Fully Customisable Pool Lighting

You are ready to breathe new life into your pool. But how do you make sure that you’ll end up with a set up you like?

Unfortunately, there’s no shortage of badly lit pools. A badly lit pool detracts from the aesthetic of a home and contributes to safety hazards. A well lit pool brings life into a home and makes it a fun and enjoyable swimming experience for all.

We’ve installed pool lights in the Hills District for over 18 years and we’ve compiled our top 3 tips to make sure your pool looks as good as it can.

A short search on pool lights will greet you with plenty of different options that you can use. Options such as incandescent, halogen lights, fiber optics, floating orbs and others. However, which ones will work best for your pool?

You may be tempted to follow whatever lights have good reviews or are within your budget. But it’s also important to consider how your lights will fare based on its durability, energy consumption and customisation. Recently we’ve opted for LED lights as much as we can for our clients. After comparing them to other forms of lights, here’s why we feel it’s the best option.

• Durability:We regularly maintain pool lights for our clients, and we find the ones that require the least amount of maintenance are LED lights. They are exceptionally durable, with a lifespan that exceeds many other lighting technologies. They are more resistant to shocks, vibrations, and temperature changes, making them ideal for the demanding environment of a pool area.
• Energy Consumption: LED lights operate at lower temperatures than other lights. This may reduce the risk of heat-related accidents and making them safer for use around pools. They also provide instant lighting without warm-up time, ensuring quick lighting when needed. This also means it’s easier on your energy bill and won’t eat up additional costs as time goes on.
• Customisation: We find that most of our customers are calling us back to replace incandescent and halogen lights they installed years ago. This is because they haven’t evolved to match the customisation capabilities of LED. These lights offer versatile options for customization and control. You can create dynamic lighting effects, change colors, and adjust brightness levels to suit different occasions and moods, enhancing the ambiance of your pool area.

Choosing LED pool lights not only enhances your pool’s aesthetics but also ensures a sustainable, cost-effective, and fun swimming experience. We’ve embraced this technology and use it as much as possible with minimal complaints from our customers. To see how LED’s can enhance your pool, call us today and we can give you specific ideas to think about.

Sometimes clients come to us saying they want to use a specific type of light for their pool. However, there’s no one size fits all light that works for every aspect of your pool. Different areas of your pool or even around your pool may call for different types of lights.

• Underwater Lighting Effects: We find different variations of lights add a lot to the aesthetic of a pool. Waterfall lighting can transform cascading water into a beautiful display. Similarly, fountain lighting adds a playful touch, turning water jets into pretty displays of color. Lighting up mosaic tiles or glass walls with fiber optics creates a luxurious effect. We find adding one or two of these variations bring up the aesthetic as a whole, but adding too much detracts from the pool.
• Highlighting Architectural Features: We use various lighting techniques to enhance our clients’ pool areas and their surroundings. For bushes and plants, we use gentle lights to create a soft glow. When highlighting trees, we use uplighting methods to highlight them against the night sky. Along walkways and patios, we install pathway lights for safety and ambiance, allowing you to enjoy a warm and inviting glow. Additionally, we utilize spotlights or accent lights to draw attention to architectural elements like columns or water features, elevating the overall aesthetics of the pool area.

It may be tempting to use a lot of different lights together, but it’s important to pick ones that work well together to bring up the aesthetic as a whole. We’ve seen clients that have installed a variety of lights that clash with one another. If you want to maximize your aesthetic, we’ll help plan lights that work well for your pool.

You may be tempted to install pool lights yourself. However, due to the nature of installing electrical components underwater, we recommend getting a professional to help you. Whatever professional you pick for your lights, make sure they’re following these best practices to safely install your pool lights.

