Hayward Astrolite Voltage

[jocool1585]

Good afternoon -

Bought a new home in January and have been slowly figuring out the issues with the pool. I have what I believe to be a Hayward Astrolite 580 Niche Light. The marking on the light housing doesn't have the specific model checked. In trying to figure out why the light wasn't working I pulled the housing and checked voltage. I have 120V in the junction box feeding the light and 9.8v in the light socket of the lamp. Do these lights have a transformer to cut the voltage in-line or in the base of the lamp housing? I'm assuming this is a 12v fixture, but I can't figure out the voltage drop. Whomever changed the bulb last time put a standard 120v flood light bulb in it and that wasn't working. Any assistance is much appreciated!

 

[JasonLion]

I don't know anything about that specific light, but they do make lights with a transformer inside the fixture, as well as transformers that fit inside the junction box.

 

[jocool1585]

Has anyone else had experience with these? Hayward wasn't much help and I don't want to buy a 12v bulb if the fixture is either bad or supposed to be 120v.

Thanks!

 

[gtemkin]

I don't have any specific knowledge about these lights but the Hayward literature for incandescent and halogen versions infers by a complete lack of of any specifics that they are probably for external transformer applications. That makes your 9.8V reading at the socket kinda strange if the fixture cord is actually being fed 120V. Is there any chance the 9.8V is a false floating voltage measurement because the neutral isn't connected? Not sure how the optional over temp protection works but if it's tripped and not self-resetting, it may have something to do with it. These are grasps in the air ideas.