Lighting Basics

Lighting Basics

Lighting can be a key element in the ambiance of your poolside paradise. Illuminating the pool at night can provide an ambiance as well as safety for your pool area. Lighting can set the mood as well as extend your swim time.

Pool lighting used to be simple when your only choice was white and how many did you want? Now there are a multitude of lighting options for in and around the pool. Pools being built today have tanning ledges, water features, vanishing edges, and more where lighting can set the mood and ambiance.

Jandy has an excellent Lighting Design Guide using nicheless LED lights .

Lighting Technologies

Pool light technologies has evolved over the years with incandescent lights, halogen lights, fiber optic lights from a central light hub, LED lights, all being used in pools.

In 2023 the U.S. Department of Energy released its Energy Conservation Standards for General Service Lamps, written to manage the amount of energy expended on lights in various applications and industries. Similar to the DOE rule for variable-speed pool and spa pumps, this new regulation is performance-oriented. It applies to all lamps that emit between 310 and 3,300 lumens. If a light falls under that category, it must emit at least 45 lumens per watt. Distributors and retailers were prohibited from selling non-compliant lights beginning March 1, 2023.

Many incandescent and halogen lights are impacted by this ruling, because they don’t typically fall within that range. This impacts the replacement of lights on existing pools. You may need to swap out existing fixtures with others that are compatible with the niche, unless a compliant bulb is available that is compatible with the fixture. In some cases you can find bulbs out there that can retrofit into the incandescent fixture. But, depending on the situation, you may need to pull the light as well.

This is why you find LED lights being offered, with few other alternatives, by the major pool equipment manufacturers in spite of their cost and reliability issues.

Pentair still sells their white incandescent Amerilite in 120 volt 400 watt and 500 watt models. The Pentair website says "Due to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) regulations regarding incandescent lights, the 100W and 300W Amerlite Incandescent Lights are now obsolete and have been removed from this specifications grid."

Niched or Nicheless Pool Lights

“Niche” refers to the pool light housing. Niched pool lights are generally larger in size and require advanced planning for placement during the rebar installation phase.

"Nicheless" lights are smaller and don’t require a niche or special accommodation with the rebar. Nicheless lights usually fit in a 1.5" PVC pipe. Nicheless lights are smaller, have less LEDs, and put out less lumens then niche lights. Light niches are usually proprietary to a manufacturer which makes changing lights difficult.

With nicheless lights you are not locked into one manufacturers lights as others should fit the 1.5" opening. Although in some cases a different light may require more depth in the pipe so check specifications carefully when changing light models.

You can sufficiently light most swimming pool designs with either one or two niched pool lights. Alternately, you can use multiple nicheless lights with little to no difference in energy consumption. Plus, with more lights spread throughout the pool, more even light distribution will be attained — making it an aesthetic decision.

Considerations For Pool Light Selection

• Light Controls and Automation Compatibility
• LED Pool Light Cost and Reliability - Long term reliability of pool LED lights is not known since no models have been installed that long. The first generation of LED lights had poor reliability and were expensive to replace after warranty expired. In 2024 we are seeing 2nd or 3rd generation models being brought to market. That resets the clock on evaluating the reliability of these new models. Independent manufacturers have emerged to offer what are claimed to be more reliable replacements for the major manufacturers lights. Only time will tell if the lights and companies will last.
• Warranty
• 12 Volts or 120 Volts
• Niche or Nicheless
• Color Compatibility - if you are mixing lights between different product lines, even with the same manufacture, the color may not match precisely. For example, Pentair warns that the SpaBrite blue LED is a wavelength of 470-475 while their other lights use a Royal Blue LED with a wavelength of 455-460. Pentair says "Appearance of color and white LED light may vary between various models of lights. Appearance and perception of pool lighting may vary depending on a number of factors including, but not limited to, the particular model of light, the location/depth/angle of the light’s installation, pool finish/material, pool depth/shape/geometry, ambient light sources, subjective factors and more. For best results when using multiple lights, use all the same model and do not mix multiple models of lights within a single installation." If you are picky about color matching this may bother you.
• If you are building a new pool and want lights with the lowest long term cost of ownership then install Pentair Amerilites in niches and replace the bulb with a white or color changing LED bulb. The J&J ColorSplash bulb is compatible with many automation systems. Or there are many bulb replacements available from Amazon with various controls.

Why Do LED Lights Fail

LEDs are supposed to last many years so why do pool lights have reliability issues? It is because of heat and leaks.

