LED lights with grey plaster

[newpoolguy]

First off: I'm new here - I've been lurking for months while our pool (first one, ever, for me...) has been being built. The comments and advice on this forum are awesome....
The pool now has water in it and we can't wait for the weather to warm up for our first swim! We're using the spa for now, so I can't really complain.
Anyway, our PB had given us a brochure for LED programmable/color changing lights (two in the pool/one in the spa) but then told us that since we ultimately decided on a a medium grey plaster ("medium Tahoe blue", in pool plaster terms), their experience has been that the LEDs don't give out enough light at night in grey plastered pools and customers complain...standard lights were installed in both the pool and spa.
So while we have a blue color cover over the standard pool lights in the main pool (2 500 watt lights), we don't have the changing LED lighting that we'd kind of hoped for.
My question: is he accurate in his observations?
Quite frankly, he's been honest with us to date, and his decisions during the entire build have been sound and well-grounded. I guess I just want to "double check" on this one...as he did say if we really wanted LED, he'd change out the standard lights...but he was certain we wouldn't be happy since they don't throw the light as far in a grey plastered pool...

Our pool's free formed...about 22 x 40 and 8 feet deep....

 

[JasonLion]

Welcome to TFP!

Your PB is essentially right. LED lights are not as bright as regular lights and the darker the pool finish the more light you need to get the effect you want. That said, the "effect you want" varies from person to person. Some people are happy with fairly dim lighting and other people want very bright lighting. So it is possible, but not likely, that you would be happy with the LED lights despite the dark plaster.

 

[budster]

I second Jason's remarks. Some of the newer LED's are brighter than others. The Intellibright, the Colorlogic, are moderately bright, but the Fiberstars LED's put out more light. Regardless, none are as bright as the incandescent. When your pockets are heavy, you can purchase an LED replacement bulb from a couple of sources, and just try it out.

 

[Jennifer_in_Clyde]

I have the Hayward LEDs (the Pentair Colorlogics came out only a couple months after we finished our pool) - and Prism Blue pebblesheen - which is a medium grey material with multi-colored pebbles - honestly we get a LOT of color and light in our pool - it's not dim at all, and casts colored light up and out that can be seen over our fence...I'm glad we put in the colored LEDs instead of standard white lights.

 

[spishex]

I have the Hayward LEDs (the Pentair Colorlogics came out only a couple months after we finished our pool) - and Prism Blue pebblesheen - which is a medium grey material with multi-colored pebbles - honestly we get a LOT of color and light in our pool - it's not dim at all, and casts colored light up and out that can be seen over our fence...I'm glad we put in the colored LEDs instead of standard white lights.

Looks like your pool is substantially smaller than newpoolguy's. Mind giving us the dimensions as a reference? And is your light centered or at one end?

 

[Jennifer_in_Clyde]

My pool is about 22-25 feet on each long side of the L and I have two lights - shining the long way down an L - the other shining the shorter way across the other side (the pool is about 10 feet wide at that point).

The lights are actually pretty bright to both have on when it is just the two of us so we just turn on the one nearer the entrance steps and that illuminates the whole pool fairly well. If this description doesn't make sense - let me know and I'll see if I can take photos.

 

[spishex]

I get it, but let's see the pics anyway!

 

[mccj]

Can you post a picture of your light setup? I have a similar shape being built with 2 lights and trying to figure out a good light placement. Thanks