Pool Lights: 12v, 3.5 watts each. Self-Contained Hot Tub: 240v 50 amps.
Owning a pool can cost you a pretty penny. In 2018, in the United States, pool maintenance cost an average of $190 per month. Why not save money every way you can? Thanks to a much lower average wattage, an LED pool light costs only pennies a day to operate, while an incandescent bulb can cost up to $1 a day.
The light always has to be a dedicated circuit because it has to be protected by a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI). A GFCI is a device that monitors the amount of current flowing from hot to neutral. If there is an imbalance, it trips the circuit.
Step 2. 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.
Pool lighting: When pool lights have not been correctly bonded or grounded, they can send electricity directly through the water and shock those in the pool. In fact, faulty pool lights can send electrical currents through the water even when they are turned off.
In truth, 12V Lighting can be the brightest, safest, most cost and time-effective option you can offer your customers.
The pool light must be installed on a GFCI circuit. That means that the wires coming to the pool light J-box must come from a GFCI breaker. These are often easy to spot by the yellow Test button, and are usually 20 amp breakers.
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 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.
Most of the older incandescent and halogen pool lights can be changed to the newer LED color changing lights by replacing the entire light fixture. But there are a limited number of old lights that can be converted to LED light by simply replacing the old light fixture bulb with a color changing LED light bulb.
With a GFCI circuit breaker AND a 12-volt transformer, pool lights are rendered much safer, as 2 separate systems would have to fail for a danger to occur. Note: It is important to make sure your pool equipment has GFCI outlets to the pump, pool light, and electrical outlets that are within 20 feet of the pool.
This can be due to a small amount of water being inside your light fixture which the light may heat up and vaporize. This can then cause the GFCI to trip. GFCIs are also known to trip from extreme humidity. Be sure that the outlets that may be on the same GFCI circuit are covered to help prevent this.
Running costs
So, in terms of annual running costs, presuming you light your pool for 6 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 6 months of the year, at an average kilowatt/hour price of $0.27, a single LED pool light will cost you $5.90 per year.
First is that 500 watt pool light bulbs cost about a dollar a day to run, and if used often, it can add up to hundreds in electrical expense each year. LED lamps consume much less energy, the Color Splash light only uses 33 watts, and costs 4 cents per day to use, or under $10 per year.
LED bulbs can run off of 37 watts. This can be compared to incandescent bulbs, that require 161 watts to reach the same output.
You can use 1 transformer for all lights, as long as you don't mind them being on same timer circuit. Keep in mind deck lights and landscape lights can use LED bulbs, which use very little power.
The 220Va 4 Inlet Transformer is a garden light transformer that can run pool lights and withstand complete immersion in water.
So it is very difficult to specify a standard "wattage" for LED lights. A basic guideline is that the white light setting of any LED pool light is equivalent in brightness to about a 270 - 300 watt regular light bulb.
Check the circuit breaker panel that's usually found on the side of your house. If the breaker that your pool light is on has been tripped, unplug whatever you just turned on or plugged in and then reset the breaker by turning it all the way off and then back on again. If that doesn't work, you may have a bad breaker.
WRITTEN BY: Inyo Pools
You could buy a whole new light fixture with a longer cord or you could splice into the existing cord and add to it. If you add a spliced cord, you should not put the splice underground inside the light wire's conduit. That pipe generally collects water and the spice would eventually short out.
Only specific listed low voltage luminaires are permitted to be installed closer than 5 feet to the pool edge.
12V Is More Energy Efficient
Low voltage systems are more energy efficient than 120V systems. They typically use 20 to 40 percent less electricity than 120V, and that savings is even higher if you use LED lighting.
Most incandescent bulbs will burn for 1,000 hours before bulb replacement is necessary. LED bulbs can burn for 25 years or more (or so they tell us).