sandy Beach MW-046)
Most Recent Measurement:36
Measurement Date:4/17/2015
Type
eriodic MeasurementOh nevermind, that was a YEAR ago. Sigh.
Here is more recent:
http://waterdatafortexas.org/groundwater/well/3231906
Here is more recent:
http://waterdatafortexas.org/groundwater/well/3231906
Do you already have a light or a light niche you are replacing?
What brand is it?
ft.
What brand is it?
ft.
- Mar 14, 2016
- 227
- Pool Size
- 30000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
I have the Intellibrite 5G and they were not as I thought. I have two in my pool one on each end pointing towards each other and the center of the pool is much darker than the ends. This may have to due with the pebble sheen finish but I hoped for more light. The red is awful as the pool looks more black than anything. They are fun though but not sure I would have spent as much as I did and not get the great light I hoped for.
Not sure at the moment. The light assembly itself is a Pac-fab 61-8230, but I'll have to look and see if I can find some markings inside. Don't recall seeing anything before.
- Jun 24, 2014
- 191
- Pool Size
- 13000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
We have three of the spa sized Intellibrite 5g's in the pool/spa and it works well. Our pool is smaller so the PB said we could use the little bit cheaper spa sized LED lights. Like it was said, the red on the Pentair is kind of weak. With our light blue plaster is looks more of a blood red to me. If you have a Pentair control box like an Easytouch or an Intellitouch , they make changing modes or colors real easy. They do the switching for you! So that is also something to think about. Good luck!
The reviews on the Pentair systems seem to be a lot more positive than the Hayward ColorLogic gear. I asked for an itemized quote from my local dealer and what they wanted blew my mind compared to what I can get these for on Prime. I could probably do it all myself but as you know Pentair warranties their work by 2 years versus sixty days for self installations. The local place said they'd price match my findings so we'll see if they actually follow through!
Called Pentair to ask about the fine print as to what a "professional installer" is, just to be sure. The answers were kinda vague.
Called Pentair to ask about the fine print as to what a "professional installer" is, just to be sure. The answers were kinda vague.
I have a "Lazy L" pool layout. When I went to a dark pebble finish instead of white a few years ago, I found some dark areas in my shallow end. I had put in a Hayward ColorLogic 4.0 at that time. I liked it and it was bright, but just because I didn't have a white surface, it didn't reflect to some areas of the shallow end.
My Hayward ColorLogic light worked great until a couple of months after the warranty ran out: then I lost one color. I kept using it, not wanting to go to the expense of replacing it yet, although I could no longer get "white" out of it. Then late last year, it started doing things like not working at all, tripping the GFCI, etc. That was concerning, so I decided this swim season it needed to get replaced.
After all our rains in So Cal this year, I also decided to finally drain some water from the pool and lower my CH. That made me think of putting in one of the nicheless mini lights in the shallow end to give some illumination there. There's short span of deck and a planter nearby, so I figured they could drill under the deck a bit and get the planter and put the light in.
I had first seen the Jandy nicheless lights, but the pool place said they've seen a lot of problems with Jandy. The recommended Pentair. After the quick partial death of my Hayward light, I was open to try another manufacturer's product.
So, the pool people drilled through the pool wall and added the GloBrite in the shallow end and replaced my deep end light with the IntelliBrite 5G. They did a nice job on the construction. I was happy.
After we got the pool filled up, I tried it out. My initial reaction was: I love the GloBrite and the IntelliBrite 5G is nowhere near as bright as the Hayward ColorLogic. I'm sad right now because I have new dark areas of my pool because the IntelliBrite doesn't seem to illuminate as much.
Had I known the deep end light would be so dim, I would have put in 3 GloBrites along the shallow-end bottom of my "Lazy L." I still could end up doing that if there's no other remedy. Of course, I'll have to drain a bunch of water out of the pool again...maybe not the whole thing this time (I got an acid wash, too).
The Pentair IntelliBrite has a Wide and Narrow installation mode. It comes in Wide. You can turn the lens go to Narrow. I don't know how that would affect things (The deep end side of my "L" is about 16' wide x 31' long). You have to get a new gasket whenever you change the lens orientation. I don't know if anyone's had an experience with the Wide vs. Narrow orientation on this light?
The pool people are supposed to be talking to Pentair to see if they have any thoughts about why their light is so dim compared to Hayward's. I'm not holding out much hope, though. I'm not sure what the rep would say.
On the program side:
Hayward has more programs than Pentair, but I think I find more of the Pentair color change programs to be useful. Some of the Hayward ones I really didn't like.
Hayward's method of changing the program (if you don't have their fancy controller) is better.
The Pentair light is annoying in that you have several seconds of darkness when changing color programs. Hayward didn't do that.
Hayward cycles to the next program with with switch on/off. For Pentair, you need to do several on/off cycles (and the light is in the dark during this) to tell it which program to go to. I'll probably spring for an IntelliBrite controller eventually. You'll still have the few seconds of darkness using it, but I'll stay more sane.
My Hayward ColorLogic light worked great until a couple of months after the warranty ran out: then I lost one color. I kept using it, not wanting to go to the expense of replacing it yet, although I could no longer get "white" out of it. Then late last year, it started doing things like not working at all, tripping the GFCI, etc. That was concerning, so I decided this swim season it needed to get replaced.
After all our rains in So Cal this year, I also decided to finally drain some water from the pool and lower my CH. That made me think of putting in one of the nicheless mini lights in the shallow end to give some illumination there. There's short span of deck and a planter nearby, so I figured they could drill under the deck a bit and get the planter and put the light in.
I had first seen the Jandy nicheless lights, but the pool place said they've seen a lot of problems with Jandy. The recommended Pentair. After the quick partial death of my Hayward light, I was open to try another manufacturer's product.