The LEDs that create the light need electronic boards, called light drivers, to control the lights. It is usually the electronics that fail and not the LEDs. Each colored LED needs some components on the board controlling it. And often you see a single color on the light fail because a few components in the electronics failed.

The electronics that control the LEDs are crammed in a small space in the light with no air circulation or cooling other then whatever heat the light may shed to the pool water. Cramming electronics that create heat into a smalls pace underground is an inhospitable environment, as light manufacturers have learned. And when 12V LED lights are offered as 120 volts to simplify retrofit installations it means the 120V to 12V transformer is in the light and generating heat.

If the heat generated in the light does not kill the electronics it can cause cracks in the light shell and leak water in. Manufacturers have learned that some of the materials used could not withstand all the thermal cycles a pool light can get. In some cases dissimilar materials were used that expanded at different rates and cracked.

LED pool lights are still in their infancy and manufacturers are learning what they need to do in future products to improve reliability. Unfortunately it will take years of actual experience to see good reliability and in the meantime consumers will be paying the price.

Lighting Manufactures

Below is a survey of pool light manufacturers in no specific order.

Pentair

Pentair has three product lines of LED pool lights - IntelliBrite, GloBrite, and MicroBrite. As mentioned above Pentair still has incandescent Amerlite lights in 400 watt and 500 watt models. The IntelliBrite uses the same niche as the Amerilite. The GloBrite uses a proprietary niche, while the MicroBrite is nicheless and has an adapter that fits the GloBrite niche.

Pentair recently came out with their next generation IntelliBrite lights, called the Architectural Series. Pentair also came out with next generation GloBrite lights. Both those are supposed to address reliabilty issues in the first generation lights.

Pentair LED Pool Lights has more detail on Pentair LED lights.

Jandy

Jandy has niched and nichless LED lights in both color changing and while models. The Watercolors light were their first generation LED light. The Infinite Watercolors models are next generation. Jandy Infinite WaterColors LED Light Controller requires Aqualink Revision Y or later.

The Watercolors Nicheless LED Lights with Hydrocool Technology seems to be from Fluidra's acquisition of CMP and like CMP's Brilliant Wonders nicheless LED lights they come in P-Series, H-Series, or S-Series models to work with Pentair or Hayward automation. Make sure you get the series that is compatible with your automation.

CMP

CMP, which was recently acquired by Jandy's parent company Fluidra, has Brilliant Wonders nicheless LED lights with Smart Synch Technology. You need to order the lights to be compatible with your automation - J Style for Jandy Aqualink, P Style for Pentair automation systems, or H Style for Hayward automation systems.

The Brilliant Wonders lights also have a IP68 waterproof quick disconnect allowing the lights to be replaced without pulling the wire from the light conduit or removed for winterization.

Brilliant Wonders has some of the best reliability and we hear of few failures.

Hayward

Hayward has a wide range of niche and nicheless LED light product lines and models. Hayward's Universal ColorLogic lights are different then the ColorLogic lights and some Universal ColorLogic Lights have networking controls while some do not. Hayward also has ColorLogic 2.0 and OmniDirect light controls. It is best to check carefully the capabilities and features of the Hayward lights you select.

J&J Electronics

J&J has been acquired by Hayward and the ColorSplash Series is now on the Hayward website.

The J&J ColorSplash LXG Replacement 120V Color-Changing LED Pool Light Bulb replaces the ColorSplash 3G bulb. LXG bulbs cannot be used in a pool where other 3G bulbs are also installed.

The J&J ColorSplash 3G Replacement 120V Color-Changing LED Pool Light bulb is an Edison base replacement for incandescent bulbs. The ColorSplash has seven different colors, multi-color blends, and five light shows including Parisian Blue, Brazilian Red, Tahitian Blue, Miami Pink, Tuscan Orange, Arctic White, and New Zealand Green colors. Each light has a lifespan of up to 50,000 hours.

When replacing an incandescent bulb with the LED bulb be sure to match the voltage of the light fixture for the replacement light bulb (12V or 120V) and replace the light gasket (LPL-G-P) for Pentair/American Amerlite and (SPX0580Z2) for Hayward AstroLite for proper installation.

J&J also has the ColorSplash XG Series Color LED Pool Light. The fixtures are compatible to most existing Pentair, Hayward® and Jandy incandescent light niches and are ETL listed for safety and electrical code compliance. Color Splash XG Series operate with a standard pool light switch or can be integrated into most Pentair and Jandy automation systems

Florida Sunseeker

Florida Sunseeker has a wide range of replacement niche and nicheless pool lights. There have been questions if the Florida Sunseeker products have gone through the UL676 testing as people have not found them listed.

