Using An Above Ground Nitelighter For In Ground Pool

[NullQwerty]

Hey folks,

So, I'm finally ready to pull the trigger on the Nitelighter pool light (nl55) for my in-ground pool, and I come to find out, it's sold out nation-wide for the rest of the season. The only retailers that seem to have it are charging about $50 more than I could get it normally, so I can't justify it.

So...with that in mind, I was thinking about grabbing an Above Ground Nitelighter and using that instead. I called smart pool and they said it's exactly the same as the in-ground, it just has a different mounting bracket that, instead of lying flat, is meant to go over the side of the pool. It's also half the price for some reason.

I've never seen one in person though. For those of you that have it, could you see being able to modify the bracket to get it to lie flat and work for an in-ground? Or is this some seriously solid metal?

Thanks

 

[woodyp]

If you cut off the back of the "plastic" bracket that would normally hang over the outside of an AGP....that will leave you with an inch and a half of flat plastic to work with which is about 2 inches wide.

 

[NullQwerty]

Hmmm...Seems like I should be able to epoxy that remaining 1.5 inches to something bigger that would lie flat. You see any reason it wouldn't work? Is it really heavy or counter-weighted or anything?

 

[woodyp]

Drill and screw it to anything you like for a counterweight to the light (which isn't very heavy). Just remember you will lose the "drop" to below the water line if it's over an inch is my guess.
Mine is the model NL50 btw.

 

[NullQwerty]

Cool! Thanks! Think I'll give it a shot.

 

[woodyp]

Just dawned on me that you could screw from underneath the bracket as well with the weight on top.

 

[NullQwerty]

That's a good idea.

Now I gotta decide which one. Funny thing is the In-Ground only comes in 50 watt where as above ground come 35, 50, or 100. Guess I'll just go 50. Just odd that there would be a 100 option in a pool that should be shallower and smaller in most cases.

 

[NullQwerty]

Darn...I'm just noticing something with these Nitelighters. It seems that the timer will shut itself off automatically, but it won't turn itself on. Is that right? If so, can I bypass their timer and use my own and have it turn on every night and shut off every night? I was really hoping that every night I could look out my back window and see the pool lit up (without me walking back there to turn it on). Can I pull that off?

Thanks

 

[Bama Rambler]

They shut themselves off after 3 hours. I haven't tried it but I think if you interupt power it will reset the internal timer.

 

[NullQwerty]

Oh cool! So, what you're saying, I think...correct me if I'm wrong...is that I attach the unit to my own timer and turn it on. Then, so long as I have my own timer shut off before 3 hours (like after 2 and 1/2 hours), then the next time my timer turns it back on, the light should come on as well and be good for another 2 and 1/2 hours when my own timer turns it off again?

That was wordy, sorry. Hope it made sense.

 

[Bama Rambler]

It made perfect sense, and yes, that's what I was saying. I haven't tried but I think that even if it's internal timer shuts it off when you remove and reapply power it will come back on for three hours. I'll try it this weekend if I can remember to.