Info I've learned and I want to share about Pentair LED pool lighting

[frank1823]

So I started some threads recently looking for help syncing my Pentair pool lights. I have 3 lights in my 16x35 Barrier Reef fiberglass pool. Its been in service just over a year. Recently, maybe 3 months ago one of my lights started looking yellowish when it should be white. Then a second did as well. I posted a couple of times looking for help in syncing the lights thinking that was the issue. Soms of you offered some great suggestions to try to no avail. Well one Friday night I was indulging in my favorite adult beverage and swimming. I had my GoPro with me as I often do in the pool. During my late night swimming adventures I took some closeups of the pool lights to see if I could learn anything from it. When reviewing the footage the next day I discovered my problem. The yellowish lights had water inside of them. Apparently the seal had been compromised and water was in the bulb. Eventually one light burned out completely and look burned inside. The second showed increasingly more water inside. At this point I knew it was a defective light issue. Looking up the warranty info on the Pentair site I learned I have either the Globrite or Microbrite lights. Important distinction because the Globrites have a 1 year warranty and the Microbrite lights have a 2 year warranty. So I'm thinking I'm either screwed or I'm still covered depending on the lights I have. So I spent quite a few hours diving and inspecting my lights and comparing against photos on the web. At some point I posted on here about my issues and frustrations. Forgive me for not remembering your name, but someone mentioned that if you have more than 3 pieces of Pentair equipment, including the lights professionally installed you get a 3 year bundle warranty. So I called Pentair for help. They were helpful initially and told me I'm covered and just email a copy of my invoice, as well as the model of light, voltage, and length of cable. Well Crud. Thats a problem. My invoice just says Pentair LED lights. The lady suggested I just call my contractor to ask. Well that's a problem too. I'm currently in litigation with my contractor because they screwed up on my fencing causing my pool to not be in compliance with city code so I couldn't get a final permit. I had to spend an additional 7k to get the fence in compliance but that's a story for another day. The point is my attorney said I am to not have any further contact with my contractor except through him. The lady at Pentair suggested I just ask my attorney to ask the contractor to ask on my behalf for the information they need. Well number one, my contractor probably has no idea what the heck they installed because they are that incompetent. Secondly they probably won't want to help considering they have lost the case and are out close to 10k. Anyhow, so my attorney charges 350 dollars per hour so yeah, it will cost me at least 350 dollars for him to ask just for them to say they don't know. So I had to figure out a way to find out what lights I have. So this is how I figured out which I have. The Globrites have a mostly clear lens and the LED diodes inside appear to be somewhat evenly spread out. The Microbrites have a lens that has a lens that has a grid like pattern. Additionally they have LED diodes arranged in a triangular shade. Both light models are 12 volt lights. They I just had to measure the distance from the lights following the path where I know the conduit is buried since I saw them being installed. Get help you have to call and speak to a live person. They will email you a case number but will then ignore your subsequent emails. All the agents I spoke to were somewhat rude but at least they finally sent a repair crew to fix my lights. So I sitting here by my pool at 10pm enjoying the sight of my new LEDs about to jump in. Hope this helps someone. Thanks all.

 

[Texas Splash]

Quite an ordeal. Good to know you finally got them replaced.

 

[gingrbredman]

A Microbrite and a Globrite look much different, and they also have different install methods. The Globirte requires a special niche, whereas the Microbrite uses a standard 1.5 fitting. In the end, which light did you determine you have? Globrites have been reported to have a much shorter life, so just guessing based on the time, and your builder description, he probably used that, but still curious which ones you actually had.

I never had much luck with Pentair service support. What you described seems "normal" for me regarding their support team, others may have better luck. But under warranty, they actually sent out a crew to replace the lights? Not just sent you new ones, but an actual crew? I know for my robot issues they sent an outside contractor to try and repair it so know they have a network of service pros out there, but that's great if they did.

 

[frank1823]

Hey, thanks for the reply! So my lights are actually the Microbrites. Pentair did in fact send out a crew but they weren't actual Pentair techs, just a local Pentair authorized repair company. They initially arrived to repair "one light" even though I described to Pentair the fact that one light was totally out, and second was about to fail. It was quite obvious as it had quite a bit of water visible inside the lens and could no longer produce white light. Closest was yellowish. The third light had quite a bit of water inside but was still showing white. The crew leader Pentair only authorized him to replace the one light that was out. Needless to say I was quite ticked off. I told him, fine, but just make sure once you are done you sync them to where they all show the same color. Well of course he couldn't, lol. So he said he would get authorization for an additional light and came back the next day. I was happy to hear that he brought 2 lights with him the next day and went ahead and replaced the other two. So I have 3 new Microbrite lights and they look great and are perfectly synced as they were when new. I don't like how they installed 2 of them as the trim ring looks different for some reason. There is a lot of the black edge of the light that is showing that was hidden behind the trim ring on the old lights. But whatever, they are working and they look great. I couldn't believe how fast they replaced them. It probably took about 20 minutes per light. I thought they would be draining the pool at least to below light level, and take hours to fish cable through the 100 plus foot conduit line running under my decking. Afterwards I did do a mod to my wiring at the transformer on the suggestion of someone. I switched from the 12 volt supply wiring to the 14 volt as this is supposedly a common upgrade and improved reliability of the lights. Probably material for a different post, although I bet there are threads on this already.

 

[frank1823]

Quite an ordeal. Good to know you finally got them replaced.

Thanks buddy!