Pool Lights

[Jinx32]

Does anyone have Jazz lights?? Are they as bright and colorfull as they say?http://www.fiberstars.com/ps/prods/jazz.htm

[huskyrider]

I've placed them into service on multiple occasions.
They seem to be as good as the SAM or a Jandy colored light.

See Ya,
Kelly

[Jinx32]

Thanks for the feedback Kelly. We are building a new pool with our choice of lighting. I was leaning toward the Jazz lights but only had limited knowledge on them. They are a different technology from what I've read. Just wanted to make the most informed decision. Thanks.

[towney]

Any opinions on the Polaris D-lite's?

[Jinx32]

Im not familiar with them. I did do some research on led's and found that they are not as bright as halogen or the Jazz lights.

[freddyttt]

im going with these-

http://www.poolforum.com/pf2/showthread.php?t=5256

[Poolboyz]

We are using Hayward Color Logic..........The cost is around $400 and it is well worth it...check Hayward's website for the specs and a few pics....This pic is from another pool owner, but he said it is the Color Logic with Aqua Blue pebble tec which is a grey surface color...the lighter the surface the more the light will reflect...Good Luck!

[Jinx32]

The pool builder did recommend the Color Logics. In doing my own research I thought that the Jazz lights would be brighter and have a longer bulb life. Im confused cause no one on this sight seems to substantiate this conclusion. Our pool is just being built now. Its 44x24 freeform gunite. They are recommending 2 lights because of the pool's size. I would like to hear from someone that has either the Jazz lights or the color logics so we can make an informed decision.

[Poolboyz]

Our pool is almost done....I will send you some pics when it is complete....what stage of construction are you at, and what surface are you going with? One thing I like about the Color Logic is there are not moving parts, unlike the SAM light's Color wheel. Another thing is synchonizing two lights is very easy with the Color Logic....good luck. I am trying to attach a Color Logic Photo on a grey color pebble surface.....Hope this works

15,000 gal
IG Gunite
Pebble Sheen Aqua Blue
In Floor
StaRite Cartridge filter and 1 1/2 pump

[waterbear]

The color wheels on the Jazz lights turn about twice as fast as the ones on the SAM lights. The colors of the color wheel are very vibrant (deep) so they might not give as much illumination except when on white that you would expect (The FX lights are basically the same but they use Halogen bulbs instead of Metal Halide so they are not quite as bright, colors are basicly the same However, Metal Halide is a bluer light source so there are some slight differences...the green and deep blue and are very rich but the magenta is more purplish then compared to the FX lights)...SAM colors are more pastel (and therefore seem to illuminate better) and change more slowly. It depends on what you like. Metal Halide will produce a much brighter light than Halogen but they do not light immediately when you turn them on (sort of like a florescent light) and take a few minutes to reach full brightness. Also, when you turn them off they need to stay off for a few minuted before you try and turn them back on or the will not light. Once you get use to this little quirk of Metal Halide lighting you will have no problems. Because of this quirk they have two switches...one to operate the light itself and one to turn the color wheel on and off and to sync it if you have multiple lights. The Fiberstars FX and the Pentair SAM/SAl lghts just use one switch to control the light/color wheel and sync operations.
Interestingly enough, Pentairs fiber optics illuminator that is used with the SAM/SAL lights is also metal halide and uses the two switch approach but syncs fine with their halogen SAM/SAL lights. Fiberstars makes both a Metal Halide illuminator for use with the Jazz that is two switch and a halogen one for use with the FX that is single switch.

[Jinx32]

Waterbear, Thanks for the info. Do you have the Jazz lights in your pool, or the Sam lights? We still have our choice so do you have a recommedation? I like that the Jazz lights have a 2 year warentee and a 10k hour life span. Do you know of anyone that has them in their pool?

[Jinx32]

Poolboyz, We are breaking ground tomorrow! Its a 44x24 freeform gunite with a white plaster finish. Definately send pics when you get a chance. I was set on the Color Logics too til I heard about the Jazz lights and now i'm confused on what to go with. We are doing 2 lights one in each end. I really want the colors to stand out and have a long lasting light. Let me know how yours works out.

