Niche vs Nicheless lights

[NCshane]

I am am working on a new pool design. One builder is recommending niche lights (Jandy Watercolor RGBW). He said the small, nicheless lights are a pain if you ever have a failure -- you have to pull an entirely new wire back to the transformer. He said with the large Watercolors, you can just pull them up to the deck and make the repair.

The other builder is recommending nicheless lights (Jandy HydroCool). He says that niche lights are prone to leaking and that was the number one problem they they had with new builds.

Assuming both do a good job of lighting, which one will be the least amount of headache for me moving forward?

 

[ajw22]

Welcome to TFP.

The least amount of headache is getting incandescent lights like the Pentair Amerlite and then installing LED bulbs in them.

Amerlite® Underwater Incandescent Lights

Add lighting to your pool with Amerlite, the world standard of reliability for underwater pool lights. Shop the Amerlite collection from Pentair here.

www.pentair.com

None of the LED pool lights have good reliability. Many fail in a few years and in general are not serviceable so need to be replaced at a cost of hundreds of dollars.

Here are the costs for the parts for the Jandy Watercolors RGBW light. A replacement light engine costs close to $1,000. Understand what you are signing up for if you get the LED pool lights.

Pool builders don't care as it is not their money and they will be long gone when your lights fail.

Jandy Pro Series WaterColors RGBW LED Light - Pool Parts - INYOPools.com

Jandy Pro Series WaterColors RGBW LED Light - Pool - INYOpools.com has the largest selection of swimming pool and spa replacement parts with over 70,000 parts in stock. Order today and save!

www.inyopools.com

 

[dfwnoob]

I could not agree with Allen more here. Even if I built a brand new pool right now, it would still get old school Amerlite fixtures and niches. All of the LED fixtures fail within a year or two. You will be replacing them constantly and they are exhorbitantly expensive. Meanwhile, I had no problem taking 20 minutes and throwing an LED lamp into my original 2006 Amerlite fixture, along with a new gasket.

 

[NCshane]

Thanks. If I went with Amerlite and swapped in LED bulbs, would I be able to change the colors somehow? Maybe from a phone app? Are there any that work with iAquaLink?

 

[ajw22]

Thanks. If I went with Amerlite and swapped in LED bulbs, would I be able to change the colors somehow?

Depends on the bulbs you get.

Maybe from a phone app?

No, since with the lights off the bulb has no power to respond to an app.

Are there any that work with iAquaLink?

No

 

[jmastron]

I agree with others here that old-school niches and fixtures, while perhaps not as sleek looking as the fancy custom lights, ere orders of magnitude more flexible and maintainable. They didn't have much choice when my pool was built in the 1960s, but I would still take that tradeoff if I were building a new pool today. Then you can use either a classic fixture with any bulb in it, or a full fixture that fits in the niche (like a Pentair IntelliBrite). The former is going to be a lot cheaper.

Most of the color changing LED bulbs and fixtures use switch toggles to change colors/shows. If the same brand, the automation system may automatically do the right toggles, but otherwise you just flip the switch quickly to change. I put in a Kasa WiFi switch for the light, so I can turn it on and off and control the colors from the app (response is quick enough to toggle correctly). That may not be exactly what you were thinking of, but it's actually pretty convenient -- in some ways more so than classic pool automation since I can tie it in with the rest of the house/yard "scenes". And every time I use my poor-man's automation (similar WiFi switches for SWCG, robot, fountain pump, and landscape lighting) I think of the $1500+ I saved.

 

[jetranger]

I agree with others here that old-school niches and fixtures, while perhaps not as sleek looking as the fancy custom lights, ere orders of magnitude more flexible and maintainable. They didn't have much choice when my pool was built in the 1960s, but I would still take that tradeoff if I were building a new pool today. Then you can use either a classic fixture with any bulb in it, or a full fixture that fits in the niche (like a Pentair IntelliBrite). The former is going to be a lot cheaper.

Most of the color changing LED bulbs and fixtures use switch toggles to change colors/shows. If the same brand, the automation system may automatically do the right toggles, but otherwise you just flip the switch quickly to change. I put in a Kasa WiFi switch for the light, so I can turn it on and off and control the colors from the app (response is quick enough to toggle correctly). That may not be exactly what you were thinking of, but it's actually pretty convenient -- in some ways more so than classic pool automation since I can tie it in with the rest of the house/yard "scenes". And every time I use my poor-man's automation (similar WiFi switches for SWCG, robot, fountain pump, and landscape lighting) I think of the $1500+ I saved.

Thank you for the info. I'm just finishing up my build and used your advice for my lights.

How are you controlling your 220v with a Kasa? Are you using a relay?

Thanks

 

[jmastron]

Thank you for the info. I'm just finishing up my build and used your advice for my lights.

How are you controlling your 220v with a Kasa? Are you using a relay?

Thanks

I wired my SWCG for 120v. I leave the output knob at 100% and use the on/off time to control how much chlorine it generates, making sure the run time is within the pump's run time (which is controlled by the Intelliflo built-in timer).