120v to 12v lighting help

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sgterik

Active member
Mar 31, 2020
33
Arizona
My pool lights went out and I am finally fixing them. I had Pentair Amerlite 120v and just purchased the Hayward Universal Colorlogic 12v lights. I know there are Hayward haters out here but I have a Tristar 950 with the Omni Hub and it works for me and I wanted the color and show control I get with the Omni when using the Hayward lights. So here is the question. I have an open smart relay from the Omni, then it needs to go to the 120v -12v converter. From there I run it to the Junction box all my 3 light cables meet at. Can I use the current 4 gang Thermocraft junction box? It says "suitable for line or low voltage fixtures" in the top cap.

Also, why is 12v safer than 120v? I read that i do not have to have a GFCI with 12v, but should I? ANd will the GFCI still trip if it is GFCI breaker-OMNI SMART RELAY- TRANSORMER- LIGHTS?

Thanks for the help.
 
I did this same conversion a few years ago. I installed an Intermatic px300 and a multicolor led pool light from inyopools. The voltage converter is failsafe, but i don't trust it, so i have dedicated gfci breaker in my breaker box for my light.

I replaced the light because the original 120v "never worked" according to the previous home owner. The GFCI breaker at the breaker box kept tripping. So, to experiment, i disconnected the ground wire on the lights circuit. Behold...the light stayed on, the GFCI did not trip. So i took multimeter...put one probe in the water, and the other probe on a ground wire. 120volts! The water was electrified!!! And anyone who jumped in would have been electrocuted. The GFCI saved lives.

Long story short, i replaced the light with all the wiring, and found that the original wire was stripped in one spot. So, i will never not use a gfci breaker for anything pool related, and will never cut corners when it comes to grounding.

If you don't understand electricity or don't know what you're doing, it's ok to admit that and hire a good professional.
 
bmj0928 said:
I did this same conversion a few years ago. I installed an Intermatic px300 and a multicolor led pool light from inyopools. The voltage converter is failsafe, but i don't trust it, so i have dedicated gfci breaker in my breaker box for my light.

I replaced the light because the original 120v "never worked" according to the previous home owner. The GFCI breaker at the breaker box kept tripping. So, to experiment, i disconnected the ground wire on the lights circuit. Behold...the light stayed on, the GFCI did not trip. So i took multimeter...put one probe in the water, and the other probe on a ground wire. 120volts! The water was electrified!!! And anyone who jumped in would have been electrocuted. The GFCI saved lives.

Long story short, i replaced the light with all the wiring, and found that the original wire was stripped in one spot. So, i will never not use a gfci breaker for anything pool related, and will never cut corners when it comes to grounding.

If you don't understand electricity or don't know what you're doing, it's ok to admit that and hire a good professional.
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Thanks for the input. I am going to use the same converter as you did. I am also going to make sure the Pool panel has a GFCI breaker powering before the relay. Do you have an answer about the junction box?
 
sgterik said:
Thanks for the input. I am going to use the same converter as you did. I am also going to make sure the Pool panel has a GFCI breaker powering before the relay. Do you have an answer about the junction box?
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I'm not certain, but i think it should be ok. 300 watts is the max for this converter so make sure the total watts of all the lights feeding from the junction is under 300 watts.
 
Well, I should have heeded everyones negative reviews on the Hayward Universal Color Logic LED's. Was I so wrong to want something that matched the Omni Hub, cause I have had that for over a year and it rocks. So installed the lights, to the Junction box (3 lights) then put in a GFCI breaker to the Hayward Relay, then to the Intermatic px300 to 14V. I had it all working last night however about every 30 seconds or so it seemed the relay was shutting off then right back on. I saw the light on the relay go out and the transformer hummed then the lights went right back on to the color it was on. It was a pattern of 30 seconds on , 1 second off then right back on. I emailed Hayward about it and they told me to flip the breaker for 60 seconds then turn back on. Done.... now the lights dont come on at all. but the 30 second cycle remains. I am gettitng the proper voltage to the junction. Looking for help, or do I just cut my losses? It is almost $3K wasted.
 
So you all may have seen my thread earlier this week. Was having issues with my Hayward Universal Color Logic Lights. I was able to get them working as the first issue was due to a bad connection. But I still had an issue when they were on, they would blink off about every 30 seconds for just about a second. then back on. The Hayward tech person said it was either the Relay or the Omni hub, but I do not have an issue with anything else so I figured it was the relay. So here is where I fucked up. I decided to switch out the relay with the the one that runs my spa blower just to see if same issue, well, in my confusion I unhooked on the downward end of the 12v transformer and used 120 on the lights and it almost immediately blew the breaker. Now, when I tried to hook 12v back up without the lights connected I get 14v at junction, once lights are plugged in it goes to 5.5V. Did I basically just burn $2300? Does anyone know if these Color Logic lights may have a safety in them or am i screwed and should just make a claim on Amex purchase protection?
 
Somehow I doubt there is a safety in the light itself.
Might want to call Hayward or whomever you purchased then from.
 

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Talk to them first, but I suspect they are toast.

Rethinking this -- the lights had to be powered through a transformer. How would you get 120V to the lights themselves?
 
mknauss said:
Talk to them first, but I suspect they are toast.

Rethinking this -- the lights had to be powered through a transformer. How would you get 120V to the lights themselves?
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I mentioned above, I had to test the relay the were hooked up to and in my brain fart I hooked them up to my other relay on the downside of the transformer, instead of before the transformer.
 
The lights don't have any user-replaceable fuse in there, but most devices have some sort of over-current protection. Unfortunately, many of these types of devices are meant to be used only once and are there to prevent catastrophic failure of the device. I don't know for sure whether those hayward lights have that, but it's possible.

With that said, if your lights don't work any more they are likely unrecoverable. If you have a protection plan, now is the time to use it.
 
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