Light Replacement

[sacredcow]

Good day, all! Bought my current house in 2018 and since then have replaced almost all of my pool's equipment. The next (and final?) thing is the lighting....

Since it has been insanely hot here and LITERALLY hit 111 yesterday in Houston (I thought I might have accidentally driven to Palm Springs, CA but apparently not), I've been opting to swim after the sun goes down, and my light no longer seems to want to turn on. This is not unexpected and since upgrading everything to Hayward with OmniLogic controllers, the existing color-changing bulb (a cheap Amazon one, I think, with a useless remote) has not played very well with the upgraded system.

Never changed out an entire light fixture- Can this be done without calling in a pro? It's a dead simple setup- just the one light, and it's located less than 20' away from where all of the controls and wiring. I've already overcome the sticker shock of the Hayward ColorLogic fixtures by telling myself how nice it will be to not have to repeatedly power-cycle the light to get the color I want. I don't mind putting in some time to do it, but also don't want to electrocute myself.

Thanks in advance.

 

[YippeeSkippy]

All I have to add is that I've seen a lot of How To's on Youtube about it.

 

[sacredcow]

All I have to add is that I've seen a lot of How To's on Youtube about it.

Yeah, I looked at a couple of videos last evening, and the mechanics of it don't look too daunting so long as you can find where the wiring connects up and can run the cord. But I have found that the OmniLogic programming isn't necessarily intuitive.

 

[sacredcow]

All I have to add is that I've seen a lot of How To's on Youtube about it.

Also, not sure if there are some additional steps to take since the newer lights are 12V. I don't want to electrocute myself, and neither do I want to fry an expensive light!

 

[YippeeSkippy]

Ah... you would need a transformer added if your light dropped down to 12v. A pool store/builder that does repairs ought to be able to give you an estimate of the work don't you think? That may help you make the decision of whether you wan to DIY it or let them do it?

 

[sacredcow]

Ah... you would need a transformer added if your light dropped down to 12v. A pool store/builder that does repairs ought to be able to give you an estimate of the work don't you think? That may help you make the decision of whether you wan to DIY it or let them do it?

Yeah, I'm going to the Pinch A Penny who did the previous pump/SWG/OmniLogic additions. There might already be a 12v circuit for it with the other things I added. Was just curious if others had been down a similar road...

 

[AquaCurious]

If it's just pulling a new light, yes you can def do it without a pro. This of course assuming you don't have any sharp 90 bends or other issues etc. As was mentioned before there are a ton of Youtube vids which is what I watched over and over and over again before trying to replace mine lol . Mine was a 20+ year old Pentair Amerilite. Pool / light came the house when we bought it in '19. I had replaced the gasket due to leaking, and then replaced the bulb with color changing (Amazon style but from pool store non UL listed hazard light) bulb and gasket. When we had the liner replaced last year, they of course took it out of the niche but never opened it. Ever since then it would fill with water. One bulb and two gaskets later I realized it was leaking from where the wire entered the fixture. Anyway, I was able to pull a new light that had a 75ft cord and wire it into the transformer. I cut off the old light, and spliced and wrapped with electrical tape to the new light (per a youtube video I saw). I kept the wrap / splice roughly the same diameter as the existing wire to try to prevent it getting jammed or stuck. I used a 2x4 on the transformer end to wrap the old wire around and use as a lever to try to pull it and break it loose. Much to my surprise it finally did. After that it pulled by hand easily. You can see the splice in the last photo where the old water aged grey wire meets the orig new orange wire. Just take your time and it "should" work out fine. I wish you success !

 

[sacredcow]

If it's just pulling a new light, yes you can def do it without a pro. This of course assuming you don't have any sharp 90 bends or other issues etc. As was mentioned before there are a ton of Youtube vids which is what I watched over and over and over again before trying to replace mine lol . Mine was a 20+ year old Pentair Amerilite. Pool / light came the house when we bought it in '19. I had replaced the gasket due to leaking, and then replaced the bulb with color changing (Amazon style but from pool store non UL listed hazard light) bulb and gasket. When we had the liner replaced last year, they of course took it out of the niche but never opened it. Ever since then it would fill with water. One bulb and two gaskets later I realized it was leaking from where the wire entered the fixture. Anyway, I was able to pull a new light that had a 75ft cord and wire it into the transformer. I cut off the old light, and spliced and wrapped with electrical tape to the new light (per a youtube video I saw). I kept the wrap / splice roughly the same diameter as the existing wire to try to prevent it getting jammed or stuck. I used a 2x4 on the transformer end to wrap the old wire around and use as a lever to try to pull it and break it loose. Much to my surprise it finally did. After that it pulled by hand easily. You can see the splice in the last photo where the old water aged grey wire meets the orig new orange wire. Just take your time and it "should" work out fine. I wish you success !

Great info- Thanks!

As mentioned earlier, I'm not entirely sure if there will be some complication from moving from an old setup to a new LED setup in the form of additional equipment required. I'm going to make a trip over to my Pinch a Penny to inquire and may just give them the business, as they've really been helpful- to the point of getting the local Hayward representative to my house to check the installation and demonstrate some of the programming.