• Power Safety Measures: One safety measure during pool light installation is ensuring the power supply to the pool area is turned off before any work begins. This prevents potential electrical shocks or accidents. A key step many electricians miss though is to use a voltage tester as well. We find it useful to use a voltage tester to confirm that the power is indeed turned off and there is no electricity present in the part of the pool being worked on.
• Waterproofing and Wiring Standards: Many electricians use fixtures they have in stock or use for other lighting environments. We find it best to use specific waterproof and weather-resistant lighting fixtures specifically designed for outdoor and pool environments. This is useful to prevent water-related hazards.
  These fixtures are rated with an IP68 rating and are designed to work in a pool environment. Additionally, high-quality insulated wiring rated for outdoor use and meeting standards such as UL (Underwriters Laboratories) ensures that the electrical connections are safe and can withstand exposure to water and weather elements without significant safety risks.
• Equipment and Tool Usage: Using the wrong tools is asking for a lot of trouble when installing pool lights. We typically use tools such as wire strippers to remove insulation from wires, voltage testers to check for live wires and ensure safety before handling them and pliers for bending and securing wires. Specialized tools for wet environments are essential. It’s crucial to use tools that are insulated and designed for electrical work to prevent electrical shocks and ensure everything is safe and secure. Install GFCIs for all pool lighting circuits to protect against electrical shocks in water. GFCIs detect imbalances in electrical currents and quickly shut off power to prevent accidents.

Water and electricity do not mix well, it’s important to be as safe as possible when installing lights in your pool and requires an expert electrician’s touch. If you’re thinking of installing pool lights, give Globilenet a call, and we’ll install your pool lighting vision in a safe, effecient manner.

When installing pool lights, it’s tempting to think merely installing them is enough to contribute to a well lit pool. It’s important to consider specific placements and ways to future-proof the aesthetics of your pool.

Some things we consider when planning our clients’ lights.

• Depth of Pool Light Placement: Many electricians tend to install lights in a simple straight line. However the depth at which pool lights are placed can significantly impact the illumination. Deeper placements create a softer, diffused glow, while shallower placements produce brighter, more direct lighting. When placing the lights, we consider how installing the lights at different depths can maximize the look of the pool.
• Smart Home Integration: Consider tying your entire pool light ecosystem using smart home integration that you can control remotely. This allows you to maximize aesthetics as you can change the lighting and ambience to suit different moods. It’s important to do this at the outset of your installation instead of making these adjustments later on. This is because it may require removing fixtures and lights again to make the changes.

Many of these tips sound simple but are harder to implement. We’ve seen many pools that don’t follow these practices and problems tend to show up down the line. Give us a call to get a done-and-done solution for you.

Globilenet has installed many pool lights over the years. But we’ve also helped many pool owners with repairs and overhauls on their pool lights. Over time problems creep up with their pool lights. Many of them could have been avoided using a professional with more experience. Here’s what we’ve noticed are the top 3 reasons people have botched their pool lights.

During installation, if inappropriate wiring and methods are used this leads to problems down the line. These problems don’t show up right away, but usually increase slowly until one day your pool lights start acting unusual. Flickering, dimming, and electrical discharge are common occurrences. Many of these can be traced to the following:

• IP Rating: When installing pool lights, it’s important to use fixtures with the correct Ingress Protection (IP) rating, such as IP68. These ratings indicate the light’s ability to withstand water exposure and resist dust and debris. Some electricians may think that because the depth of the pool is low, it’s not essential to use a high IP rating. Unfortunately, we’ve seen many pool lights trashed by using inadequate fixtures and needing total overhauls. Using fixtures with lower IP ratings can lead to water leakage, corrosion, electrical shorts and other dangers. Posing risks to you and your family.
• Incorrect Voltage: Proper voltage and wiring are essential for safe and efficient use of pool lights. Using the incorrect voltage can lead to overloading, flickering lights and dim illumination. It’s best to make sure that the voltage matches the specifications of the lights and that the wiring is correctly installed to prevent short circuits and damage to your lights. This simple but often overlooked point has been a cause of many homeowners calling us for repairs.
• Waterproof Sealing: Proper sealing and waterproof techniques are crucial to protect your lights from water ingress, moisture buildup and electrical damage. We find it helpful to use waterproof connectors and sealing compounds to make sure the lighting fixtures last long in a pool environment. Neglecting sealing and waterproofing may lead to malfunctions and safety hazards.

