LED Lighting--Number and Placement Help Please

[Dirk]

can get a little out of control

I know not of what you speak...

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[PoolPaul]

@Robtown right now we're looking at LED or fiber optic lighting under the coping. There's a company called PAL that makes the LED stuff and others make fiber, but it's all pretty costly. Seems like LED is the newer and better tech. Unfortunately I haven't seen a Jandy strip lighting product that will sync with the lighting. That would be my preferred option.

The rill fountain will have 3 floors at close range.

@Dirk pretty sure every lighting wire is going to a J box, then a box with the transformer, and then the Jandy controller. I was told I need a separate box for each relay/transformer, but trying to verify that. We are installing some 120v boxes around the yard.

 

[RaleighDawg]

Just had our lights plugged in last week. One thing i now wish i had done was have them install one plain light in the center of the pool to have come on at night as a safety light. my pool seem to get pretty dark at night and would be nice as a safety feature to always have one light on at night. i don’t really want to run the light show all night long.

I don’t think you can have too many lights. but i’d group no more than four or so together so that you can tone it down when desired.

 

[Dirk]

I always thought a pool lit with an LED string all the way around the pool, under the coping shining down, would be amazing. If that's what you're planning, I hope you can pull it off.

 

[PoolPaul]

@RaleighDawg good idea actually. I'm going to think about that harder. Maybe put an extra light under the lights with colors at one end.

Anyone ever seen one light positions atop another like that? I guess I can just set one of the lights to come on as white at night.

@Dirk it's just going around the rill, not thee entire pool, though that would be pretty cool.

 

[cowboycasey]

You mean like this I installed these 5 years ago and they are still working... I used a motor home 12V 100 amp power supply to power my LED's, stereo and speaker system along with a sub....

I have 2 of these, 1 on the pool and 1 running the LED's on the house... They are beasts and work great for 12v LED's...

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It is running the under eve LED's you see here

 

[Dirk]

Wow, just lovin' all of this: the conversations, the possibilities, the results!! All good!

 

[Robtown]

@cowboycasey your lighting looks fantastic. It reminded me of this crazy pool I remember coming across when I was searching for inspiration for my lighting...

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@PoolPaul I haven’t heard much about PAL lighting but I do recall watching this build thread which has some pretty crazy features and lighting plans. I wonder where they are in their build now?

New Pool Build - Marin, CA - Finished

42x15, double infiniti edge on steep hill - Marin, CA :wave: Hello everyone! We're excited to kick off a new pool build! This forum has been incredible. So many kind and generous people contributing their feedback and learnings. Thank you in advance for your insights!! As background, we...

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There doesn’t seem to be too much information about PAL lights on their website. But I don’t think you’ll want to go with multiple different brands of lights as they won’t match and you won’t be able to control them together unless running external automation in some fashion but could lead to more head aches. I think you’d be better off sticking with one brand and while the led strip lights would be cool in the rill, so would a small under water lights.

 

[Robtown]

On another note, our electrical rough in was completed Tuesday and the IntelliCenter and 4 transformers were delivered today.

All 8 of the pool Microbrites homerun to the equipment pad in one large junction box. The other 2 runs for the landscape lights terminate next to the junction box and will have their own smaller box.

I went ahead and ordered one Pentair Landscape light and will play around with it to see if it will work well to light up the back columns/back wall in our pool design. If so, then I get the other 3. If not, I have another idea for how to use just one.

 

[Dirk]

On another note, our electrical rough in was completed Tuesday and the IntelliCenter and 4 transformers were delivered today.

All 8 of the pool Microbrites homerun to the equipment pad in one large junction box. The other 2 runs for the landscape lights terminate next to the junction box and will have their own smaller box.

Ah, look at all the glorious conduit! Love it!!

I really do believe you're going about this the exact right way.

But now I have a craving for spaghetti tonight...

 

[PoolPaul]

@Dirk I like the spaghetti comment

@Robtown I want to avoid having multiple lights manufacturers but I don't have a choice. Jandy doesn't make an LED or fiber strip as far as I know and I have Jandy laminars and bubblers as well as pool lights. Can't use a pool light in the rill because there are 4 stone pads that would block the light (one will hold a fountain and the other 3 are stepping stones for crossing over the rill. Even 2 or 3 lights there wouldn't work. (Drawing of the rill is in the original post.) Electrician was going to see if he could find something that would sync up to the Jandy colors and timing.

 

[Dirk]

I think having one set of lights a slightly different hue, or even a completely different color, or one that doesn't change colors with the others will not impact the total effect in the least. It doesn't all have to be coordinated, and frankly I think it will be more visually interesting if it isn't. I think not having them all sync'd perfectly is a non-issue...

 

[Robtown]

You would probably need to have 4 lights to make it work. Here’s the page from the Jandy light guide posted earlier...

https://www.jandy.com/-/media/zodiac/global/downloads/sl/sl4572.pdf

If I were to go this route, I’d probably put one at each gap between the stones, alternating right and left side. But this does seem like a bit excessive just to light the stones steps, plus while it would integrate with the pool lights, it wouldn’t with the fountain.

Perhaps it would be best for the rill and the fountain to match and let the pool be separate then it would to have the pool and rill match but the fountain be unique. It’s a tough choice either way.

Good luck with your decision. I think the pool will look fantastic regardless of how it’s lit up. It’s pretty crazy how we can get wrapped up in some of the small details of such a large project.

 

[Robtown]

I think having one set of lights a slightly different hue, or even a completely different color, or one that doesn't change colors with the others will not impact the total effect in the least. It doesn't all have to be coordinated, and frankly I think it will be more visually interesting if it isn't. I think not having them all sync'd perfectly is a non-issue...

I hadn’t seen Dirks reply but looks like you have another vote to separate.

 

[PoolPaul]

@Robtown thank you very much for going through the trouble to look that up and post the Jandy material! I tend to agree that it would be overkill, too many lights and still it probably wouldn't look as good as an LED or fiber strip around the perimeter.