Installing pool lighting is very common for pool owners these days. Not only do they provide illumination, but they also add aesthetic appeal and allow you to enjoy a great time at the pool, day or night.
Thanks to advances in technology, we have more options when it comes to lighting our pools. In the following sections I’ll be looking at some of the more common pool lighting options, so let’s have a look.
LED pool lights rely on LED chips to emit light, they are a semiconductor material that directly converts electrical energy into visible light. When an electric current is passed through the LED chip, the N-type semiconductor (negative) and the P-type semiconductor (positive) collide violently, producing photons that are emitted outwards and light is produced.
Halogen lamps need to convert electrical energy into heat energy and then convert heat energy into light energy. LEDs reduce the conversion to heat energy and use electrical energy more efficiently. LED pool lights have become the most common choice for pool lighting.
Safety
LED pool lights with 12V/24V safety voltage, no risk of electric shock accident.
Low energy consumption
LED pool lights use a fraction of the power of halogen lights for the same lighting effect.
Low heat generation
The LED will still heat up from the heat of the electronic components, but much less than halogen lamps.
Long service life
High-quality LED chips can last up to 50,000 hours, far longer than halogen lamps, energy-saving lamps, and other types of light sources.
The above shows the main benefits of LED pool lighting, you can read about the the advantages of LED pool lights to find out more.
Expensive
This is mainly due to high manufacturing costs. As technology develops and the LED industry continues to expand, manufacturing costs will continue to fall. However, the complex manufacturing process and expensive materials make it difficult to achieve a significant reduction in the short term.
Sensitive to high temperatures
If the operating temperature exceeds the tolerable temperature of LED chips, the luminous efficiency of the LED pool light will be reduced and the light decay rate will become faster. Some high-temperature application scenarios please pay attention to pick high-temperature resistant pool lights, they are more excellent heat dissipation design.
The light source of a fiber optic pool light is placed in a sealed box outside the pool. The box is attached to a flexible glass or plastic fiber, which directs the light through the fiber into the pool.
Many fiber optic pool lights use LEDs as the light source, so most of the advantages and disadvantages of LEDs are present in fiber optic pool lights. In addition, fiber optic pool lights have their own unique characteristics.
Easy to replace and repair
This is the biggest advantage of fiber optic pool lighting. Most of the structure of a fibre optic pool light is outside the pool, so it can be operated without draining the pool, and disassembly is easier. It is much less difficult and time-consuming to repair and replace than traditional pool lights.
Safety
Fiber optic pool lights do not require contact with water during replacement and maintenance, and the risk of electric shock is minimal.
Expensive
Compared with traditional LED lights, fiber optic pool lights have a complex box structure and higher manufacturing cost and selling price.
Large volume
Traditional LED fixtures can transfer heat to the pool water through thermal conduction in the body. With this feature, LED pool luminaires can easily achieve higher output or slimmer luminaire bodies.
Fiber optic pool lights need to use a fan to dissipate heat, making them more complex and larger in size.
Low brightness
Fiber optic pool lights require the pool environment to generate light, which is then directed through the fiber optic to illuminate the pool. There are many losses from the time the light is generated to the time it is used for lighting.
Most solar pool lights also use LEDs as the light source. The difference with ordinary LED lights is that they are connected to solar cells that can absorb solar energy and store it to power the LED lights.
More energy efficient
Absorbing solar energy to emit light? That just sounds cool! In areas with plenty of sunshine, using solar energy pool lights will save you more money on your electricity bill.
Continues to shine after a power outage
If the power goes out in your area often, or if the power supply is inadequate in the summer, your pool can still shine like a jewel when everyone is complaining in the dark. I’m sure you’re very content at this time.
Easy maintenance
Solar pool lights do not need to be connected to additional power cables and are very easy to install and maintain afterwards.
Cannot completely replace electricity
Unfortunately, the current conversion, storage and utilization of solar energy is not efficient enough for solar energy to completely replace other energy sources. After being affected by climate and season, solar pool lights do not provide sufficient lighting. When there is not enough light or when the energy storage is exhausted, you still need to use traditional electricity.
Poor durability
The batteries in solar pool lights are not durable enough and have a normal lifespan of 1-2 years. In addition, it is better to take them out and put them in indoor environment when the weather is bad, which can increase the life of solar pool lights.
Halogen lights were developed from incandescent lights, both incandescent and halogen lights have a tungsten filament.
Incandescent light luminescence principle is to the filament into enough current, the filament in the heat after the resistance becomes large temperature further increase, and finally reach the incandescent state luminescence. Incandescent light life is relatively short, generally only about 800-1000 hours.
At high temperatures, trace amounts of tungsten are evaporated into tungsten vapor, which is deposited on the glass housing when encountering relatively low temperatures. After a long time the filament gradually thinned, the shell gradually darkened, and eventually extinguished due to filament burnout.
Halogen light luminous principle and incandescent lights are similar. The difference is that halogen lights are sealed with halogen gases such as bromine or iodine. There is a certain temperature difference between the filament and the glass housing. When the tungsten filament evaporates due to high temperature, the tungsten vapor reacts chemically with the halogen element in a relatively low temperature area to produce tungsten halide.
Tungsten halide is not stable, close to the filament after the higher temperature decomposition into halogen gas and tungsten again, before the evaporation of most of the tungsten and attached to the filament. Through this cycle, the life of the halogen light is greatly extended, reaching about 1500-2500 hours.
Low purchase and replacement costs are the biggest advantage of halogen lights. If you only consider short-term use, halogen lights are also a good choice.
High energy consumpti
Halogen lights consume several times more power than LEDs at the same brightness.
High heat generation
Halogen lights are more likely to heat up the pool water.
Short service life
The use of life is far from good quality LED lights.
In addition to halogen lights, almost all other types of pool lights use LED as the lighting source, which fully illustrates the suitability of LED for pool lighting. In the field of pool lighting, halogen lights have been gradually eliminated by LED. For most people, traditional LED pool lights are cost-effective and sufficient for everyday use scenarios. If you have more to consider, you can try other types of pool lights. But whatever you choose, LED is there and it has changed the whole pool lighting field.
