Pool light replaced, keeps turning off and on every 5 minutes

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BilldaCat

Active member
Jun 20, 2019
37
Rehoboth Beach, DE
Not a fan of messing with things I don't know when it involves electricity (and water..), so had my pool guy replace our burnt out pool light. Changed the bulb, and as the subject says, it stays on for about 5 minutes, then turns off (presumably to cool down) for about 5 minutes, then repeats this cycle.

Light is a Pentair Sunlite LTC 05605 -- 120v, 250w.

Instead of calling out an electrician to find out where the problem is, I was hoping I could just replace this with a cooler LED bulb to maybe get around the issue -- but it doesn't seem like anything is compatible with this.

What's my best option here? Should I be looking to replace the entire light with something more modern/LED? Would I want to call out an electrician to convert it from 120v -> 12v?

Thanks!
 
Hmm.... I doubt it is turning off for heat. Have you checked for a faulty GFI outlet? Lights should be on a GFI and they do fail. Is it 5 minutes by the clock?
 
It's pretty close to 5 minutes -- haven't done any exact timing though. The pool guy said when he installed the bulb, that it did seem to get hot pretty quickly, but maybe that's expected.

I don't have a switch for them, only the breaker switch on the panel in the pool shed, that also controls the outdoor convenience outlet by the pool (which is GFCI).
 
BilldaCat said:
It's pretty close to 5 minutes -- haven't done any exact timing though. The pool guy said when he installed the bulb, that it did seem to get hot pretty quickly, but maybe that's expected.

I don't have a switch for them, only the breaker switch on the panel in the pool shed, that also controls the outdoor convenience outlet by the pool (which is GFCI).
Click to expand...

Yep that light is probably controlled by that GFI outlet. Replace the outlet with a new one. It should be a 10 minute fix. The circuitry in those outlets goes bad especially when outdoors. Confirm first that the light is downstream of the GFI. Turn the pool light on, then trip the GFI (test button). If the pool light goes out, it is downstream from the GFI and replacing the GFI may fix the issue.
 
I believe so. The old bulb was broken, so I'm unsure of what it was.

Light is probably 15-20 years old, maybe more. I've only been the owner of this house for 1.5 years.

The thermal cutoff bit is what I had maybe thought by googling around, but it looks like my options for bulbs are limited. Would love to go LED but I think I'd have to replace the entire fixture.
 
So, what exactly have I eliminated? If I hit the test button when the light is on, it does go off - which is good. But when the light blinks out, it's not tripping the GFCI.

I assume that narrows the problem down to the bulb, or the fixture itself? I guess it's possible I got a bad bulb?
 
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I replaced my pentair LEDs with luminaires from Florida Sunseeker. They make aftermarket LEDs that are plug and play to the pentair lights. They are brighter, good color options.

Not sure if your old lights could be retrofitted to accept LED, but I really like these lights.
 
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