Seeking the Pool Light of Pool Lights. The Mack Daddy. The One to Rule them All.

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M

MikeVerta

In The Industry
Aug 7, 2023
4
Tennessee
Man.

I'm designing a pool/deck for a client and after 3 solid days of wading through conflicting reports, I still can't hone in on the best pool lights for them. They want white for the main pool/spa, and a few color-changing ones for some water-feature uplights. This is a money-is-no-object client; expectations are stratospheric. The order of priority is: 1) Reliability 2) Brightness 3) Programming-Fu.

It's not a fair question, but I'm asking anyway: If you could have anything, what would you get?

Thanks, everyone!
 
Welcome to TFP.

If money is no object I think you have your priorities reversed:
  1. Programming-Fu
  2. Brightness
  3. Reliability
If you can't program the way you want then brightness and reliability don't matter.

If money is no object the customer should be willing to replace the lights as necessary.

That said, you don't want retail consumer pool lights. Look at the lights used at the Bellagio or Wynn in Vegas for their water light shows. I have read articles written about them.
 
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I'd start by looking at commercial pool lighting through any of the Big 3 or PAL, something that interfaces with automation, DMX, and offers more functionality. If money is truly no object, I'd look to bring in a high-end consultant like WET Design that works with the types of clients AJ mentioned.
 
Honestly Mike, if I was building a pool and money was no object, I'd be on the phone with Wet Design today. They're the leading experts in the field and could provide you with an end-to-end solution that is going to blow your client away. With that said, I look at the pools Ryan Hughes, Brian Van Bower, Jason Brownlee and a lot of the other top designers are building and everything seems to have PAL in it these days.
 
Just a quick update. The client doesn't want anything elaborate; no light shows, no fountains. They don't even want colors; just white. "It's just a pool." There are two small cascading water features, and then a standard 20x40 pool with attached spa. They have the money for just about anything, but they're not "showy." What they do like is quality, and they'll pay for it. They won't pay for brand names, or for bragging rights; they'll pay for truly well-made and reliable. Few things are made with pride and craftsmanship, and almost nothing to last. But I'm doing what I can to source something for them.
 
So they've changed their priorities. If they want well-made and reliable, I think it's hard to beat old-fashioned 120v 300w-500w incandescent white lights. No colors, no dimming, no transformers, no unreliable LED electronics, basically no nothing except they last 30 years.
 
Rocket J Squirrel said:
So they've changed their priorities. If they want well-made and reliable, I think it's hard to beat old-fashioned 120v 300w-500w incandescent white lights. No colors, no dimming, no transformers, no unreliable LED electronics, basically no nothing except they last 30 years.
Click to expand...
"120v 300w-500w incandescent white lights" will get you a year or two max. The bulbs are not like what they used to be, to say you will get five years out of one of those bulbs is laughable. "30 years" is dam near fraud. A lot of people still think that, this isn't an attack.

LED 5000K-6500K white is what you have to start with for brightness. Or at least that's what you see with the modern "White" color. Led bulbs at around 2800K plus is for the Edison old light incandescent color look. "White" "Soft" "Daylight" are marketing terms. Don't use or even look at that . 2800K-6500K is your brightness and white vs yellow old look. 2800K is granny papas 1970s indoor light colors. 3000K- 4000K is what we grew up with before LED bulbs. 4000K and up is what looks modern.

The OP is on an impossible task. Find a few nice pool light photos you think they may like, keep in mind there are great spot lights from above the pool or from the garden shinning into the pool that may work better than a well placed pool light. Or along with one. heck I've even seen lasers.

Your wasting time looking for your opinion, or ours of what they want. Down load some cool pictures of pool lights and lighting, hand those to them and ask if they like them, or if your getting close, far etc..... THEN search for what they want.
 

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I made the lights for my pool myself. I was absolutely not satisfied with the selection offered by the manufacturers. What I particularly dislike is that the light source is visible. And I wanted a lot of light power, because in Estonia, where I live, it gets dark only in the late evening during the summer. The led strips are milled from a wooden skirting board and coated with epoxy. There is 17.6w of light power per square meter of water surface. Total power 207w. All in all a good result. But now there is a project in progress where I will replace the lights and the final result will be 364w, 31w per square meter. Jokingly, I call this project Mach 10. :D The lights will be installed tomorrow. I guess i have to wear sunglasses when i go swimming at night...
 

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ferretbone said:
"120v 300w-500w incandescent white lights" will get you a year or two max. The bulbs are not like what they used to be, to say you will get five years out of one of those bulbs is laughable. "30 years" is dam near fraud.
Click to expand...
I take offense at the word fraud. I'm not selling anything, just relating personal experience.

Lifespan of an incandescent lamp depends on how much it is used and how many times it is power cycled. My lamps last a long time because I don't use them often and they are manually switched. Someone who has their lights on a daily timer cycle will get less lifespan from their lamps.

My current lights are 5 years old and continue to work fine.
 
I think 30 years referred to the lifespan of the fixture, not the bulb - which is the more important measure when you're comparing $300 Amerlite fixtures with $15-50 replacement bulbs (incandescent or LED) vs $1000+ non-serviceable LED fixtures that fail after a few years.

FWIW, my pool is 27 years old and I just replaced the first of 3 original incandescent 120v fixtures this year (replaced with a Pentair Amerlite). The other 2 fixtures still work, but I did buy a couple of Amerlites to keep "on the bench" for when the do fail, as I'm concerned that these fixtures won't be available for much longer.

Very impressed with the quality/longevity of these old school lights, and I'm not concerned about the operating costs as I use them maybe a couple hours a month on average.
 
"I take offense at the word fraud" Well you shouldn't have, the laughable, and borderline fraud part was an analogy. I know your not spreading "lies"

You, "My current lights are 5 years old and continue to work fine."

Me, "120v 300w-500w incandescent white lights" will get you a year or two max. The bulbs are not like what they used to be, to say you will get five years out of one of those bulbs is laughable. "30 years" is dam near fraud. A lot of people still think that, this isn't an attack.

I'm referring to a new bulb these days. If a new 50 cent bulb from China last you 5 years I would be impressed, very impressed. If that new bulb lasted 30 years (it will not) I'll pay for it. Pool light bulbs do not last 30 years anymore, If they ever did. Todays pool light bulbs, your lucky if they last more than a few years period.

Pool motors used to last 30 years, Ha ,not anymore! The back of my truck, our shop, and my garage beg to differ because they are full of them.
 
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