LED lighting upgrade questions

[JamesR]

I have a 28K gallon in ground with attached spa. 2 lights in there on one switch. There is a 500W 120VAC Hayward astrolite in the deep end and a 100W light in the spa. The 500 watt unit is defective and trips my GFCI. I can get a new identical replacement unit to install in the niche for about $180 and be done with it or I can upgrade to color changing LED lighting.
Looking for some suggestions/shared experiences as to what would be a great LED upgrade to get. Can I just install an LED style light in each fixture and program them to be sync'd together? Are there retrofit kits that would replace my existing fixtures with a new LED unit that would fit my niche or do I just buy an LED bulb for the existing fixtures. I obviously need a new fixture for the deep end anyway. So I figure now is the time to change if I was going to.
Thanks in advance,
James

 

[jblizzle]

Welcome to TFP!!!

I put a ColorSplash LED bulb in my existing fixture. They sell 120V and 12V versions of pool and spa sized bulbs.

 

[JamesR]

Jason,
Thanks for the "welcome" and thanks for the reply. So basically I can buy a new SP0583L fixture to replace the one that is defective, remove the 500W bulb that comes with it and then buy 2 of the Color Splash bulbs to retrofit my pool? (large one for pool and small one for spa). My pool is a tad large at about 40' long and 8' in the deep end. Are these ColorSplash bulbs, particularly the one for the pool going to provide sufficient light to compare to my 500W incandescent? I also had it re-plastered last season with a grey/blue plaster & quartz finish if that matters at all. So it is no longer white plaster. I can post some pictures tomorrow when I am home from work.
Thanks,
James

 

[jblizzle]

The Color LEDs are no where near as bright ... especially with the red colors. I think my pool is about the same size with a similar finish. The Red only travels maybe half the length of the pool. The white (when all color LEDs are on) does a decent job filling the pool, but not as much as a 500W bulb would.

You may want to email the manufacturer to confirm they will fit in your fixtures.

 

[JamesR]

The Color LEDs are no where near as bright ... especially with the red colors. I think my pool is about the same size with a similar finish. The Red only travels maybe half the length of the pool.

Hmmm, that is good to know. I definitely want to be able to "fill the pool" with light. Is it just that the LED style lights do not broadcast that well like the old incandescent?? Or is it just the ColorSplash model that is like that?

 

[jblizzle]

Color LEDS are not as bright as white LEDs which I do not think are as bright as the 500W monsters.

Red light wavelengths do not travel as far in water as bluer light.

 

[JamesR]

OK, understood. I guess it is a trade off for now until the LED technology advances further.
Anyone have a night time pics of what the different colors look like in a grey plastered/quartz pool? My pool has a blue-ish color water in the daytime and a lot of blue colored glass tile. The wife likes blue.
With the incandescent light at night, it has a green appearance though.