Hayward AstroLite Pool Light

The AstroLite is Hayward's incandescent pool light: a tapered shell with a screw-in flood lamp inside, a 7 9/16-inch glass lens, and a face rim in stainless steel or thermoplastic. When it goes dark, the fix is usually a lamp and a gasket.

Hayward still lists it, in 500 watts with either rim and 400 watts in stainless only, all 120 volts. The 12-volt and 300-watt AstroLite lights on its 2015 sell sheet are gone from its site. Hayward's own J&J Electronics sell sheet explains the lamps: from January 31, 2023, incandescent bulbs of 300 watts and below that miss the Department of Energy's efficiency standard could no longer be sold.

The model number says which you have. SP0583 is the 500-watt and SP0584 the 400-watt. S means a stainless rim, and L marks a light with the automatic thermal switch.

Changing the lamp

Hayward's owner's guide covers this in one paragraph and a warning: only qualified service people should change the lamp or service the light. With the power off:

1. Take out the lock screw at the top of the face rim and lift the light out of the niche. It unhooks at the bottom. The guide has the installer leave enough cord coiled in the niche for the light to reach the deck.
2. Loosen the clamp screw only as far as it takes to free the face rim and lens from the clamp.
3. Change the lamp.
4. Fit a new lens gasket, with the side marked Pool against the face rim. The guide recommends a new one every time.
5. Line the parts back up. On a thermoplastic rim, the holes in the mounting tab on the reflector and the rim line up. On a stainless rim, the mounting screw lines up with the top mark on the reflector. Either way, the lens goes on by its own top mark.
6. Put the light back: hook at 6 o'clock into the notch at the bottom of the niche, lock screw at 12 o'clock into the bracket at the top.

The right lamp

The owner's guide lists a lamp for each wattage:

• 500 W, 120 V, R-40 — SPX0504Z7
• 400 W, 120 V, R-40 — SP0584Z2
• 300 W, 120 V, R-40 — SPX0542Z4
• 300 W, 12 V, R-40 — SPX0541Z1
• 100 W, 12 V, R-30 — SPX0510A

The incandescent lamps Hayward lists today are J&J Electronics 104042 at 500 watts and 104038 at 400, both R-40s with a standard E26 base. J&J gives the 500-watt a 2,000-hour average life.

When it switches itself off

An AstroLite with L in its model number has an automatic thermal switch. It is there to protect the light if it runs out of the water: when the light gets hotter than it was designed to, the switch cuts it, and when it cools, the light comes back on.

Hayward's guide names two things that make a submerged light cycle like that: water that is too hot, or a defective bulb. It says to fix the cause as soon as possible, not to live with it.

LED lamps Hayward lists for it

J&J Electronics is a Hayward brand, and its PureWhite sell sheet lists LED lamps that fit the AstroLite SP058 series by name. So this is a retrofit the light's maker supports.

• PureWhite Pro PR2, the 300-watt equivalent: 26611 warm white or 26610 cool white at 120 volts, and 26613 or 26612 at 12 volts. Rated for water from 33 to 104°F.
• PureWhite Pro high output, the 500-watt equivalent: 26811 warm white or 26810 cool white, 120 volts only. Rated for water from 33 to 85°F only, which a heated pool can pass.

J&J's listings say the lamps ship with a Guardian gasket for Pentair fixtures, and its ColorSplash listing says to order the gasket for other makers' fixtures separately. For an AstroLite that is 26046.

The niche it needs

Hayward's 2025 chart is short: AstroLite lights mount in SP0600U, for concrete pools, and SP0607U, for vinyl liner and fiberglass pools, only. It adds that the older SP0600 and SP0607 are no longer available. The 2003 owner's guide also lists SP0604C and SP0609C.

Where it has to sit

From the owner's guide, and all of it electrician's work:

• The top of the lens at least 18 inches below the normal water level. The exception is a light in an area not used for swimming, with the lens guarded from contact.
• Do not cut the excess cord. Leave enough coiled in the niche for the light to be lifted onto the deck for relamping, and cut the rest only after allowing for that and the run to the junction box.
• With non-metallic conduit, a No. 8 AWG ground wire runs through it to the connector inside the niche. That connection is sealed in a listed potting compound at least ⅛ inch thick.
• Cords come in 25-foot steps up to 150 feet. On a 12-volt light, Hayward recommends no more than 50.
• The light is UL listed for permanently installed pools, not for storable ones.

Color lens covers

The 2015 sell sheet describes four lens covers that snap over the clear lens, changing the color without taking the light out. It calls them the selecta-color lens kit, and gives no part numbers.

Older AstroLite and Duralite lights

The owner's guide also covers the Duralite SP0570N series. It is an older light for Hayward's metallic niches, which Hayward no longer sells. The guide lists three Duralite parts of its own and says the rest match the AstroLite. Asked whether a W3SP0583SL100 replaces a Duralite SP-573L, Hayward's support team said yes.

Warranty

• Expert Line AstroLite lights — three years parts, one year labor
• Open Line W3SP0583SL100 and W3SP0583L100 — one year parts, no labor
• Bulbs — wear items, covered for manufacturing defects only

A bulb bought on its own falls under Hayward's replacement parts terms, which give non-LED bulbs six months. The J&J lamp listings on Hayward's site say a year.

Where Hayward's documents disagree

• The 150-foot stainless model. SP0583SL150 carries the stainless SL code, but its listing calls the trim thermoplastic, in the title and again in the specifications.
• The Guardian gasket. Listing 26046 is titled for the Hayward AstroLite, but its description says it is for Pentair's Amerlite and a Pentair spa light. The J&J sell sheet lists 26046 as the AstroLite gasket, and the page follows the sell sheet.
• The SP0607U niche. A DuraNiche on the 2025 chart, a Jiffy Niche on the product pages.
• The niches. The chart allows two; the 2003 guide lists four.
• Bulb warranty. Six months in Hayward's replacement parts terms, one year on the J&J lamp listings.
• Brightness. Hayward's AstroLite listings give 5,000 lumens at 500 watts, and J&J's 500-watt lamp listing gives 5,400.
• The PR2 lamp's power. 28 watts on the sell sheet, 39 on the 46611 Open Line listing.