Intellibrite Lights on Photocell - Crazy?

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S

sbollag

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Mar 2, 2016
120
New Orleans
So we have two 500w Intellibrite white lights in our pool, which literally just became operational. We don't have automation, so I had asked electrician about a timer for the lights, and he suggested a photocell, so I said great.

Last night was the first time they came on, and those suckers are bright - really light up the pool!

I think it's great to have them on the photocell, just have them on dusk to dawn, but I just wanted to make sure we're not crazy for doing so. I know the LEDs are rated for a crazy number of hours (my understanding is they say 50k, but 25k is more realistic, of course with the caveat that the rest of the fixture doesn't **** out), but I see people saying 15-20 years, and by my rough calculations, assuming it's on 11-12 hours a day on average (taking into account summer and winter), I only come up with like 6-7 years. Still doesn't sound too shabby, but I know those babies are pricey.

Anyway, if anyone thinks we're completely insane for having them on a photocell, please do tell me. Don't worry, I have thick skin and can take the criticism ?

Thanks!

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Many times pool lights draw bugs. LEDs aren't nearly as bad, but you may find a lot of bugs on the surface of the water the next day.
 
That's a great point... the other night we left our light on for an hour or so after everyone had gotten out of the pool. When I went to put the solar cover on and turn off the light, there were about 20 june bugs floating on the surface near the light.
 
Not crazy, but 500 watts is a lot and will decrease the life of the bulb, not to mention the energy used. I would put the photocell on a timer like what low voltage lights use so you can set how long you want lights on or 4 hours after dusk, 6 hours after dusk or all night if you want but at least you have options.
 
Thanks all for the responses. It did seem to attract some bugs last night, so I feel a little bad for the ones that gave up their lives, but it wasn't too bad.

We do have just the breaker switch, at the pool breaker box, which is with the equipment, right beside the pool, so easy to get to. But I certainly don't want to be going and turning them off every night and back on next day, obviously that would defeat whole purpose. I guess we could leave them off like in the non-swimming season, but being in NOLA, we don't close the pool or anything, so might still want them on (though I guess it looks kind of funny if the solar cover is on, and in any case, wouldn't be that much of the year. And we could turn them off when we're not around, but we do have a rental unit, and guests will be using pool, so probably wouldn't want to do that.

Love the idea of having the photocell on a timer, that would be perfect. Just asked electrician about that and he said, "I believe they have a timer based photocell...we can't use the timer in the panel because it is for 220." So not entirely clear on what that means, but he said he would look into an option for putting it on a timer. I think that would make the most sense, would be nice to have them on for a certain number of hours, but really no need for them to be on all night.

Thanks again!
 

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Aha. Well that might be a possibility, I appreciate the suggestion. But I think that's less than ideal, I'd really like a solution that doesn't require setting every time, that's what I'm going for.

Hopefully electrician will come up with something, he's pretty savvy.

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If not worried about bulb life your plan still sounds fine and neat having it light up. No different than landscape lights many leave on. Shouldn't be hard for the electrician though if just looking for always on but some kind of timer in series with the photo cell to just restrict the total time some to prevent daytime use during storms or to turn off at some point in the middle of the night when you know you would always be in bed by then anyway.
 
That's exactly what I'm going for, NeedMoreSun. Hmm, that's a good suggestion, Tim. You mean a water rated outlet?? We actually have one right there, so maybe that will be easiest. Will discuss that with him? That's exactly what I want, just to change it for daylight savings, and maybe when days get longer and shorter. Thanks!
 
The LED board inside the color changing IntelliBrite fixtures is field replaceable, I'd presume the white would be the same? The bigger issue will be whether the LED board is still available in 15 years if it were to fail. As far as adding a timer, if you have the electrician add the timer contacts after the photocell, you could set the timer to turn on at noon and off after you go to bed. The photocell would keep the light off when the timer turned on at noon and would turn the light on when it got dark. The problem with a timer only solution, which is what I currently have, is that I have to adjust the dusk on time several times a year to accommodate the change in sunset time.
 
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