The Future of Pool Lighting Is Here – Meet IntelliVibe by Pentair Pool

Ready to make your backyard the envy of the neighborhood? In this episode, Pool Magazine editor Joe Trusty sits down with Pentair’s lighting guru, Jeff Zillmer, to discuss their brand-new IntelliVibe Lighting System—a game-changer that pumps out up to 15 million instant-change colors, lets you micro-dim in 1% increments, and demands a smaller footprint on the pad with four independent zones controlled off a single transformer. We dig into the three fixture sizes (Nano, Micro, and Mezzo), talk retrofit tricks, and discuss how automation comes into play.

From vacation-mode scheduling to instant mood lighting, Jeff breaks down every feature in plain English—plus a few pro tips straight from the trade-show floor. If you’re a builder hunting for smarter installs or a homeowner craving nightclub vibes in the deep end, this conversation is your fast pass to everything IntelliVibe.

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Transcript

Pentair IntelliVibe Podcast

[00:00:00] Joe Trusty - Pool Magazine: Thanks for joining us on another episode of Pool Magazine Podcast. I'm your host, Joe Trusty, Editor of Pool Magazine, and today we're going to learn about the latest lighting innovation from Pentair Pool. They recently released their new IntelliVibe Lighting System and today we're going to be joined by Jeff Zillmer, who is a product manager for lighting at Pentair Pool.

He's been with Pentair for about four years now and has over 20 years of experience working with LED Lights. Thanks for being here with us today, Jeff. It's a pleasure to have you with us today on the show. 

You know, I've been seeing a ton of material popping up about IntelliVibe. Pretty exciting new product for Pentair Pool. Jeff, it seems like you're the perfect guy to chat with about this. I mean, why don't you tell us a little bit more about these new lights? 

[00:00:46] Jeff Zillmer - Pentair Pool: Sure thing. So you know that pool lighting and really lighting in general has made significant strides in technology over the last couple decades. And today I'd like to tell you specifically about how Pentair has forged ahead with lighting pools.[00:01:00] 

We just launched our latest innovation IntelliVibe pool lighting system. I'd like to talk to you and walk you through some of the features and explain how IntelliVibe enables customization of backyard pools. First millions of color choices. So the color wheel on the Pentair Pool app provides users up to 15 million different colors at their fingertips.

The colors change instantly, so when the pool owner taps the color wheel anywhere on the color wheel, the lights change without delay. Another useful feature is dimming capability. And of course, this allows users to set the mood or really crank up the energy by the dimming level in their pool.

So IntelliVibe's, dimming is capable of dimming in all modes whether the pool lights are color or white, or even if they're in one of the color shows. The lights dim in 1%, increments from 10% up to a hundred [00:02:00] percent, so very precise control. It dims just with the touch of the fingertips on the slider, on the Pentair Pool app.

So this precise incremental dimming really gives pool owners the capability to, to balance out the features in their pool, the different zones in their pool, and balance the pool lighting with even the lighting, the rest of the lighting in their backyard. Another feature that I alluded to is the multi-zone control.

So the IntelliVibe system opens up a lot of possibilities for customization by allowing users to control multiple zones independently. The IntelliVibe system allows four zones to be controlled independently, actually. You can control 'em in different ways. You can make the four zones different colors, different brightness levels.

You can have some zones in a constant color in some [00:03:00] zones displaying a color show, for example. So really the multi-zone control opens up a lot of different customization possibilities. Another feature is white, warm white, or cool white. So I mentioned the millions of different colors on the color wheel, but some pool owners really just prefer the simple elegance of white light.

So the IntelliVibe users can choose white light in a broad range of color temperatures from the crisp, bright, cool white that looks bluish to more of the glowing yellow, warm white. And they select the white color temperatures on a slider similar to the dimming slider from the bluish cool white sliding all the way over to the yellowish glowing, warm way.

Let's see, what else? Oh. So the intelli lights the fixtures themselves employ red, green, blue and white, [00:04:00] LED. So that means there is a dedicated white LED when customers select the white mode, which produces a very uniform, natural white light with just enough of the red, green, and blue to shift the color point, the color temperature.

To the desired color temperature, either cool or white. Or any white in between. Another thing I mentioned is the color shows. So our Legacy lights had seven color shows. We've kept a few of those and expanded the color show library to 12 different color shows. Again, keeping some of the legacy shows that were popular, but adding several new fun shows.

And the color shows really they loop through the colors. Some of them are a little faster, some of them are a little bit slower, but they loop through the various colors and themes and they really provide more dynamic pool and backyard. Some of the basic functionality includes [00:05:00] schedules and timers, so of course you can set a timer to make the pool lights, you know, go off in one hour or two hours, whatever the user selects.

