I was wondering of this, if metal halide pool light fixtures existed.... Which would've been awesome if they did!  

Now, I was wondering if I can use a 70w or 100w PSMH ballast for a pool light fixture remotely with these pool light fixtures?

https://www.amazon.com/Hayward-SP0583SL50-AstroLite-Stainless-120-Volt/dp/B002EL3ZZK?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_2

If they do, I have never heard of them. The one in my pool is incandescent and is burned out. It would be cool to light it with metal halide though 

You can try it if you want. If you know how to do electrical work. But put the ballast remotely, not in the fixture.

That should work fine. If I were you though I would do 175w metal halide instead since it would be brighter and not use an ignitor. Pool lights like that normally take 300, 400, or 500w R40 lamps. You can get Plusrite R40 metal halides from lightbulbs.com.

That should work fine. If I were you though I would do 175w metal halide instead since it would be brighter and not use an ignitor. Pool lights like that normally take 300, 400, or 500w R40 lamps. You can get Plusrite R40 metal halides from lightbulbs.com.

I guess 175w metal halide will do. But the question is... would the lamp fit in the housing of the fixture? Also, what about 175w or 100w mercury vapor lamps with their ballasts remotely? If I can get some mercury vapor ballasts from ebay, or a restore. That will also look awesome too!   As well with the DX coated mercury vapor bulbs!

Either choice would be cool and different, just remember they do make 100 & 175W  R-40 mercs also! All you'd have to do is mount the ballast in a weatherproof enclosure, AWAY FROM THE WATER! (obviously!) and all should be good, GO FOR IT! And post pics when it's done. i'll be it will really look neat, weather MV or MH !

Either choice would be cool and different, just remember they do make 100 & 175W  R-40 mercs also! All you'd have to do is mount the ballast in a weatherproof enclosure, AWAY FROM THE WATER! (obviously!) and all should be good, GO FOR IT! And post pics when it's done. i'll be it will really look neat, weather MV or MH !

Well, I don't have a pool, but I might soon have one if I have money for it.

i dont think that cofe cause pool lighting tend to use low voltage incandescents

any way how about lighting your pool with a Spent Neclear fuel pool bulb😝

i dont think that cofe cause pool lighting tend to use low voltage incandescents

any way how about lighting your pool with a Spent Neclear fuel pool bulb😝

Whats that look like?

https://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=3426&pos=0&pid=99345

Ah I see. Its quite big though, than a PAR38 bulb.

Safety requirement for pool light is, that if there is a Water leak into the light, it can't source current into the pool water

Powering the light at line voltage through an isolation transformer provides this safety level. However :

 - The long wiring from the transformer (remote) to the light, under the pool deck, means that there is some chance for a grond fault to happen in this wiring, for whatever cause. As the wiring is on the transformer's secondary, this won't trip any protections. Then if a Water leak into the pool light happens in the pool (the resulting electrical potential to the water depends on how much surface area of either conductor is touching the water), then there can be current from the pool light, the pool water, any conductivity to the ground around the pool walls, and the first isolation fault in the wiring outside the pool. So, there is possibility of a fault that will bypass the safety protection and go unnoticed

 - If there are faults in 2 lights, the potential connected to the Water may be different between them, which will mean current through the water. This can be overcome by connecting an individual transformer to each light, but the individual transformers still dont solve the deck wiring problem

 - None of this protects in case of touching the internals of a smashed light or wiring from a missing light

Powering at SELV (in pools normally 12V or 24V) solves all the problems : As the source voltage is up to 12/24V, this is the max potential that can be conducted to the water inder any fault conditions that could happen, and is safe. And it saves costs since only 1 transformer is needed for multiple lights

Doing the electrics for an MH light up to the same safety level (except the smashed light problem) would require 12V or 24V delivered up to the light. Then a step up isolation transformer and the HID gear must be all inside one enclosure underwater. That's a whole lot of complexity for one pool light !

(It can be possible to install the lamp outside the water and deliver the light somehow - e.g. with fiber or with a tunnel with mirrors - but that's a different story)



Another problem : Air expands and contracts as it heats up and cools down. The lantern must be sealed really well (to the grade that actually holds pressure) or provided with a "breathing tube" from the outside air. The "breathoing tube" does not protect from moisture in the air, so will still be susceptible to Water accumulation

The lamps used for pools are mostly Sealed Beam types, so they don't really require a luminaire with gret internal volume. A fairly small cap (small volume of air) on the back of the lamp to cover the connections is all what's there. Also, the extra low voltage here helps too, as those caps do leak, but with the low voltage the electrolysis and destruction of connections is quite slow, so the lamp keeps going fo a while even when the seal failed - Something that would destroy very quickly a line voltage setup

So, that means I can't use metal halide bulbs inside the pool light fixture, is that what you're saying?

Yes that is correct .  It cause you dont want Create a voltage potiintal gradiant inside the pool.  in event of a fault.  just being in pool with meaning current can go
though ya with body of water 10 feet apart.  is same
applys when a high voltage power line falls on the ground.  to survive this you have to shufflel your feet
and make very small steps.  being in a pool you cant
and having MH with Ignitors  can send few Kiovolts
of ignition voltage inside the pool.  About Equivalent
of a downed Power line senerio  and you cant shuflle
your feet inside a body of water.  Natinal Electric code
is very Strict what goes into the pool.

The danger is from leakage of line potential to the water. This can be avoided by few ways :

Step the voltage to SELV outside the pool, and then step back up to line voltage by a transformer located inside the underwater lantern. This would be safe but it may be a problem to find an underwater light capable of containing also ballast + transformer

Power the light with line voltage, but isolated by an isolation transformer outside the pool. The problem with this option is, that if an isolation fault happens in the wiring going to the pool you won't know, but once such fault is present, the underwater light will be able to conduct current to the water once it's seal fails. Even higher the problem is if the ignitor is installed remotely, as line voltage cable probably can't be considered "double isolated" for ignitor voltages

The latter might become a safe option if an isolation monitoring system is added (I-T supplies, like in hospitals), but with immediate tripping once the first fault is detected


Line voltage in the pool is not normally as dangerous as you might think, as teh curent path spreads over the big volume of water

The current (and therefore potential gradient) is most concentrated at the points where there is conduction from the current source to the pool (the failed light) and from the pool to the ambient (the pool drain holes, metal objects, cracks in the pool wall through which water leaks to the nearby ground, etc, or you if you touch an earthed object outside the water)

The safest way to escape from an electrified pool is to avoid those high current density spots - i think it would be about this :

1. Swim away from the current entry point, without approaching nearby pool edges until you got far enough (few meters at least) from the current entry point

2. When you are coming to the pool edge, get your hand slowly towards what you want to touch (the pool wall, etc) and feel if there is current. If there is, go further away from the current source. If there isn't feeling of current, try first touching the object (pool edge, etc) with the back of your hand - again, slowly, feeling if there is current first

3. Avoid metal stairs or grabbing to metal parts, especially ones that stand outside the water. Climb on the pool edge made of plastic or tile

4. If there is no safe way to exit from the pool, just stay in the water as far as possible from the current entry point, and wait untill it will be de energized