[waterbear]

Waterbear, Thanks for the info. Do you have the Jazz lights in your pool, or the Sam lights? We still have our choice so do you have a recommedation? I like that the Jazz lights have a 2 year warentee and a 10k hour life span. Do you know of anyone that has them in their pool? I have had several problems with my pool construction...I started the thread "Pool builder from H**L. I was supposed to have FX lights in my pool and spa and a 2004AS fiber opitics illuminator. I ended up with the fiberstars illuminator and Sam and Sal lights so the colors didn't match and they wouldnt' sync. I now have the Pentair illuminator that works with the SAM and SAL lights. I actually prefer the pentair colors and slower color wheel rotation but the Jazz is a brighter light source so if you need the candlepower it would probably be the way to go. As far as Fiberstars warrenty, I have some of their water features and had some problems with them (fiber optics light bars fell off within hours after being installed) and could not get them to honer the warrenty. I had to repair them myself after a run around with their cusomter support.

[Jinx32]

I hope my pool construction goes smoother than yours did. But now that its all said and done are you happy with your decision to put a pool in?

[waterbear]

I hope my pool construction goes smoother than yours did. But now that its all said and done are you happy with your decision to put a pool in?
I am very happy with my decision to put in a pool. I was just unlucky in my choice of contractor. He had a good record and went bad while working on my pool.

[Jinx32]

Comeon guys I need a final decision on my lighting system. Color Logic or Jazz Lights, http://www.fiberstars.com/ps/prods/jazz.htm

[Simmons99]

IMO - it sounds like you really want the Jazz lights - are they more expensive? When we had our pool built we tried to do everything we could afford - if you are going to spend $40K on a pool - why not spend and extra $10k and have no regrets about it later.

[divnkd101]

Jinx,

You have never discussed what type of pool finish you plan to put in the pool. Plaster, aggregate....???? I start construction on my pool next week. 36 x 22 IG gunite w/ white plaster. I have a neighbor that has the SunStone select aggregate finish (Darker blue/green finish). Not sure of the true name (emerald/pearl/etc.). Anyways, my wife and I could not find an aggregate light enough for our liking. Long story short, our neighbor has the Color Logics by Hayward (3 in pool, 1 in spa). they light up his pool just fine. Even with the darker aggregate, the light does penetrate and is very vibrant. We also have chosen the Color Logic Lights. I have not seen the Jazz Lights in action, so I can't give comparison. However, my wife and I were thoroughly impressed with the 5 or 6 pools (All Color Logic Lights) we looked at before choosing our builder. Good Luck. Send pics after you decide and finish your build. I will do the same for comparison.:) :) :)

[Jinx32]

We are also going with white plaster. Its a 44x24 gunite pool. The builder recomends the Color Logic lights but in reading about the Jazz lights I thought they sounded really cool. The 3 year bulb warentee and 10,000 hour bulb life sounds like a good deal. However I have heard so many people say that the Color Logics are great too. Its one of those decisions that is hard to make cause the two lights are so different. And its not something that can be easily changed if Im not happy. LED or Metal Halide ???? hmmmmm

[Poolboyz]

Jinx, my pool should be completed by the end of this week............in pool builder terms that is probably two to three weeks, but we can cross our fingers....as soon as it is done, I will send some pics with the grey/blue pebble sheen....hope it will help...I was able to get a picture of the color logic with a gray pebble surface...this is not my pool, but this gives you an idea of the brightness...I will post when my pool is done....

[Jinx32]

Sounds great. Look forward to the pix!

[CanuckPool]

we have two color logic lights with a dark vinyl liner and it show up great. They have the 7 colors + 5 programs to give you that moody or disco effect. They once went out of snyc but it took less than 15 seconds to get them back together. If you are looking for a lighting system that is very bright then I wouldnt recommend this system, its more of a glow than a spotlight. Then again, if you have a lighter liner it may be different. One note is that our stainless steek screws in the color logic lights have started rusting, we have an SWG, salt is a 2900 ppm, so make sure you get a good batch of screws.

[Jinx32]

I do want a bright light. One that illuminates the water in color. It seems at this point that the Jazz lights are what im leaning towards. Im hesitating cause I havent heard from anyone here who has the Jazz lights and has rated them as being good or not. I only have a week to decide so, any help on this decision would be much appreciated!!

[Jinx32]

Does ANYONE on this site have Jazz Lights???

[Poolboyz]

Jinx, I updated one of my posts on this thread with an actual pic from another pool with the Color Logic and an aqua blue pebble with is gray in color....we had Fiberstars in our last pool and it was not very bright and the remote receiver kept malfunctioning...I sent it back twice and got new receivers for free, but it was still a pain...it always seemed to break when I had people over to swim......I dont know if that is the "Jazz" lighting you are referring to, but LED technology is superior for just about every application in my opinion. What is the cost difference?

