Pool Lighting Layout
- Thread starter PaulMummolo
- Start date
- Jan 7, 2012
- 1,442
- Pool Size
- 21000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
11 seems like a lot, but I would rather have too many than too few. The lights should all be pointed away from the house/main seating area. Jandy has a good light guide:
- Jul 21, 2013
- 52,752
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Depends on the lumens of the specifc lights being used.
Pentair guideline is to aim for 4 lumens per square foot of pool surface. For example, if the pool is 500 sq-ft then you need 500x4=2000 lumens. This would be 4 MicroBrites or 2 IntelliBrite rgb.
Inyo Pools also has a good blog on How Many Lights Do I Need For My Pool? with a table summarizing the coverage of the different Pentair lights.
Jandy has an excellent LED Lighting Design Guide.
Jandy advises when designing a pool with nicheless lights, the general rule is to divide the length of the pool by 8 feet and round to the nearest whole number.
How many zones will the lights be on? How will the lights be grouped so you can have lower mood lighting when you don't want to light up the UFO landing pad?
Pentair guideline is to aim for 4 lumens per square foot of pool surface. For example, if the pool is 500 sq-ft then you need 500x4=2000 lumens. This would be 4 MicroBrites or 2 IntelliBrite rgb.
Inyo Pools also has a good blog on How Many Lights Do I Need For My Pool? with a table summarizing the coverage of the different Pentair lights.
Jandy has an excellent LED Lighting Design Guide.
Jandy advises when designing a pool with nicheless lights, the general rule is to divide the length of the pool by 8 feet and round to the nearest whole number.
How many zones will the lights be on? How will the lights be grouped so you can have lower mood lighting when you don't want to light up the UFO landing pad?
- Nov 12, 2017
- 11,872
- Pool Size
- 12300
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
If I had had a say in my pool lighting I would have insisted on two things:
1. The light(s) point away from my house and/or where I would most often sit to enjoy my pool at night, and
2. Each light be wired independently back to the equipment pad.
Light(s) shining in my eyes while on my patio or in my house sucks.
And whether I wanted all my lights on one switch, or two or more, or later change the setup to better fit my needs after living with the pool lights for a while, having a wire from each light going back to the pad would make future alterations relatively simple.
Don't let them cheap-out and wire all your lights together as one. Copper wire isn't cheap, but rewiring later, if even possible, would be much more expensive.
Allen mentioned mood lighting. I would really want this for myself. I have almost every light in my house on a dimmer. And since there really isn't a great way (or any way?) to dim a pool light, the next best thing is to be able to control banks of lights to achieve the same effect. You want to light up a pool bright as day when you've got a bunch of kids swimming at night, but when enjoying your pool at night from the comfort of a lounge chair on the deck, just some low ambient light from the water is a great effect.
Certainly being able to control spa and pool lights separately would be great, too.
- Nov 12, 2017
- 11,872
- Pool Size
- 12300
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Sidebar: who talked you into an in-floor cleaning system? Just from what I've read here, I would never consider one. Be sure you understand the pros and cons of an in-floor system before you buy. It's a big deal.
Your cleaning automation, and available options, is going to be significantly compromised by those stools. I'm suggesting you think that through. Those stools and the in-floor are forever, you can't change your mind later. You can abandon the in-floor later, if you decide not to use it, but that won't completely eliminate all its negatives.
The problem is, robot cleaners and suction-side cleaners, with their cords or hoses, will get tangled up in the stools. One way around that is to elevate the stools on a step. A step that the cleaners won't climb. That might make your stools more comfortable, too, depending on their height (I don't like tall chairs for that reason, I want my feet on the floor).
You already have areas that some cleaners won't get to (like the bench and the shelf). So you might have had to do some manual brushing anyway. That might be why the in-floor system was chosen, but again, be sure you understand what those can and cannot do.
Pool maintenance chores can be significant, so planning ahead and eliminating as many chores as possible is something to consider now. Benches, steps, shelfs and stools all impact maintenance chores. As does an in-floor system, especially one that doesn't work well enough to clean the entire pool properly.
Will the novelties of a shelf and stools outweigh the chores they'll create? And they may, for you, as they would for others. I'm projecting, in that I know they wouldn't for me. Just playing devil's advocate for you...
