Pool Lights

[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.

[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!