[Jinx32]

The Jazz lights are different than the Fiber lights. http://www.fiberstars.com/ps/prods/jazz.htm. I was told that the fibre optic lights do not illuminate the pool water just the surface around the edges. Is that true? My question about LED is are they bright enough to illuminate the water? Take a look at my link and let me know what you think about the Jazz lights.

[Poolboyz]

The fiberstars lighting I had was inside the pool not the outline and in the rock waterfall I had as well. Like I said, I was not happy with the amount of light that filled the pool......I have not heard anything negative about the Color Logic, my PB said he wished he would have gone with that instead of the Jazz.....My pool is only 14 X 28 so I'm not concerned about the brightness as much..

[South_Texas_Sun]

Hi Jinx,

We have 2 pool Color Logic lights and 1 in the spa.

Like you, I knew that lights would make a big difference in the appearance of the pool AND property with guests at night and for "mood" when home by ourselves. Believe me.....it does!

I also considered the Fiberstar line because we have 2 Jandy Clear Descent waterfalls and liked the "accent" look of the lightbars under the water.

We chose the Haywards, and I'm glad we did. The LED technology is REALLY cool!...lol The "head" electronics with the LED drivers are actually in the light assembly, so there's only the one cable and a ground to run back to the controller.

I looked at the JAZZ light exploded view in the pdf (on the webpage you provided) and it seems to be a spinning color disc with a bright conventional bulb behind it, right? The Color Logic is all solid state, which means (to me, anyway) longer life, less heat and the slightly less tangible fun of watching the thing up close, changing colors. The bank of LED's "changes" color by gradually shifting the colors of the LED's to form combined colors. For example, half red and half blue make purple. This is how the Color Logic lights work, and if you have kids, they LOVE to just put on a mask and submerge up close to watch it. :)

About the fiber optics.....We decided NOT to get the fiberoptic light bars because the installation looked like it should be done by someone who's done a few and isn't just "winging it".....lol. They are expensive for what they do, and I was afraid that after a year or so, the plastic pipe (holding the fiber optics) would either develop a leak or became clouded on the outside with water deposits, and would be a huge hassle to either replace, or just remove entirely!

The "brightness" is a non-issue in my opinion, so long as you have enough light to EVENLY light the pool. You shouldn't be able to see the light source (again, imo) from the house, and a diffused, even synchronized color is preferable to us.

In the "old days", pools used to have one HUGE bright light in the deep end, and I have to say that lighting has come a long way since then. I can't tell you whether to go with the Jazz or the CL, but we're very please with ours.

hth,

STS

[Jinx32]

Well you certainly have given the best argument for getting the Color Logics over the Jazz lights. I was just under the impression that the LEDs were not bright enough to illuminate the pool. If that is not the case I guess I may indeed go with the Color Logics also. I like that there arent any moving parts to wear out. ie color wheel. Do you have the 12 or 120 volt?

[South_Texas_Sun]

Well you certainly have given the best argument for getting the Color Logics over the Jazz lights. I was just under the impression that the LEDs were not bright enough to illuminate the pool. If that is not the case I guess I may indeed go with the Color Logics also. I like that there arent any moving parts to wear out. ie color wheel. Do you have the 12 or 120 volt?

Hi Jinx,

120vac. I guess "brightness" is somewhat subjective, but with the 2 pool lights, you can drive up in front of our place at night and see the pool through the living room windows (about 100ft) with the living room lights on. It's a very nice effect.

I'm also glad that we didn't get the fiber optics because it turns out, where we live, (Tx hill country) there's BATS at night! I always thought the lack of mosquitos was kind of strange....:) The pool light attracts the curiousity of local "critters".

The fiber optic stuff reminds me of those bug traps that use little neon bulbs to attract the bugs.....but without the traps. Just the thing for attracting a swarm of "guests".

Good luck with your pool.

STS

[Jinx32]

Yeah I think im going with the ColorLogics. I hope im making the right decision. Based on what Ive read from you and others, the Colorlogics seem to be the best bet. Plus I have yet to hear from someone who had the Jazz lights to be able to compare. Do you have any pics you can post so I can get a better idea on what to expect? Thanks for your help!

