Im looking at LED pool lighting. I see the LEDs have been problematic ... Im wondering if anyone has had any experience or feedback on the Pentair Amerilite 16 Color light ?
Feedback on LED pool lights ?
- Thread starter Kjhoffman
- Start date
Shirker
0
- Jul 2, 2014
- 749
- Pool Size
- 19000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
I'm not sure about what problems you speak of. My pool is still under construction so I don't have any real experience. But one of my considerations was the fact that LEDs use less power. Aside from the obvious cost savings, I figured it would be nice to have less amps that close to the water.
I have a 500w old school bulb like Pentair light. Its boring and power hungy but many of them last 20 years. LEDs are pretty and alot of them have multiple colors on one bulb. They also draw much less power. But they have bugs and need replacing alot more often. I have a few LEDs and CFLs in my house. Ive found about half of them live up to the extended life and half are toast long before an incandescent would have been.
I've debated with getting the fun LED lights as well, but trying to retrofit them to my pool and spa would be painful and/or excessively costly. For the $$, I'll keep the simple, long-lasting and inexpensive incandescent lamps I have (I don't have them turned on often) and get some blue lenses for the lights. Red, orange, yellow or green pool water isn't attractive to me. But..... on a new build I would totally go for it! ☺
My friends with the LED lamps (the retrofit ones, that is) have had issues with longevity.
My friends with the LED lamps (the retrofit ones, that is) have had issues with longevity.
My buddy has his light on every minute they are home and awake. 2 500w bulbs was costing him a fortune sonit made sense for him to switch. Mine is rarely on like yours. Maybe by the time it blows they will last longer. White is usually one of the colors so you can cycle through all the pretty ones and leave it on boring if you want.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 52,508
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
I have stuck with my incandescent pool and spa lights. LED pool lights seem to be problematic. LEDs themselves are reliable but the driver electronics burn out. Pool LED light manufacturers seem to prefer selling low cost disposable lights that don;t last long then selling higher cost lights with better electronics and heat management that lasts longer. They no doubt make more money selling you new lights every 3-5 years then one light that lasts 10-20 years. That is what you are buying into if you install LED pool lights.
mikes112
Well-known member
I don't like putting the full 120 in the pool, the 12 volt sounds a lot safer to me, plus the lower current draw from the LED's. Maybe I'm in a good spot here then because I took out my incandescent light and will convert the inside to led's so I can reuse the water proof housing the light came in which is pretty durable and I already bought the replacement gasket for it. If according to ajw22 that the new led pool lights burn out quickly then do you have a reccomendation on an led light with better electronics and better heat management that I can put in the existing housing?
- Oct 25, 2015
- 5,152
- Pool Size
- 25000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- CircuPool RJ-60 Plus
My experience has been the same as Allen (ajw22). My original LED's failed in 3 months. They were replaced under warranty by Jandy. Jandy's original lights had a lot of failures then I noticed they bought Savi lights that seemed to have better life and seemed to have switched all their production to the Savi design. Now at 6 years they are having some issues. Not burned out but dimming. A nice feature of this design is that you can replace the electronics without replacing the entire unit. Problem is it's still about $200 for the LED electronics cartridge. And with Jandy no warranty unless you have an authorized service tech.
I had similar problems with LED navigation lights for blue-water sailing. 20 year life LED sounds great for the mast light that's 60+ feet in the air and difficult to replace. But they fail easily with water intrusion so manufacturers sealed them various plastics then had heat build up that caused the electronics to fail prematurely. In the end most people went back to incandescent. Too bad.
Now I have the nicheless 1.5" fittings so I'm stuck with the smaller LED and replacing every 5 years or so. In my opinion, they need a very specific design that optimizes the water sealing plastic with improved thermal conductivity and a circuit design that minimizes heat production or uses more heat resistant components or both. Don't think anybody has accomplished this yet.
Chris
The problem with a lot of the LED lights, isn't the bulb, it's the fact they use a cheap integrated power supply, if you have a good quality power supply with proper cooling, there is no reason that a diode can't shine bright for 20+ years. This is why those 2 for a dollar LED bulbs you buy for home, only last 6 months, the cheap power supplies overheat and die. This is why some of the LED based yard lights, will last a long time, good power supplies with proper cooling. Not sure why pool light manufacturers, don't switch to a low voltage system, where the power supply is beside the control panel, feeding diode level power to the diodes proper.
mikes112
Well-known member
It's because its convenient to put the electronics in with the light and only have to run the water proof chord back to a full 120 box. And some of the current is lost in dc through the wire. This gives me an idea though, my power outlet box is below my diving board just above the light, I could put the power supply there and just have the led's in the light housing itself. The wire is only like 4 feet long not really too much loss in dc current there so the power supply box will be easily accessable and I can fit more led's in the light housing. Wogster your a genius!
Interesting, Just found this thread, I have bought 2 brands and the first barely lasted a year, this " more expensive" one lasted 18 months but at $99 each times 2 I may go back to boring..Just the kids like the color changing feature.
Is the Flood light any different then the ones you can buy at walmart or homedepot?? I am going back to plain white and boring 
Shirker
0
- Jul 2, 2014
- 749
- Pool Size
- 19000
- Surface
- Vinyl
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
I'm sure by now, everyone has seen those silly laser light show things people use as Christmas lights. I thought about getting one of those and just pointing it into the water.
Kjhoffman
I converted to J&J Electronics Color Splash XG Series LED's about 18 months ago. They are powered on about 6-8 hours a night depending on the time of year. Not one problem so far (fingers and toes crossed). These lights have a 3-year warranty and play very nicely with my automation system (100% compatibility).
Hope this helps...
r..
I converted to J&J Electronics Color Splash XG Series LED's about 18 months ago. They are powered on about 6-8 hours a night depending on the time of year. Not one problem so far (fingers and toes crossed
). These lights have a 3-year warranty and play very nicely with my automation system (100% compatibility).Hope this helps...
r..
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