Pool lights going bad

[MichaelGreen]

In reference to this thread: Pool light will not light, suspected transformer issues

I have experienced similar issues and am curious if others have had similar experiences and/or resolved. I've had 3 Colorlogic pool lights go out in less than 5 years. One after 1.5 years... replaced it and it went out again in under 2 years. The other pool light was out in about 4 years. Since then I have added landscape lights to the PX300 transformer (via the Hayward PS8 panel) with no trouble. Also have never had an issue with the colorlogic light in the spa. I'm starting to wonder if the Colorlogic light are just horribly unreliable, which of course my PB denies.

 

[ajw22]

Just about all LED pool lights have been horribly unreliable so far. There are some recent model lights that the jury is still out on. It will take many years to declare some LED pool light reliable and likely by then the manufacturer will have replaced it with a newer model of unknown quality. Such is the pool equipment business.

Some other manufacturers claim to have more reliable pool LED lights but only time will tell. See Florida Sunseekers, Halco, or CMP.

 

[Dirk]

It's not the LEDs themselves. It's the electronic drivers that run the LEDs, which are inside the light fixture. The problem stems from packing electronic components (cheap or otherwise) into an enclosed space underwater. They cook themselves. LED drivers are the weak link in all LED lights, even those above ground with plenty of circulation.

I don't know if this is possible, but what they should do is put only the LEDs in a pool light fixture, and then run whatever cable is necessary to a circuit board mounted outside of the fixture. I'm thinking it could be a seven-conductor cable. The board (the driver) could be back at the pad, if the cable can be that long, or in a junction box mounted in the landscaping just behind the light fixture, a few feet away. Make the circuit board DIY replaceable, at a reasonable cost, and give it plenty of heatsink and air cooling to extend its life. Make the LEDs also DIY replaceable, just like a light bulb. But that, I presume, would not be the profit center that current pool lights are, since we all seem to be willing to pay $500 per year to light up our pools.

This will be my next pool light. I'll post complete DIY instructions when I figure them out for myself.