Pentair Lighting/Sam halogen vs.Intellibrite??

[gman66]

I have a 14' x 38' older pool with a single incandescant light.
I was wondering if i can retrofit an Intellibrite or Colorlogic into my existing light housing?

Since i have only one light on the 38' sidewall,which is brighter??
What will do a better job of illuminating?
The the new LED;s...or the last model Pentair SAM's ?

 

[Guest]

No LED light is going to be as bright as a halogen. Nature of the beast.
BUT an LED light might be plenty bright for your pool. Depends on the color of the surface and exactly what lighting effect you are looking for.

 

[gman66]

How have the Pentair Sam's with colorwheel holding up?
Pentair claims that they put out about the same light as a 300 watt standard pool light.

Then agai the Pentait tech said the Intellibrite @ 75 watts puts out more light than the Sam.

I found that hard to beleive.

 

[Guest]

I have both the Sam and Sal lights and they are both working great after about 3 years now. The Sam uses a colorwheel and the Sal uses multiple bulbs with color filters that turn on in succesion to obtain the color effects.

 

[ChrisL]

The colorwheel on my SAM light stopped working after about three and one/half years. Although Pentair sellls a motor assembly for the light, my problem was the electronics. I was advised by Pentair that I would have to buy new light. I don't know if my problem is isolated or if others have experienced it also.

 

[repair_guy]

The early SAM's had a lot of wheel issues that were pretty much all under warranty. I've had two in for about
5 years and have never had an issue. I am taking them out soon in favor of the IntelliBrites just because I need to be like everyone else.....

 

[LeeD]

I personally like LED lights. Low power usage, long life, good color selection. SAM lights left a bad taste in my mouth years ago with color wheel motor problems, and they have a limited number of colors and no color shows. LED lights are definitely not as bright as a good halogen/incandescent light, but they are getting brighter and brighter every year.
If you have a light colored bottom, an LED light will probably light it up fine. Darker colors are a different story though.