In truth, 12V Lighting can be the brightest, safest, most cost and time-effective option you can offer your customers.
Because these lights operate at a very low voltage, they are less inherently dangerous when taken on their own. Some believe the 120 volts generated by an incandescent light can introduce a fatal charge, whereas the power from low-voltage lights, generally 12 volts, can injure but not kill.
Hands down, 12V is the safest option to power your residential landscape lighting. Exposure to 120V can kill a person. That's a huge electrical current. Exposure to the much lower 12V will give just a slight shock if you or a family member come into contact with it.
You can get electrocuted by a pool light where faulty wiring or defective lighting equipment causes an electrical current to be released into the water and you come into contact with the electrified water.
VOLTAGE 12V vs 120V - Pool lights are designed to operate with 12V or 120V. In some areas of the country the local code requires a low voltage 12V light while in other areas it is fine to use a 120V light. Before installing a light, find out what your local code require.
Swimming pools and spa's always need 12 Volts of AC power. Most people hear 12 Volts and immediately think of DC which is used in cars and also outside landscape lighting. If you hook pool LED's to 12V DC, sometimes they work, but not correctly.
At first, all pool lights used an R-40 bulb, a large incandescent flood lamp. In the 80's, halogen pool bulbs began to gain favor, as well as fiber optic lighting that can run above or below water. The most popular pool lights in use today have LED bulbs.
Water inside the Pool Light? If there is water inside the lens of the pool light, which you can usually see from on-deck, that doesn't mean that the light is leaking, but it does mean that the lamp gasket has failed, letting water leak inside and surround the bulb.
The 12V lights are safer when installed properly by a licensed electrician. ALWAYS get a permit when performing electrical work in your pool, pool lamp replacements included. A permit may cost some money, but it means that someone will have to check your work and be sure that it is safe.
* There were 23 deaths from electrocutions in pools and spas from 2002-2014. Two fatal incidents from 2013-2014 were received in 2015. No injuries or deaths due to electrocutions in pools and spas were identified in 2018.
Halogen Can Be Hazardous
Halogen is low-voltage, but it uses approximately 80% more energy than an LED system. That 80% more energy is enough to generate the amount of heat needed to cause a fire in dry mulch or landscape clippings if not properly installed and maintained.
12V is a very common voltage level primarily due to its common use in desktop computing. This makes power supplies readily and cheaply available and can help reduce your purchase costs. When it comes to LED product safety, optical, shock and fire risk are often considered.
Low voltage is defined as 50 volts (V) or less. Common low voltages are 12V, 24V, and 48V. Low voltage is normally used for doorbells, garage door opener controls, heating and cooling thermostats, alarm system sensors and controls, outdoor ground lighting, household and automobile batteries.
A low voltage electric shock is dangerous because it can cause electrocution and fatal injuries even though there are no visible signs of external injury. It transmits through tissues with low resistance such as the brain, heart, internal organs, blood vessels and the central nervous system.
Because the lower the voltage, the less hazardous it will be. This makes LED lights the perfect option for pool lights. Even if you only install 12V LED pool lights, you get enough brightness in and around the swimming pool. You'll have enough visibility to keep safe while swimming at night.
Wet LED Strip Light Can Result In Electrocution
And we all know electrical shocks are never comfortable and can result in serious injury or death if you touch the water and a doorknob with wet hands.
Only specific listed low voltage luminaires are permitted to be installed closer than 5 feet to the pool edge.
If your current pool light is a 120V pool light, then you'll need to have an electrician install a transformer between the power source and the junction box. The Junction Box, or J-box as it's sometimes called, is the point where the wires from the pool light meet the wires from the breaker box.
Fortunately, the answer is no—the water typically does not need to be drained! Because the electrical cable is sealed, it's impervious to any water that will get into the conduit when the bulb is being replaced.
You will know your pool light is leaking if the pool water has dropped to the level around the top of the light. The water level may be below the skimmer bottom or the return line, but if it stopped leaking when it reached the light that is a red flag.
Addition of a dimmer switch is possible and would help regulate the brightness of a standard incandescent bulb. These dimmers can be purchased at home-improvement centers, hardware stores or lighting centers for $5 to $25 depending on style and range of dimming.
It costs a lot of money to have sales people to go to all the different pool store chains that must be covered in the bulb price. You aren't paying for a better bulb, you are paying for expensive overhead and multiple mouths to feed when each bulb is sold.
Are pool lights worth it? Pool lights are worth it because they provide the necessary lighting for a pool especially during the night, which prevents accidents because you can see every area of your pool. Moreover, they are considered a necessity most especially if you want to get maximum usage out of your pool.
When wired and serviced in accordance with the NEC (National Electric Code), 120V lights have been, and will continue to be safe.
Pool Lights: 12v, 3.5 watts each. Self-Contained Hot Tub: 240v 50 amps. Automatic Pool Cover: 220v, 5-7 amps OR 110v, 11-13 amps.