Lighting The Next Chapter
How connected lighting and smarter automation are changing the way homeowners experience their pools — and how pool professionals can deliver more value
For years, pool lighting was primarily about safety and visibility. Builders installed enough fixtures to provide proper illumination, satisfy code requirements and extend the pool’s use after sunset. Once the lights were selected and installed, however, the conversation was largely over.
Today, lighting has become part of a much larger discussion. Homeowners increasingly expect it to work alongside automation, connected equipment and mobile apps to create an outdoor space that’s easier to control and personalize.
Republic Pools of Texas has watched homeowner expectations evolve firsthand.
“Everyone’s on their phone, everyone’s tech savvy and everyone loves having that convenience,” says owner Michael Wolfinbarger. “Now we’re doing the same for the pool industry.”
That shift has helped shape products such as Jandy’s Infinite WaterColors lights.
Smarter lighting, simpler control
Jeremy Young, director of product marketing for Fluidra, says one of the biggest changes isn’t necessarily what pool equipment can do — it’s what homeowners expect it to do.
People no longer compare pool controls with other pool controls; they compare them with every connected device they use. Homeowners expect technology to work quietly in the background.
That expectation extends to lighting. Infinite WaterColors uses two-way power line communication to allow homeowners to select specific colors rather than cycling through preset programs. When paired with AquaLink EDGE, Jandy’s new automation platform available for order this fall, homeowners will be able to control individual lights through the app, save custom colors as a Signature Color and organize lights into unlimited virtual zones.
“It’s not only about what they can technically do,” says Orlando Gadea, vice president of global digital experience. “It’s how do we orchestrate these with an experience?”
Designing for experience
Today’s pool designs often include tanning ledges, spas, water features, fire features and multiple lighting locations, giving builders far more flexibility than the single white light that illuminated many older pools. That also makes lighting design more important.
“We’re not the builder that puts one or two or three lights in a pool,” Wolfinbarger says. “We usually deck them out. We’re anywhere between seven and 14 lights on the majority of our builds.”
Rather than simply adding fixtures, Republic Pools uses separate lighting zones for pools, spas, tanning ledges and water features so homeowners can tailor the backyard to different occasions.
“If you’re throwing a gender reveal or you’re having a sports theme party, we can zone and theme according to the colors of whatever you’re doing,” Wolfinbarger says. “When you start taking that light out of your 2D plane and you put it into a 3D plane with water features, it completely changes the game.”
Lighting also gives builders an opportunity to sell something homeowners immediately understand. While pumps, heaters and other equipment largely disappear into the background, the effect of good lighting is visible every night.
“People build pools to swim in,” Wolfinbarger says. “I take pride in my pools at nighttime. You could tell a night and day difference between builders when you see that pool at night.”
Making service easier
For builders and service companies, some of the biggest advances in pool lighting have little to do with color selection or app controls. They happen years later, when a light needs to be replaced.
Jandy’s Infinite WaterColors lights, which now feature QuickConnect Technology, are designed to simplify that process. Instead of pulling an entire light cord back through the conduit, the system uses a double-sealed underwater connector and coiled cable that allow technicians to disconnect and replace the fixture directly at the pool.
For Wolfinbarger, QuickConnect Technology addresses one of the more time-consuming service calls his team encounters.
“Yesterday, Kelcee [co-owner and Wolfinbarger’s wife] and I were pulling lights for some jobs and it’s a two-person job, so I’ve had to wait a couple of weeks for her availability just to get out there to change lights,” Wolfinbarger says. “But with Jandy’s new design, we’re just disconnecting, reconnecting and I’m gone in 10-15 minutes. I’m now able to take care of more customers.”
A different conversation
As lighting systems become more connected, builders are discussing them earlier in the design process. Placement, zoning and automation all influence how the backyard will function after dark.
For Republic Pools, automation has become part of that discussion from the beginning.
“We don’t sell automation as an upgrade,” Wolfinbarger says. “It’s a standard. Pools are becoming too smart. Homeowners need the system automated.”
That approach also creates opportunities when older pools need new lights. Instead of replacing a failed fixture with a similar one, builders and service professionals can introduce homeowners to app-based controls, custom colors and virtual zoning as part of the upgrade.
Jon Viner, president of Fluidra North America, says the goal isn’t simply to add more technology. It’s to make owning and enjoying a pool easier.
“We want to go away from just an on-off command switch and instead give users meaningful information and control that helps them enjoy the pool,” Viner says.
Lighting what’s next
For Wolfinbarger, the next evolution of pool lighting extends beyond the pool itself and into the entire backyard — from under-coping lighting and landscape lighting to synchronized music integration and other connected features.
“Many people are no longer hanging Christmas lights,” he says. “They have under-soffit lights. They change it on their app and there you go — they’re themed for that holiday. We’re doing the same for the pool industry.”
While lighting and automation can each operate independently, pairing them allows homeowners and pool professionals to unlock additional lighting controls through a single platform.
As software and automation evolve, Keith McQueen, Fluidra’s chief product officer, says they’re enhancing the value builders and service professionals can provide throughout the life of the pool.
And as homeowners prioritize smarter, more connected spaces, Wolfinbarger expects lighting to become part of the overall outdoor environment rather than a stand-alone pool feature.
“The whole backyard just became a showpiece,” he says.
Fluidra
Fluidra is a publicly listed company focused on developing innovative products, services and IoT solutions for the residential and commercial pool markets, globally. The company operates in over 45 countries and owns a portfolio of some of the industry’s most recognized and trusted brands, including Jandy®, Polaris®, S.R.Smith®, and Cover-Pools®.