Jandy Lights DIY

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farfarfromhome

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Jan 14, 2017
4
cape coral, fl
Moved from HERE

I just came across this very interesting thread and want to share my experience. I purchased 8 of the Jandy Pro lights for my pool as owner builder approximately 2 1/2 years ago (3 x 30W, 1 x 20W, and 4 x 9W). The cost was over $2600. Within one year 5 had failed, that number is now 7. Before the first year was up I contacted Jandy and they refused to cover under the warranty since, as owner builder, I did not use a pool company to install them. I am finally tired of only having white and green as the two colors that I can choose for a consistent color in the pool. I lowered the pool water level and removed the cartridge from the 20W light and set about to analyze on the bench. I am a retired electronics engineer by profession so this is not rocket science for me. There was no water intrusion so the assembly was in good condition. The LED PCB board contains two white, one red, one green and one blue LED. The PCB board has space for additional white, red, green and blue LEDs which I assume are used for the 30W units. Indeed on the bench the blue LED was not working. Swapping the blue and red LED wires confirmed the blue driver IC on the circuit board was OK and indeed the blue LED had failed. With a microscope I was able to read the LED driver IC part number (AL8806) and a current setting resistor value of 0.18 ohms. From the AL8806 spec sheet it is then easy to calculate the actual LED current setting and hence wattage of the assembly since white, red, green, and blue LEDS have specific turn on voltages at a given current. Power is then calculated as the product of Voltage x Current. Low and behold, the actual maximum wattage by design (if all LEDS are turned on) of the Jandy PRO 20W is 8.5W. I doubt it is even that since I don’t believe there is a color choice that turns all LEDs on at the same time. I am not aware of any RMS versus music power that applies to a DC device that warrants the claim of a 20W device that is actually designed as 8.5W. If anyone out there can enlighten me that would be great? Since this is already long, I will post what I am doing to fix and improve my lights in another post so stay tuned.
 
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Welcome to TFP @farfarfromhome :)

You are going to fit in around here... We love some DIY and that is one of the reason we steer people away from Jandy for their equipment... I love the Neverlube valves and recommend them to everyone.. :)
 
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How to fix my lights without wasting another two to three grand? Before deciding what to do I listed my requirements:
1) Improved Reliability.
2) Current brightness is OK despite the wattage not being to Jandy spec.
3) Infinite control of colors and patterns (as desired by davethomaspilot) via home assistant.
4) Ease (and low cost) of future maintenance.
5) Use current AC transformer (although DC power supplies are cheap).

I analysed the Jandy Pro design. This is what I like and dislike.
Pros
1) The canister design allows easy unscrew and removal of electronics after dropping pool water level.
2) Ability to replace seal in case of water intrusion.
3) Large aluminum slug for heat removal from LEDs.
Cons
1) Use of FR4 LED PCB instead of aluminum PCB. An aluminum PCB will provide better heat conduction between LED pads and aluminum slug.
2. No temperature sensor in aluminum slug. A temperature sensor would allow throttling the LED power in case of overheat (if that is really a problem).
3. Archaic power sequencing control . Bidirectional communication would allow for infinite light control and monitoring of temperature.
4. Failure of the blue LEDs. This is hard to determine since I don’t know their part number or specification. Are they correctly specified with good margin, did the manufacturer use a defective batch, do they have good heat conduction to the Al slug, etc?

Options:
1) Replace blue LEDs. Maybe difficult since special equipment is needed to unsolder and solder the new parts, damage to remainder of PCB may occur.
2) Replace the whole LED PCB with AL PCB and well specified LEDs. Contract PCB manufacturing houses will make the AL PCBs and assemble with LEDs. I estimate I can get this done for approximately $100 for ten boards. Putting the new boards in requires re-soldering eight wires and does require some soldering skill. This would work for sure and is needed irrespective of my other requirements. If anyone is experiencing the same problem with dead LEDs on the Jandy Pros then you are more than welcome to contact me and add to my order once I prove a prototype. But maybe everyone has given up on them and already moved on! How about the Pool companies tired of dealing with angry customers?
3) Redesign the control board to add a temperature sensor and provide bidirectional communication on the 12V AC power lines. This option also needs an additional board in the vicinity of the AC transformer. I am going ahead with this, the H/W designs are done, and I am ready to make the prototypes. I will need to test and write software for both ends. The control board at the AC transformer will talk MQTT protocol so that I can interface the pool lights into my Home Assistant based automation system. If anyone has interest in this please contact me. I should probably open a Github open source project on this if there is interest.
 
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Another Handy (but Jandy) victim here. pulled fixture no water drops but condensation. Left in sun (upside down during rains and it dried out came back to life! in Green only (with dim blue red). Has anyone found a PCB 12v AC aftermarket option for these Light engine panels? Sun seeker has $300 Intellibrite Pentair aftermarket looks like it would fit inside housing (with a new silicon seal) But holes and grounding are different. Meter gives me 12v at underwater wires heard some of these PCBs have the 120v to 12v transformer in the board? Surprised there is nothing on Alibaba / eBay for all the Jandy victims!
 
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Update for anyone it may help - the intellibrite LED engine (aftermarket) from sunseeker will fit the Jandy large Aquacolors housing based on diameter and thickness templates and measurement. They sell Jandy aftermarket gasket as well and it’s a perfect fit (added a thin layer of magic lube PTFE) For now my old engine is working although less intense but will attempt a transplant when it dies. For me avoiding a 100’ wire pull is a big benefit. most difficult part is working underwater to remount housing into niche in my deep end without a diving lead belt
 
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