Spa Electrics

Spa Electrics has innovative niche and nicheless LED lights and a series of retro fit lights for 10", 8" and 6" niches. The Retro lights fit many Hayward, Pentair and Jandy niches and can upgrade incandescent lights to LED.

Some of their lights feature a quick disconnect power cord on the back of the light as well as a forward facing Heat Sink harnesses the full cooling potential of the pool, for maximum LED brightness and longevity.

Blue Square

Blue Square has niche and nicheless LED lights as well as 12 volts and 120 volts LED bulbs that can replace incandescent bulbs.

LedecSun

LedecSun has solar powered LED pool lights, made in Spain, that are installed using adhesive or magnetic attachment.

Landscape Lighting

Landscape lighting around the pool can compliment the pool lighting and create and overall ambiance for nighttime enjoyment of your pool area.

Volt Landsacpe Lights is a good choice if you want to DIY the light installation with LED lights. Volt has white and colored bulbs but not color changing lights. Many members have been happy installing Volt Landscape lights.

Pentair has IntelliBrite color-changing LED landscape lights that work with Pentair automation and have the same color shows and fixed colors that are available for the IntelliBrite 5g color-changing pool and spa lights.

Hayward acquired Sollos Landscape lights and offer a wide range of landscape light solution's including path lights; bullet, accent, and flood lights; hardscape, in-ground, hanging and underwater lights.

Jandy has their Pro Series Wet Area LED color changing lights that have been evaluated, tested and listed by Intertek (a NRTL) as being suitable for submerged or unsubmerged installation in areas that include the area within 10 ft (3m) of the pool or spa.

Low Voltage Light Transformers

Low Voltage lights need to connect to a Class 2 transformer that changes the 120 volt AC to 12 to 14 volts AC.

The power supply must be listed by a Nationally Recognized Testing Lab (NRTL) as being in compliance with UL 379, “POWER UNITS FOR FOUNTAIN, SWIMMING POOL, AND SPA LUMINAIRES.”

The transformer has outputs for 12, 13, or 14 volts. The higher voltage outputs are used with longer light cord runs so that the light has 12 volts at the light.

Intermatic has a PJBX52100 5 light pool light junction box that includes a 100 watt transformer. It complies with NEC Code 680.24 requirements for junction boxes and per NEC 411 for low-voltage landscape lighting

Is It Safe?

Many people assume that any low voltage is safe around pools and people. The authors of the NEC (National Electric Code) think differently and require equipment that is submerged with people present to be evaluated under "UL-676 Underwater Luminaries and Submersible Junction Boxes". Products that are approved to be used by the NEC must be listed to the UL 676 and UL 1081 performance standards that can be found on the UL Product Specification website.

UL-676 testing is done by a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL). Pool lighting products have to be tested and certified by a NRTL to be compliant with UL676 and listed with an NRTL. Compliance with NEC 680.23 comes through the use of a listed underwater luminaire and by installation of a listed ground-fault circuit interrupter in the branch circuit or a listed transformer for luminaires operating at not more than 15 volts.

After certifying a product under the NRTL program, the NRTL authorizes the manufacturer to apply a registered certification mark to the product.

This mark signifies that the NRTL tested and certified the product under the NRTL program, and that the product complies with the requirements of one or more appropriate product safety test standards.

Users of the product can generally rely on the mark as evidence that the product complies with applicable OSHA approval requirement(s) and is safe for use in the workplace.

The rub here is not all pool lighting products have a proper certification mark and are "listed".

It really comes down to the AHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction) whether or not they require a listed product and if they accept the certification from the Testing Laboratory. Jurisdictions can adopt the NEC as part of their code, but the NEC is not law in and of itself.

If they adopt the NEC, then a listed product is required unless the AHJ deletes that requirement.

The AHJ also decides which testing laboratories are acceptable.

In general, any underwater luminaire for pools or spas should conform to UL676 and be certified and listed by a qualified testing laboratory.

Any manufacturer selling any underwater luminaire for pools or spas should specify which testing laboratory has certified the product.

The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission has a list of approved testing laboratories, but the laboratories each have an “Approved Testing Scope” that defines which standards they are approved to certify.

If you are in a jurisdiction that adopted the NEC and have an Inspector who is sharp yor pool lights may be inspected to see that they are listed. Otherwise it is up to you as the pool owner to decide what products you deem safe for your pool and family in your pool.