Pentair Amerlite Pool Light

The Amerlite is Pentair's incandescent pool light, from before LED. It is a stainless steel shell with a screw-in flood lamp inside, an 8⅜-inch prismatic glass lens, and a stainless face ring held on by a wire clamp. When it goes dark, the fix is usually a lamp and a gasket rather than a new light.

Pentair still sells it, in 400 and 500-watt, 120-volt versions. The 100 and 300-watt Amerlite lights are obsolete. Pentair says U.S. Department of Energy rules on incandescent lights ended them, which takes both 12-volt models with them.

Changing the lamp

The manual's section on replacing only the lamp is short, and it starts with the power. Turn off the breaker and the switch for the light. Then have two things ready before you touch the light: a new lens gasket, 79101600, and a lamp of the same type and wattage.

1. Take out the pilot screw at the top of the face ring, lift the light out of the niche, and lay it on the deck. The manual has at least 4 feet of cord coiled behind the light for exactly this, which is why the lamp can be changed without lowering the water.
2. Take the light apart, take out the old lamp, and throw the old gasket away.
3. Fit the new lamp and the new gasket.
4. Line the parts up. The pilot screw on the face ring goes to the first "E" in the word "BEFORE" on the lens. Then line the lens and ring up on the housing with the pilot screw at the arrow on the warning label.
5. Clamp it. On a stainless ring, set the clamp's ends about an inch apart, seat it in the U recesses of the locking levers with its bent ends between the pair of levers, turn the light onto its lens, and tighten the bolt until the ends are ¼ inch apart or less. On an older chrome or brass ring, tighten the screws a little at a time in a cross pattern, 12 o'clock then 6 and so on, to 20 inch-pounds.
6. Put it back in the niche and tighten the pilot screw.
7. Do not run it for more than 10 seconds until it is back under water. Then switch the breaker and the light back on to check it.

The gasket goes in new, every time

This is the one step people skip, and it is the one Pentair repeats most. Its warning says to install a new lens gasket whenever the light is reassembled. An old gasket can let water into the fixture. The manual names two results: an electrical hazard, or a broken lamp or lens.

The gasket is not a cheap afterthought, either. Pentair's 2025–2026 catalog lists it at $51.49. It is still the cheapest part of the job to get right.

A cracked lens gets the same answer: a new lens and a new gasket.

The right lamp

The manual's lamp table:

• 120-volt Amerlite lights take a 300, 400 or 500-watt R-40 flood lamp
• 12-volt Amerlite lights take a 100-watt R-20 or a 300-watt R-40, and run through a separate safety isolation transformer

Its warning is to replace the lamp with the same type and wattage. A different type, it says, will damage the light assembly and can create a shock hazard. Pentair's current catalog lists only two lamps, 79102100 at 500 watts and 79102200 at 400. It does not say what an owner of a 300-watt or 12-volt Amerlite should fit now that those lamps are gone.

Ten seconds out of the water

Every section of the manual that ends with the light going back in the pool carries the same warning. Never run it for more than 10 seconds unless it is completely under water. Out of the water the fixture gets extremely hot, enough to burn you or break the lamp or lens.

Pentair's product page says the Amerlite has a heat-sensing cutoff for low water protection. The manual does not mention one, and it does not relax the 10-second rule. Treat the cutoff as a backstop, not a reason to test the light on the deck.

LED retrofit lamps

Screw-in LED lamps sold as replacements for incandescent pool lights are common, and the pool lights roundup covers what they trade away. Before fitting one in an Amerlite, know where Pentair stands. Its manual asks for the same type and wattage of lamp, and none of Pentair's Amerlite documents lists an LED lamp for it.

A competitor does. Hayward's J&J Electronics brand lists its PureWhite Pro LED lamps as fitting the Amerlite 784 series, and sells a silicone Guardian gasket for the Amerlite, 26041, which ships with those lamps. That is Hayward's word, not Pentair's, and Pentair's manual still asks for the same type and wattage. The Hayward AstroLite page has the lamps and their water-temperature limits.

Pentair's own upgrade is a whole fixture. Its catalog pitches the IntelliBrite Architectural Series as an upgrade from incandescent lights in Pentair's 10-inch niches. Check which niche is in the wall first. The Architectural's manual allows Pentair niches only, and says any other voids its warranties, while the Amerlite is also listed for niches from American Products, PacFab and one more maker.

Which niches it fits

Pentair says the Amerlite is UL listed for full-size niches from Pentair, American Products, PacFab and one more maker it names. It also says to put only Pentair lights in those niches, so the bonding and grounding connections are right.

Its catalog lists the lights the Amerlite can replace: Sta-Rite's SunSaver and SunGlow, the Hatteras, and PacFab's AmerQuartz and Spectrum Amerlite.

Where it has to sit

These are the manual's code points for a new installation. Checking them is an electrician's job:

• GFCI protection on the lighting circuit
• The niche set with the pilot screw hole at 12 o'clock and the top of the lens at least 18 inches below the surface
• The junction box at least 8 inches above the water, 4 inches above the ground and 48 inches from the pool edge
• The fixture and all metal within 5 feet of the pool bonded, with the niche's No. 8 AWG connector at the back
• Never splice the cord under water or behind the niche. A new light means a new cord pulled back to the junction box

Where local code requires a cord seal, the manual names two Pentair plastic niches, 79206600 and 79206700. Pentair says its UL listed underwater lights are certified for water with up to 6,000 ppm of salt, which covers a salt pool.

Color on a white light

Pentair sells snap-on lens covers that clip over the lens. The manual lists green, blue and red, 78900700, 78900800 and 78900900. The product page lists a kit, 78900100, and says covers come in blue, red, green and amber. There is also a medium blue glass lens, 79100200, and Amerlite lights sold with it already fitted.

Plastic snap-on face rings in white, gray and black fit over the stainless ring to match a pool's finish.

Warranty

One year. Pentair's warranty page puts all non-LED lights at one year, and its standard warranty includes labor. The lamp and the gasket are consumables in Pentair's terms, and those also carry one year of parts and labor. Bought online, it is one year of parts only. And Pentair requires professional installation for coverage on a light.

Where Pentair's documents disagree

• The white face ring. 79212100 in the manual, 79213100 on the product page.
• The Z suffixes. The manual gives the gasket as 79101600 and the pilot screws as 79104800 and 619355. The catalog adds a Z to all three.
• Low water protection. The product page and catalog advertise a low water cutoff. The manual never mentions one, and keeps its 10-second warning.
• The lamps. The 2016 manual still lists the 100 and 300-watt lamps. The product page calls those Amerlite lights obsolete, and the catalog lists only the 400 and 500.
• The blue lens. Heat resistant in the manual, tempered in the catalog.
• The lens covers. Three separate covers in the manual, a three-color kit on the product page, and amber in the product page's description but not in either list.
• The order numbers. The product page lists seventeen Amerlite lights; the catalog lists five, and only the catalog gives cord lengths.