Think it's time to upgrade and enhance your underwater pool lighting? Perhaps, improve the lighting around your pool? The following will help cast some light. Continue reading.
Pool Lighting - A Competition Guide
once upon a time, pool lighting had only two real purposes: (a) to help you find an otherwise dark pool at night, and (b) to help you avoid accidentally finding an otherwise dark pool at night - and thus avoid accidentally falling into it. However, the days when lighting up a pool was simply a means of facilitating a purposeful (or preventing an unintentional) midnight plunge have gone the way of the dinosaurs. Since then, the world and swimming pools have changed.
Of course, if you're putting in a new pool, you already know all this. You know this because your pool designer and builder will tell you in detail how important it is to take the time to carefully consider the type of lighting and the correct placement of lighting to achieve optimal luminescence, minimize shadows, and maximize mood in relation to the shape and interior color of the pool and any features it may contain.
However, if you already have a pool and only want to upgrade its lighting, you may not be too aware of how much and how quickly pool lighting has evolved over the past few years. Thoughtful and technologically advanced pool lighting and illumination does more than just remind you when and where not to tread water; it completely changes the look, feel, ambiance, surroundings and entire property of your pool.
Upgrading your pool's existing lighting and retrofitting it with new lighting technology is neither as daunting nor as expensive as you might fear. In fact, not only is it relatively easy to retrofit an old, well-lit pool, but over time, its energy efficiency can actually save you money.
What types of lights are available?
Basically, there are 3 types of pool lights.
Incandescent
Halogen
LED (Light Emitting Diode).
Incandescent
These are the traditional pool lights, and if you have a particularly old pool, this is probably what you have. However, these bulbs are no longer available as they do not meet current Australian lighting standards.
| Pros | Cons |
| Cheap purchase price | Energy inefficient |
| Enables you to find/not fall into your pool at night | Short life span |
| Flat, harsh lighting | |
| Technological equivalent of VHS vs DVD | |
| No longer available |
Halogen Lights
Halogen lighting Halogen lighting is, or more specifically, the next generation of pool lighting technology. Today, this technology has been around for decades and most pools that are not upgraded will be equipped with halogen lights. Halogen lamps are 10 to 20 percent more energy efficient than incandescent lamps, last longer and emit more intense light. The downside, however, is that halogen lamps burn at higher temperatures. The result is that the globes and O-rings will need to be replaced annually, at a cost of between $15 and $100 per year.
| Pros | Cons |
| 10-20% more energy efficient than incandescent | More expensive purchase price (4 x incandescent) |
| Longer lasting than incandescent | Intense glare rather than “warm” glow |
| Emit a brighter, cleaner light | Annual replacement costs |
LED lights
Swimming Pool LED Lights LED lights are the latest in lighting technology and represent a revolution. They produce a rich, vibrant light that travels farther through the water, thereby illuminating more of the pool and lighting it more efficiently.
The main visual difference between LEDs and halogens is that LEDs emit a light that is more like a warm light than the flashlight beam type of light emitted by halogens. This glowing effect is especially noticeable in pools with light-colored interiors. Darker finishes reduce the amount of light that can be reflected.
In addition, LEDs come in a variety of colors - which can be changed periodically with the flick of a switch, the push of a remote control or through automatic pre-programmed controls - allowing your pool to be bathed in ever-changing environments as well as faded shades and tones. Some brands even come with their own smartphone app.
Plus, and this is a big plus, LED lights are 3 to 5 times more energy efficient than halogen, produce about 90% less heat and last about 50,000 hours compared to about 1,000 hours for incandescent. Halogen lamps last 5,000 hours. In fact, if you run your LED pool light 4 hours a day, 7 days a week, it has a life expectancy of 34 years! In fact, the latest super bright LEDs have a life expectancy of up to 70,000 hours.
| Pros | Cons |
| 3-5 times more energy efficient than halogen | More expensive purchase price |
| 10 times the lifespan of halogen lights | Repairs are not an option. Entire light must be replaced |
| Richer, more vibrant light | |
| Many and changing colors |
