In-ground Pool Light Won't Work or Turns Off Sporadically

[moblaine]

We have an AquaLumin II nicheless light in our pool that's 6 years old. Ever since we've had the pool & light, the light has been quirky, coming on when we flip it on but then turning off sporadically or not working at all.

Initially, we thought the bulb must be bad so we replaced it. Same problem with new bulb. Replaced bulb again this past Saturday and after 3 days, light won't turn on (I tested it every day and it worked for each of the past 3 days). We replaced the lens seal when we put in the new bulb, as the instructions emphasized. When we had it taken apart, there was no moisture inside.

Does anybody have any ideas? It's been very frustrating. Our kids are getting older and may be finally old enough to swim at night in a lighted pool only the light won't work!

[Watermom]

Hi moblaine! Can't have those kids swimming in the dark! Hope somebody here will be able to give you some advice to help you get this figured out. Welcome to the Forum!

[Watermom]

bumping back up

[kelemvor]

After looking at the diagrams for that light, it looks pretty simple. Since you've eliminated the possibility of a leak, and have a good bulb in it I would take a look at the transformer. Also, if it's a 12v setup (aqualumin 2 comes in either 12v or 120v according to pentair) it's possible the cable length is too long. According to pent-air, you shouldn't run a 12v light with over 50' of cable so that could potentially be a problem - however I'd expect the effect to be just a slight dimming. I've got a pentair intellibright 12v on about 75' of cable working just fine.

So I would look at the transformer, and if not that then perhaps the cabling its-self. Unfortunately I doubt you can replace the cable without replacing the "whole" light.

Edit:
One more thought I had. They do make GFCI breakers with "auto reset". It could be that your gfci is tripping and then resetting when you flip the light switch off. You can probably identify this scenerio by waiting till the light shuts off, and inspecting the GFCI without actually flipping the light switch back off. If so, hopefully it's a defective GFCI; because the alternative means you've got a wiring fault.

[moblaine]

Thanks kelemvor,
I think you are onto something. The GFCI was tripped and now the light works again. This cannot have been the problem all along but it certainly solved the problem this go-round. I recall a day when water sprayed and could have caused the tripping. I have my fingers crossed that the light problems from the past will not recur and next time (if there is a next time) the light doesn't work, first place I'll check is the GFCI.

[kelemvor]

You should consider replacing the GFCI as they go bad sometimes. If it's not bad and it really is tripping as intended then you've got a more serious problem to resolve (one that could potentially be fatal if the GFCI fails to trip when it needs to).