Recommendations for setting up pool lighting in a private home

If your private home has a swimming pool, you should not deprive yourself of the pleasure of decorating it. After all, the pool lighting - not only aesthetic, but also useful. What are the requirements for underwater and surface lights, how to select them, on the principles of the installation of lighting with their own hands, ways to control this article will tell.

Just a few lights completely change the view of the pool bowl.

Requirements and safety

Even at the stage of preparation for the installation of lighting for the pool you need to take into account a number of rules. They should not be neglected. After all, it is a matter of life, because water and electricity - a combination, to put it mildly, dangerous. These are the requirements:

1. No 220 V, it's a taboo. The voltage should be only 12 volts.
2. The most important thing about underwater lights degree of protection (IP). And it should have the maximum rating - IP68.
3. The most important issue is the airtight insulation of the wiring. This is especially true for the places where the wires are connected to the light. This is where the most thorough insulation must be done.
4. Every underwater and overwater light must be within easy reach. They do not need to be hidden somewhere or hung too high.
5. When installing lighting, it is important to make sure that none of the lights cast glare and sunlight on the surface of the water, and that they do not blind the eyes.
6. Stairway lighting should combine convenience and safety.
7. The light should spread evenly over the entire area of the bowl, including the walls and the bottom.

For example, here the light is evenly distributed.

Selecting fixtures and lighting options

Choice of lamp type

If we talk about type of bulbs for light fixtures, then for general lighting and the ceiling, any of the available options will do:

• halogen;
• light-emitting diode (LED);
• incandescent;
• discharge;
• fiber-optic illumination.

But for underwater lighting inside the bowl only 2 types of lamps are suitable - halogen and LED. Their advantages are outweighed by the disadvantages. Halogens shine more brightly, disperse the flux over a larger area, but they usually last less. LED lights last a very long time, they save a lot of energy, but they have a smaller light radius, and they cost more. But they have a great variety of colors.

Topical video: The choice of lights for the pool

General lighting

In general, as far as lighting in the pool in a private home, there are two types of lights: general and underwater. General lighting is installed throughout the surrounding area, on the walls, ceilings. For these lights degree of protection from moisture plays not such an important role, since contact with water will be minimal or absent altogether.

Balanced general lighting.

In general lighting recommend the installation of ceiling spotlightswhich can give a directional stream of light. It is best to mount them on brackets. Additional lamps on the walls, mounted in the same way, will give local lighting of certain areas of the pool and the surrounding area.

Underwater lighting

The main functions of the backlight inside the pool are:

• help when swimming in the dark time of the day;
• improving the safety of being in the water;
• emphasizing the shape of the bowl;
• external beauty.

The most commonly used lights for underwater pool rooms are spotlights (spot lights or LED strips. Spot lights are placed on the sides of the pool bowl and at the bottom. The main requirement for the placement is the same distance between each pair of spotlights. On the security of this has no effect, but aesthetically uneven lighting will look ugly. LED strip - an option more flexible, in all senses. It can be guided by any path, to bend at an angle, to wind up the channels. Plus, LED strips are easy to attach to the walls of the pool bowl.

LEDs add to the magic.

There are a few other varieties of underwater lighting that are popular right now:

1. Floating lights. The essence of this method is that on the surface of the water are installed waterproof circular battery-powered lights. They move freely in the water and create uniform illumination. The lamps are placed in inflatable containers, ribbons are not used here. This option usually has a decorative value, serving more as additional illumination.
   Floating lights.
2. Fiber optics. Fiber optic cable can be used to create exciting lighting inside the pool bowl. There will be changing colors, styles, brightness, dynamics. The main requirement is to place the fiber optic power supply as far away from the water as possible.

Rules for the arrangement of electrical wiring

When planning the installation of lighting for the pool, you need, first of all, to be concerned about the safety and reliability of the power supply. There are a few fundamental principles that are worth observing:

1. The voltage should only be 12 volts. You will need an electronic or electromagnetic 220/12 V transformer, which should be placed where it is guaranteed that moisture will never get in.
2. The wiring should be insulated as thoroughly as possible.
3. A light switch is best installed in any convenient location, but away from the pool. You can use a standard push-button switch, several transformers can be connected to the switch. To calculate the current, calculate the total power of all transformers.
4. Backlighting is considered fully installed, if there is a working scheme: circuit breaker - switch - transformers - fixtures.

Recommendations for installation

The easiest way to equip the pool light with their own hands - to apply non-contact overhead fixtures. They are easy to install and, if necessary, remove. Such spots are hung on the walls and the bottom of the bowl, the main thing is to maintain the same distance between them. Their operation is regulated by a non-contact touch dimmer.

Contactless overhead flashlight.

If you "stay true" to the traditional electric approach, however, you need to fill your head with considerably more information and cautions. Key points that should not be forgotten:

1. When buying underwater spotlights, look not only at the degree of protection, but also at the maximum depth of installation. There should be no conflict with the depth in the floor or the walls of the bowl.
2. If a floor or wall mounted underwater spotlight breaks, you will need to drain all the water out of the pool to access it. This is where you can make life a little easier by installing lights on the walls above the water level.
3. Dimmers and light filters give ample opportunity to adjust the color and intensity.
4. The more matte the texture of the plafond, the softer and more pleasant the light will be underwater.
5. Lights away from the pool should still have a high degree of resistance to moisture. If this is neglected, the consequences can be extremely unpleasant. In addition, special sleeves that are put on the lights can help.

If you want to turn your pool into a veritable work of art, the decorative lights can help. They will give the territory a special atmosphere. On the ceiling in complete darkness will look spectacular, for example, the Milky Way, the mountains, the lights - the scope for imagination is endless.

Underwater lighting installation.

Controlling the lighting system

Now there are tremendous opportunities to control the pool lighting system of a private home. Standard push-button switch or dimmer for general and underwater lighting, remote control switch - the most simple and banal solutions, it can not surprise anyone. But there are more interesting options.

One interesting way to control it is with a remote controller to change the intensity or turn it off, which can be clipped to your arm or leg, and swam with it underwater. By installing the multicolor backlight, the wearer gets a rich field for different light modes and their switching.

Multicolor illumination along with fountains.

Here, each individual spotlight or group of spotlights is brought to the device with preset program algorithms. Human intervention is not necessary to change them. It is enough to program all the parameters, and a luminous extravaganza in the pool will alternate as if by magic.

An idea. You can even create a light and sound show by synchronizing program changes with song changes. The controllers convert the signals coming from the computer and set the next algorithm for the lights with each new track. Some and a permanent PC connection You don't need to: Once you upload the programs, and then the controller does everything by itself. In short, the possibilities are truly exciting!