[South_Texas_Sun]

Yeah I think im going with the ColorLogics. I hope im making the right decision. Based on what Ive read from you and others, the Colorlogics seem to be the best bet. Plus I have yet to hear from someone who had the Jazz lights to be able to compare. Do you have any pics you can post so I can get a better idea on what to expect? Thanks for your help!

Hi Jinx, (gosh I get a kick out of saying that....lol)

Listen, why don't you go with the JAZZ lights?? You sound like that's what you really want, and I wouldn't be surprised if they WERE brighter than the LED lights. After all, isn't the JAZZ a halogen bulb or something? The color TEMPERATURE alone is going to make it look brighter than the LED lights!

I'm trying to guess why the brightness is so important. Are you an airline pilot who wants to be able to pick out his house on the approach? Or a film director that wants to do pool shots at home? :)

Nevermind....I don't want to know. Sorry I can't take pictures for you. I dropped my camera in the river and I'm waiting for a new model line to come out in a month or so, so the current models will drop in price.

Get the Jazz......you can always use the wire and just replace the light on the deck of the pool if you don't like it!

Best,

STS

[Jinx32]

Not so fast... You have made a good agrument in favor of the ColorLogics and I agree. I was interested in the Jazz lights because of the brightness issue. Which you have so amusingly made fun of. I just wanted the pool to light up with color. If the LEDs can do that then "I'm all in". Dont back track on me now:)

[tagprod]

34X22 with one colorlogig light in the deep end and one in the spa.

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j200/pattonwb/DSC00948.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j200/pattonwb/DSC00947.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j200/pattonwb/DSC00946.jpg

[waterbear]

Not so fast... You have made a good agrument in favor of the ColorLogics and I agree. I was interested in the Jazz lights because of the brightness issue. Which you have so amusingly made fun of. I just wanted the pool to light up with color. If the LEDs can do that then "I'm all in". Dont back track on me now:)
Hope this additional info doesn't confuse you but here goes
Jazz lights use Metal Halide bulbs....they are probably the brightest light source you will be able to find. They do use a color wheel so you do have mechanical parts. Fiberstars says the light is equvalent to a 400w or greater conventional bulb.
FX lights by Fiberstars and SAM lights by Pentair are halogen. Not as bright as Metal Halide but pretty close. Once again there are colorwheels. Fiberstars says the light is eqivalent to a 300w or greater conventional bulb and Pentair says that theirs is equvalent to a 300w conventional light.
LED lights (there are several brands out there now) have no moving parts but from everything I have been able to read about them do not produce as much light output at the two types above. Some of the newer ones claim to come close or equal conventional lighting, however. They can produced many more colors than color wheel based lights. Hayward (nor the other manufacturers I looked at) gives a light output comparison to conventional pool lighting that I have been able to find so far. It would seem to be an easy thing to use a meter to measure the lumems of light output. If you are looking for bright lighting I personally would question this. If you are installing multiple lights it might not be an issue. However, that can add to your costs.

Fiber optics lighting usually will be the least light output. It depends a lot on the type of illuminator used, the number of fibers used, the length of the run, etc. There are a lot of variables with fiber optics. Some people are very happy, others are not. I think much of the success depends on the person designing and installing the system. I have fiber optics as accessory lighting in my water features and it is more than satisfactory for that purpose. I have halogen lighing (SAM and SAL) in my pool and spa and in my installation it produces more than adequite light levels even on the darkest color (blue). Your milage may vary!;)
Bottom line is this, no matter which light you choose you will probably be happy with it since you won't know what a different light will look like in YOUR pool unless you have that one installed also. (Or unless you have a pool builder that installs the wrong light and has to reinstall the correct one, like my PB did! I was supposed to have all Fiberstars FX halogen lighting but had the Pentair SAM and SAl installed with the Fiberstars illuminator. I chose to switch the illuminator to the Pentair one that works with the SAM and SAL because I personally liked the slower color wheel rotation and the softer colors of the Pentair units better than the vibrant colors and faster color wheel of the Fiberstars FX units instead of replacing the SAM and SAL with the FX units! It actually turned out to be a lucky mistake for me.)

Hope this helps you make an informed decision!

[Jinx32]

Thanks for the additional info Waterbear. I have decided on the ColorLogics and Im sure I'll be happy with that choice. How long will the LED lights last? Will they burn out one by one or all at once? If anyone has more pix of their pool with the Colorlogics I would like to see them!!