Electrical question

[davidmash]

Need some help.

The lights on my pool are FUBAR. There is a tower with 120v in bound going to a transformer. The light is 19.7v @200W There is a cooling fan in there that looks like on a computer. I have replaced the light twice. They burned out with in a few days.

I want to replace the whole mess. What I would like to do is put a regular 12v transformer and swap the light out with the strongest LED I can find with the same size as the light above.

Can this be done? I do not know much about electrical stuff. Where do I find one? How do I determine the wattage of a LED in comparison to the regular bulbs?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[davidmash]

Nothing? No one here as any suggestions? You people are really smart. Surely someone has some ideas.

[compu_85]

Can you take a picture of the underwater fixture? Were you running them with the pool empty?

-J

[mpolli]

There are a lot of details here we don't know. Can you put in LED lights? Sure. How specifically to do that in your pool? Don't know. If it was me I would find out why the new lights keep dying in your setup. What is the voltage the PS is putting out? You might just need a new power supply. There are lots of LED lights on EBay. I would look there and see what you can get.

[Eskimo]

If it were at my house, I think I'd try to figure out why the bulb is burning out so quickly, rather than trying to re-engineer something that might at one time have been functional.

Power supply driving bulb beyond 200 W?

System originally designed for lower power (say, 150 W) bulb, then incorrectly "upgraded" by previous owner?

Fan no good, or substandard replacement made by previous owner?

Blocked ventilation?

From what you describe, I'm assuming that you have one 200 W bulb that is pumping light to a bunch of locations in the pool through optic fiber. Is that right?

I have no experience with pool lighting, but I have used some small industrial fiber optic illuminators. They're 150 W, and they REALLY get hot if something messes up the cooling air flow.

[sjh]

If you have access to wiring than, as long as you do not exceed to current capacity, you can install any component you wish.

LED's draw much, much, much less current.

But most pool/spa lights I've seen are just basic incandescent bulbs without any external cooling.

More detailed answers will require more detailed information from you.

[davidmash]

Originally Posted by compu_85

Can you take a picture of the underwater fixture? Were you running them with the pool empty?

-J

The fixtures are fiber optics. There are bundles of fiber optic strands under the light running to 4 out puts into the pool.

[compu_85]

Are you sure the fan works?

I'd like to see what this figure looks like.

[davidmash]

According to what I have researched the 16.7 volt 200w light is correct but I will have to double check. I'll try and take some pictures tomorrow.

The main reason I would like to 'upgrade' it is to eliminate the heat. That bulb is very hot and I know that LED's are much cooler and more efficient. I figured I could get rid of the fan and the heat in one fell swoop.

The pool was installed in 1994 I believe (need to find the permit) and the lighting system is corroded. The housing is fine but the innards seem worn/rusted out. Given that LED's were not around back then I was thinking this would be a good option for what I have now.

[Eskimo]

Originally Posted by davidmash

The main reason I would like to 'upgrade' it is to eliminate the heat. That bulb is very hot and I know that LED's are much cooler and more efficient. I figured I could get rid of the fan and the heat in one fell swoop.

If you research it enough, I think you may find that it's pretty serious business to try to get the same illumination from an LED lamp that you can get from that 200 W halogen lamp. You not only need a lot of light, but you also need it going to the right place, i.e., delivered to the optic fiber.

As efficient as they are compared to incandescent lamps, LEDs still produce some heat in operation. It may not seem to be that big of a deal when one looks at a small LED flashlight, but we're talking about a lot more light here - and more heat that has to be dissipated.

Why don't you check with the folks who currently sell fiber optic pool illumination systems, and find out what they offer in the way of light sources for those installations? If it's straightforward and practical to do it with an LED source, then they might be doing so. If they aren't doing it that way - if they're only using halogen or high intensity discharge lights - then the reason(s) for that might be of interest to you as you try to decide how to proceed with your system.

[mpolli]

The original mfg might offer an LED upgrade, or someone might offer a retrofit for it, if enough of them are around. Who is the mfg on it?