So, the pool people drilled through the pool wall and added the GloBrite in the shallow end and replaced my deep end light with the IntelliBrite 5G. They did a nice job on the construction. I was happy.
After we got the pool filled up, I tried it out. My initial reaction was: I love the GloBrite and the IntelliBrite 5G is nowhere near as bright as the Hayward ColorLogic. I'm sad right now because I have new dark areas of my pool because the IntelliBrite doesn't seem to illuminate as much.
Had I known the deep end light would be so dim, I would have put in 3 GloBrites along the shallow-end bottom of my "Lazy L." I still could end up doing that if there's no other remedy. Of course, I'll have to drain a bunch of water out of the pool again...maybe not the whole thing this time (I got an acid wash, too).
The Pentair IntelliBrite has a Wide and Narrow installation mode. It comes in Wide. You can turn the lens go to Narrow. I don't know how that would affect things (The deep end side of my "L" is about 16' wide x 31' long). You have to get a new gasket whenever you change the lens orientation. I don't know if anyone's had an experience with the Wide vs. Narrow orientation on this light?
The pool people are supposed to be talking to Pentair to see if they have any thoughts about why their light is so dim compared to Hayward's. I'm not holding out much hope, though. I'm not sure what the rep would say.
On the program side:
Hayward has more programs than Pentair, but I think I find more of the Pentair color change programs to be useful. Some of the Hayward ones I really didn't like.
Hayward's method of changing the program (if you don't have their fancy controller) is better.
The Pentair light is annoying in that you have several seconds of darkness when changing color programs. Hayward didn't do that.
Hayward cycles to the next program with with switch on/off. For Pentair, you need to do several on/off cycles (and the light is in the dark during this) to tell it which program to go to. I'll probably spring for an IntelliBrite controller eventually. You'll still have the few seconds of darkness using it, but I'll stay more sane.
I have the pool people come out and rotate the lens on the IntelliBrite. It comes with a "Wide" setting and they rotated it to the "Narrow" setting. It definitely helped with the dark areas on the shallow end. I'm still not certain if it's helped enough or of I'm going to drain some water and have the pool people put in 2 more GloBrites.
Hi Red,
Do you have any updates to your findings about the Pentair 5G vs GloBrite lights? I have the same size and shape pool (No Spa) but up in San Jose area. I will use Pentair automation unless someone steers me away from that choice. Do you know if Hayward or other manufacturer LED lights are compatible with Pentair automation?
Do you have any updates to your findings about the Pentair 5G vs GloBrite lights? I have the same size and shape pool (No Spa) but up in San Jose area. I will use Pentair automation unless someone steers me away from that choice. Do you know if Hayward or other manufacturer LED lights are compatible with Pentair automation?
Red,
Good overview and thanks for the info...
I went w whatever Hayward was mkting in the end of 2014/beginning of 2015 color logics: 2 LED's in the pool, 1 in the spa.
The color brightness seems to be fine. But in the pool, I had the same pool light, in the first 14 months go out twice. Good think the warranty was for 3 yrs...
One thing about my prologic and color logic lights that I found that happens to me, if I do not activate them often [at least 1-2 twice per week], when I turn on the lights after a 2-3 week period of no usage, they get out of color sycn; meaning 2 will be one color, while one will be another. Then it takes 20-30 times of resetting the slights to get them synched-up again. I sync them exactly how hawyward suggests w their 15 sec rule, but they still don't sync-up until massive amt of times tried. Has anyone run into this w either the Hayward or Pentair LED lights.
Finally, it's too bad these vendors cannot bring out a set of lights and submerge and demonstrate in the early evening how they would look to the pool owner. that would be a great customer service.
Good luck dest and I hope you find the correct solution for you. You too red, hope you achieve your color brightness levels - tstex
Good overview and thanks for the info...
I went w whatever Hayward was mkting in the end of 2014/beginning of 2015 color logics: 2 LED's in the pool, 1 in the spa.
The color brightness seems to be fine. But in the pool, I had the same pool light, in the first 14 months go out twice. Good think the warranty was for 3 yrs...
One thing about my prologic and color logic lights that I found that happens to me, if I do not activate them often [at least 1-2 twice per week], when I turn on the lights after a 2-3 week period of no usage, they get out of color sycn; meaning 2 will be one color, while one will be another. Then it takes 20-30 times of resetting the slights to get them synched-up again. I sync them exactly how hawyward suggests w their 15 sec rule, but they still don't sync-up until massive amt of times tried. Has anyone run into this w either the Hayward or Pentair LED lights.
Finally, it's too bad these vendors cannot bring out a set of lights and submerge and demonstrate in the early evening how they would look to the pool owner. that would be a great customer service.
Good luck dest and I hope you find the correct solution for you. You too red, hope you achieve your color brightness levels - tstex
onlyjeeps
Well-known member
- Jan 4, 2013
- 56
- Pool Size
- 26000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-60 Plus
Losgatosgtr, as I understand it, Jandy, Pentair and Hayward lights all switch color modes by multiple switching of the power on and off. How many on/off cycles with less than a few seconds between each flip is what determines which color program they end up on. They each have different "programs" but the method to get to said program number is the same for each manufacturer. So, as I understand it, yes, you can use any of the major three manufacturers lights with any of the others controllers or automation. For clarification, for instance, program 1 on the Hayward may not be (and probably is not) the same color changing pattern as for program 1 on the Pentair but the on/off sequence to get to program 1 is the same if you follow me. Therefor each light can be controlled by each others controllers. Obviously you'd want the same manufacturers lights in the same pool to achieve the same light changes with each on/off switch cycle otherwise you'd never be able to sync them.