Call us and we’ll make sure to install your pool according to best practices today to avoid problems down the line.

Without regular maintenance pool lights tend to diminish and lose their ability to illuminate well. And eventually lead to expensive repairs that could have been avoided.

Here are some tips to maintain your pool lights:

• Regular Cleaning: Clean the lenses of your lights, and a soft bristles brush or sponge to gently clean without scratching the surface.
• Inspection of corrosion and water ingress: Visually check and signs of water leakage or buildup of rust, debris or grime in your pool lights.
  
  Beyond this, we recommend you call a competent electrician to help with the following:
  
  
  • Checking Electrical Connections: Check connections for signs of corrosion such as rust or greenish deposits. Also using an anti-corrosion spray on connectors makes sure the connectors integrity will last long.
  • Test Electrical Circuits: Use a multimeter to test voltage levels, making sure they are in the acceptable range.
  • GFCI Testing: Test the GFCI to make sure it’s functioning properly and providing necessary protection. Especially for pool lights, this is an important step. It’s recommended to conduct GFCI testing multiple times annually and replace them every few years, tasks best handled by a certified pool repair electrician.

We’re usually called to repair pool lights that we find weren’t maintained well. Without regular maintenance, your pool lights may:

• Lose output over time: Accumulated dirt, algae and debris on lenses and fixtures lead to diminished output over time.
• Decrease energy efficiency: Malfunctioning pool lights consume more energy to produce the same illumination. Putting unnecessary strain on your system.
• Stop working properly: Flickering, dimming, electrical current leak and total shutdown of pool light functionality.

These may seem like small problems, but these aren’t regular lights. They are in contact with water. If any of your pool lights are facing any of these problems, please call a competent professional or us as soon as you can. We will do a thorough test to ensure the safety of your pool and check the root cause to fix your pool lights.

Many times we get calls from clients that want to overhaul their entire pool lighting system. This is because they installed pool lighting technology at a time when only older technology was available. Usually Halogen and Incandescent lights. However there is a surprising number of pool owners still using these types of bulbs and not opting for the latest in pool lighting technology. Futureproofing your pool means using lighting systems that are scalable and are compatible with future technologies. It may also mean using a lighting system that can change as your needs change in the future. Here’s how you can future proof your pool:

• Use LEDs: LED’s are great for future proofing your pool as they are extremely customisable. You can change colors, brightness and even use dynamic lighting effects. This allows you to change the look of your pool as time goes on and the needs of your pool changes. They also require minimal maintenance compared to traditional lights and reduce the frequency of replacements and servicing.
  The cost of operating LED lights are much lower than traditional halogen and incandescent making it a greater investment long term. We usually overhaul our clients’ systems with LEDs.
• Set up a smart home system: Older lights are incompatible with smart home systems, which makes it frustrating as owners need to control their lights with outdated switches and remotes. With a smart home system, pool owners can centrally control and manage all aspects of your pool lights from a single interface. This includes adjusting brightness levels and changing colors.
  You can also enable automation and scheduled light programs. While many opt for WiFi based smart lights, you may also opt for a Zigbee or Z-Wave smart home system that works over a wide range of devices and manufacturers without compatibility issues. This helps to future proof your pool as it’s not dependent on one manufacturer and rather works using a technology system that talks to other Zigbee or Z-wave smart devices.

By knowing these top 3 ways pool owners set up their pool for failure, you are in a better position to not make these same mistakes. Many of these points need to be addressed at the outset of pool installation. It’s important to hire a competent professional to get your installation and maintenance schedules correct from the outset. To set up your pool lights to work long term, or want another set of eyes with experience to help you, give Globilenet a call today.