Amerilite Pool Light Leaks. A Fix and what I've learned

[COBrien]

I'm planning to replace/refurbish some parts on my Amerlite. My lens is an awful yellow color (almost looks like it was made that way, but I know that can't be the case) which makes my pool look green at night, and the stainless trim ring has seen better days. This light is the only part of my pool that makes it look old, aside from the questionable diving board (which will be removed before the end of this season).

I'm glad I found this thread -- I may just prophylactically seal up the light end of the cord with some Marine Sealant.

Frankly, I'm scared to death of what I'll find in my 30+ year old light niche... Irrational, I know, but still...

 

[DBB]

A couple of posts back, I mentioned having to replace my deep-end SAM light a couple of times, but what I failed to mention was that the second one also leaked. While the light still functions, the color wheel stopped working a while back, and I just let it go, figuring I would replace it when I re-plaster next year, but I like the higher light output on these as compared to the new LEDs that I've seen, so I thought I'd try fixing it, but I may have waited too long...

Used CLR to clean up the lens, color wheel, and the other white plastic parts that had rust lines. The old one was shot, so I got a new motor, and a new Molex connector that attaches to it, as two contacts on the old one had corroded and released the wires.

Now for the riddle of trying to figure out which wire goes where: the motor's circuit board is labeled with two positives (A & B), and two negatives (A & B), but there are no schematics that I've seen from any DIYers - Pentair certainly doesn't publish them. One of the positive wires still attached is black, and the other one still attached is a white negative. A blue and red wire are both unattached... I saved my first SAM light for parts, but naturally, all the wires on that one are white, so no help there.

My experience with these things tell me that this is most likely a futile effort, but this thread has inspired me...

Once I get it all together and buttoned up and the cord sealed as many of you have done, we'll see how my repair attempt (it's become a quest, really) turns out. Too bad you can't find these anymore.

DBB

 

[SacDave]

I’m having problems one of my light fixtures also. I'm pretty sure water is seeping in from the cord restraint. I don't get any moisture at all in the fixture I can see when I take it apart so that leaves me to suspect the cord. The GfI trips if it sits in the sun for a couple hours it’s fine so moisture has to be traveling down the cord.
Now looking at how the cord enters the fixture if you push/bend the cord you notice there’s a small gap between the cord and edge of the restraint so I'm thinking of getting a glue syringe (Local hobby store) filling it with liquid rubber (home depot electrical dept.) and injecting in the gap. Then just to be safe brush a layer’s of the rubber around where the cord enters. Then you could get rubber tape put that over it and more liquid rubber. The rubber tape stretches and sticks to it self

I think one of the design problems there should be a clamp to hold the cord to side of the fixture so your not bending the cord where it enters when installing the fixture in the pool

 

[DBB]

I know exactly what you're talking about re: the gap on the sleeve of the cord. Weird thing is, though, that the base part of the housing where the cord comes in is all potted with some kind of epoxy - I've never seen any signs of water coming through around the edges of this, yet these lights seem to be notorious for leaking around the cord. Odd thing, my SAL spa light is the original, and has worked without any problems whatsoever all these years.

If you happen to open up your light any time soon, would you mind jotting down the order of the color-coded wires to the color wheel motor and posting it? I think Im going to have to use a meter to check for voltage to see if I can work it all out.

Anxious to hear how your repair goes!

-DBB

 

[DBB]

Success!

Used the mold/epoxy method that Bobbystone originally posted, to seal around the cord. Replaced the motor and Molex connector - hope I got the pin outs correct when determining the wiring color code order, but it seems to work. The Pentair guys tried to help, but just didn't have this level of detail.

Used some gasket lube on the new seal and lens, so hopefully my light will now keep the water out.

Only thing I see now is that the new EasyTouch panel seems to handle the Sam/Sal lights differently, such as no sync, and the ET color selection menus don't seem to apply...

Regardless, I now have a working light!