Your cleaning automation, and available options, is going to be significantly compromised by those stools. I'm suggesting you think that through. Those stools and the in-floor are forever, you can't change your mind later. You can abandon the in-floor later, if you decide not to use it, but that won't completely eliminate all its negatives.
The problem is, robot cleaners and suction-side cleaners, with their cords or hoses, will get tangled up in the stools. One way around that is to elevate the stools on a step. A step that the cleaners won't climb. That might make your stools more comfortable, too, depending on their height (I don't like tall chairs for that reason, I want my feet on the floor).
You already have areas that some cleaners won't get to (like the bench and the shelf). So you might have had to do some manual brushing anyway. That might be why the in-floor system was chosen, but again, be sure you understand what those can and cannot do.
Pool maintenance chores can be significant, so planning ahead and eliminating as many chores as possible is something to consider now. Benches, steps, shelfs and stools all impact maintenance chores. As does an in-floor system, especially one that doesn't work well enough to clean the entire pool properly.
Will the novelties of a shelf and stools outweigh the chores they'll create? And they may, for you, as they would for others. I'm projecting, in that I know they wouldn't for me. Just playing devil's advocate for you...
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The lights I am using will be Jandy 12w. I plan on having several zones for the lights. The Jandy iAquaLink allows for 4. So Pool, Spa, Bubbler and wet deck. Following Jandy’s guidelines I can fit 5 lights along the house side of the pool. The ends being 3’ off the walls and the remaining 3 - 7’ apart. This should cover the pool. The wet deck I am not sure where to place the lights. If I do one on each side, it the lights will be visible from the house. If I do 1 on the house side of the pool, I feel the chairs will interfere. Also the Hot Tub should be good with one light? Are two really necessary?
As far as the in floor system and wet deck / stools, I am in Las Vegas and I am planning to do desert landscape with minimal debris. It will be mostly dirt that will be in the pool. The in floor should allow that to be suspended and filtered out. The bar stools also have a step up to only 2.5’ deep.
As far as the in floor system and wet deck / stools, I am in Las Vegas and I am planning to do desert landscape with minimal debris. It will be mostly dirt that will be in the pool. The in floor should allow that to be suspended and filtered out. The bar stools also have a step up to only 2.5’ deep.
- Jul 21, 2013
- 52,752
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
One light in the hot tub should be fine.
Wet deck just needs one light.
Are you planning to read newspapers underwater?
Wet deck just needs one light.
Are you planning to read newspapers underwater?
- Jul 21, 2013
- 52,752
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Bubbler light pointed up will not throw the light horizontally across the wet deck. You need one light that is horizontal.
Yes you are going to have shadowing of the seats but no real way to get around it without installing a light in between each of the seats.
Consider moving the second light from the left a foot or so to the right so it will be able to capture the wall that the bench dead ends in to.
Center the first light on the left to the wall it’s mounted on.
Consider moving the second light from the left a foot or so to the right so it will be able to capture the wall that the bench dead ends in to.
Center the first light on the left to the wall it’s mounted on.
Do you think I would be better off going with the layout provided by the designer?
Actually I would use your last layout, the pool is chopped up with many straight lines and this makes it difficult to get even coverage.
It appears that the longest distance Afro a light in the pool is 11’3”, well within the capabilities of the lights.
It appears that the longest distance Afro a light in the pool is 11’3”, well within the capabilities of the lights.
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To each their own, but I'll disagree here. Our spa is 10' x 6', with one light on one of the 6' side, and I wish we had a matching one opposite it. It's all to common to block the light fully, or have weird shadows cast across. If I did it again, I would add the second.
- Dec 13, 2020
- 751
- Pool Size
- 19600
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Jandy Aquapure 1400
There have been a couple of recent threads about reliability problems with Jandy nicheless LED lights. As in broken after about a year. Only recourse is replacement at about $500 a pop. Ouch. Sorry I can't offer a better alternative.
Here's one. And another.
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- Jul 21, 2013
- 52,752
- Pool Size
- 35000
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-60
Another idea.
Center the left two lights on their sections then divide up the remaining wall with two lights. See the yellow arrows...
Center the left two lights on their sections then divide up the remaining wall with two lights. See the yellow arrows...
I've had 6 of the 7 on my pool replaced in the 2 years my pool has been around.
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