Pool Light Control via Z-Wave

Hardware
1

I owner built my pool four years ago by hiring subs directly and bypassing the pool builder profit and overhead. I spec’d the equipment which included six Pentair MicroBrite LED Bulbs. These carry a warranty of three years and lo and behold, 3 years and 6 months in one of them died on me. The replacement cost is $750 PER LIGHT, installed. Pentair charges a ridiculous $525 for the bulb and feeder wire which is INSANE, especially since they apparently don’t last very long.

I’m looking into getting generic replacement RGB bulbs but don’t trust that their cloud-based controllers will outlast the bulbs! I’d like to get them working in Home Assistant via Z-Wave and am looking to see if anyone has done this before.

My system runs in a docker container via a Virtual Machine on a retired NUC computer running Windows 10. I update the system every time a new update comes our so it is current as of now (GMT 19:02 on September 3, 2026).

I’m probably shooting in the dark here but it cannot hurt to ask.

2

I’ve never done anything related to pool lighting but if you could use a normal 12v/24vdc light assembly you can use WLED or ESPHome on one of these bad boys: GLEDOPTO ESP32 PWM WLED LED Controller 5 Modes in 1 DC 12-24V WiFi Wireless App Control Easy Wiring DIY Static Dynamic Mode Lighting For Analog RGBCCT RGBW RGB WWCW CCT Dimmer Single Color Strip Light - Amazon.com

They are not waterproof but I assume that the electrics for the pool are out of the water.

They are not Z-Wave though, just Wi-Fi. I’m not sure how much of a dealbreaker that would be for you.

3

The controller is outside the pool. This looks like it’ll work as I prefer Z-wave for the lower frequency range on an un-crowed bandwidth but am not married to it. I’ll take a look and I need to figure our a light (or lights) to go with it.