hi all, I have tested my pool light with a new bulb and it appears to be dead. No power to the light assembly per my voltmeter. This is a new house\pool for me so I don't really have any history of the pool install. I'm just going to replace the whole unit with wire and pull it through. My question is, if you had to start new again, what bulb or light housing would you go with? I don't mind going LED or just going old school and using a LED bulb. Anyone particularly happy with theirs?
Pool light housing needs to be replaced
- Thread starter dstinson
- Start date
Is this 12 volt or 120 volt?
Do you have a transformer?
Can you show pictures of everything?
Do you have a transformer?
Can you show pictures of everything?
120v, no transformer, really nothing to take a picture of. Just want suggestions of new light replacement. I have not ripped out the old one, was hoping to have the new one here when I rip and replace.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 52,964
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Pool lights come in different sizes to fit into various light niches. We need to know what you have to provide recommendations on what will fit.
ok well in that case I will upload a pic with a tape measure so you can see the size.
Check the label on the light to see what you currently have.
Hayward astrolite. Incandescent. Make absolutely sure you are not running it through a step down xformer. I've seen many folks put wrong voltage light in or have a bad switch or xformer thinking the light fixture was bad. My recommendation would be the Hayward universal color logic or crystal logic (white only). They will fit practically any niche with provided adapter pieces Also the pentair intellibrite and jandy watercolor led lights will fit that niche as well. I pull 200-300 lights a year and they should all fit good enough if that light was already in there. Double check the wiring and the power to your light switch first before doing this. Light housings don't go bad often. Also check that your gfci didn't trip etc. when pulling new light use butyl tape to seal behind the light niche where cord goes through just in case of any leaking in the conduit. Doesn't take much to have that happen. Best of luck
thank you Srq, are you suggesting this is a 12v light? This has never worked since I got the house and I assumed it was 120v.
No. Incandescent is 120v.
He was confirming your prior assessment.
GFCI outlet/breaker is a good thing to verify but based on your other tests I'd assume you would have thought to rule that out already
Should be a sticker on the light saying so. Do you have a transformer on the wall near your equipment? It will be a metal box with conduit coming off and say low voltage transformer. Pentair and intermattic are the most common brands. In Florida a 120v light is illegal so I don't know Arizona codes but most are and have gone to 12v. You have a picture of your equation pad? Step back and take a picture of the entire pad and wall mounted equipment. I can tell if you have a transformer or not. Would look similar to this.
Attachments
Incandescent comes in 120 and 12v. It's just a 12v bulb Still incandescent. Here they just switched to led bulbs only. Can't even get 12v r20 or r30 bulbs anymore.
This depends on area you live. In Florida 120v lights are illegal and have been out of code since the 80s?? I ran into a 120v light for the first time a while back. A home owner bought on eBay not knowing he has a 12v xformer feeding the light and he wonders why it lit up "very very dim". If it were reverse it would have blown up instantly. Lol
I just replaced a Pentair 120v light housing with a 12v Color LED made by Poolexa. I am still evaluating if I like the light which has bluetooth capability but a pretty terrible phone app.
those lights sold on Amazon are pretty terrible. The remotes they come with barely work if at all. They are cheap Chinese lights you can buy on aliexpress for $5 a pop. Some of the other lights that have remote have a metal housing so the remote can't even get through to the driver behind the board. lol
. Best of luck. I've pulled a few of those out after a few months. Your colors will slowly go until nothing. If you have a 12v light now hopefully you put in a 12v step down xformer or maybe it comes with a built in one??? I've seen them with a built in xformer on the back of the cable. I've also seen several folks wire them wrong I think 70% of the work I get is people wiring things wrong ...... colors should correspond to certain line for a reason. Even then always use a meter. That white wire may be hot or even a ground. Lol. See it all the time. It's scary. Hopefully on the light you got a decent one.No remote on this one and again I am still testing but so far so good. I had considered a used intellibrite as $1000 for a brand new LED pool light is just not in the budget and replacing the Light engine on the proprietary Intellibrite is as expensive as a brand new Poolexa. The light comes with a control box with the 12v step-down built in to select color/mode or the option to handoff to a bluetooth app so communication is from controller to phone and does not need underwater penetration. The app kind of sucks but its usable. Wiring was standard 120v GFCI to the power side and black, red,green,blue on the light side so unless your color blind not much to it. But like you said, test 1st with a meter. I have til March to decide and still debate the used Intellibrite option for around the same price as this light.those lights sold on Amazon are pretty terrible. The remotes they come with barely work if at all. They are cheap Chinese lights you can buy on aliexpress for $5 a pop. Some of the other lights that have remote have a metal housing so the remote can't even get through to the driver behind the board. lol
I will say the new intellibrite "architectural" style lights are then most hideous bulbous looking thing I have ever seen. They made the lense look like a giant greyed out soup bowl. Lol. And they are heavy as heck. Not a fan. I like the older style better. Sure there are still some floating around. The company doing the best lights are spa lectrics. They use a quick connect cord system and also an adapter to fit any niche whether the screw is broken or niche is not holding the current light in right. Great design. And the lights are really well built. You can actually use your old light cord cut it and use their adapter kit instead of pulling a new cord through. Jandy also makes a stout led light that would fit a Pentair niche just fine. Jandy seems to have the technology side and quality of lifespan finally pinned down. I pull about 3-8 bad pentair led lights a week. Mostly globrite and intellibrite. Intellibrite boards inside can be swapped out. Most new led lights on market are sealed and when fail you are pulling a new one. Hayward colorlogic UNiversal lights are absolutely horrendous. Never seen a light fail so quickly. They always crack and allow water in. Terrible lights. Best of luck with the new one. Nice they give you the step down built in. Probly not very quality. I've pulled several of those pool exa lights. One was just over a few months old. I hear ya on the $. They are stupid expensive. The old incandescent fixtures with a LED bulb is the way to go. Will last 20-30 years. Cheers.
Poolexa went back. Looking at going back with screw in bulb housing and the J&J Colorsplash lightbulb with a 3-year warranty which can be controlled like an Intellibrite with Pentair easytouch. Inexpensive solution and easily swapped out if the bulb burns out.