Scheduling is another handy feature. It schedules, of course allow the user to select or to program the lights to go on and off at certain times. There's even a vacation schedule, which is something new. So a vacation schedule works the same way as a regular schedule, except the homeowner can set an expiration date.

And that way when they come off vacation, they just set that date and then the vacation schedule expires and it goes back to the regular schedules. 

[00:05:55] Jeff Zillmer - Pentair Pool: And then finally, all of these features and the Intelli system are [00:06:00] conveniently controlled through the Pentair Pool app. The Intelli shows up as a different widget. Just an, you know, you can have a pump, you can have the IntelliCENTER automation system.

The IntelliVibe shows up as. One of the many great products that are all controlled through the Pentair Pool app, a single app. 

[00:06:24] Joe Trusty - Pool Magazine: Well, that's great. I mean, you provided us a ton of great information there, but I mean, can you tell me a little bit about the lights themselves? Are they for specific pool builds?

I was on the website a little bit. I see there's a few different sizes there. Can you talk to me more about the specific lights that can be used for certain use cases? 

[00:06:39] Jeff Zillmer - Pentair Pool: Yes, I'd love to. So we launched IntelliVibe with three different light form factors. First, the Intelli Micro. The Intelli Micro is a 12 watt light that's very similar to our current micro bright light.

It mounts in the same inch and a half return fittings as the micro bright. It does [00:07:00] have all the enhanced capabilities with the 15 million different colors and the dimming capability. And the this is a universal light. The 12 watt micro recommended for all the different areas of the pool or spa, or sun shelves, or it also fits in our color vision bubblers.

Next is the Intelli Mezzo. So this is a new form factor. For Pentair, the Mezzo is the largest of the IntelliVibe lineup, but it also mounts in standard inch and a half return fittings. It's slightly larger in diameter, the light head, and it has twice, it puts out twice as much light as the micro and consumes 24 watts.

So twice the wattage and twice the lumen output as the micro making it ideal for larger pool areas, illuminating larger sections of the pool. And finally there's the Intelli Nano. So this is the smallest size light. It can provide accent [00:08:00] lighting to smaller areas of the pool, such as steps or sun shelves.

It's only a two watt light, so it doesn't require water cooling because it doesn't generate a lot of heat, so it can actually be used outside of the water as well to illuminate water features such as a grotto or a rock pile or illuminating the back of a waterfall. A lot of different flexibility there with what you can do with the Intelli nano because it's able to be mounted outside of water.

[00:08:32] Joe Trusty - Pool Magazine: Right. I mean, thanks for sharing some of the details about that. But let me ask you a question. Let me play devil's advocate for a moment and ask you a question. I'm certain every pool professional's probably wondering, I mean, can you retrofit any of these options to existing lighting? 

[00:08:45] Jeff Zillmer - Pentair Pool: Yes. So if a pool has inch and a half return fittings installed already.

Say they're using a Pentair Micro bright, or maybe a competitor light that fits in inch and a half return fittings. [00:09:00] The micro or the mezzo lights will both fit in those inch and a half standard return fittings. Both of those lights will also. Retrofit into existing glow bright niches using an adapter.

And even the nano light will also fit in inch and a half return fitting using an adapter. So a lot of flexibility with where the lights can be installed for new builds or for retrofitting existing pools. 

[00:09:31] Joe Trusty - Pool Magazine: Do you need an automation system to work with the IntelliVibe lights?

I mean, that was a big question that I had when I found out about this product. 

[00:09:42] Jeff Zillmer - Pentair Pool: Yes, you do need the the IntelliCENTER automation system, including Intel. That could include an IntelliCENTER upgrade kits or the IntelliCENTER light. To operate the Intelli Lights. Telecenter, one of the Intelli Centers is a requirement.

Not only does the [00:10:00] IntelliCENTER enable the Intelli light system, it also allows full control of other pool functions in one place. Also using the Pentair Pool app. So it provides a full connected experience to make pool management even easier. Not just for the IntelliVibe, but for all the Pentair equipment at the pad.

[00:10:22] Joe Trusty - Pool Magazine: I got to check out the IntelliVibe demo at the booth earlier this year at one of the trade shows, and Summer was nice enough to give me a little demo, a lot of great feedback from pool pros I spoke with on the floor. The feedback in the groups has been really positive too. In fact, Rick Chaffee from “Ask the Masters” was taking the lead there and answering a lot of questions pool pros had when they got back from the show. I got to watch the webinar that you did with him and Kirk Bianchi earlier this spring, and he explained that the four zones can be controlled off a single transformer and you're not tying up any relays. That's a win for sure. Can you explain why this is such a big deal for builders like Rick?

[00:10:58] Jeff Zillmer - Pentair Pool: Oh, thank you. That's great words [00:11:00] from Rick. I appreciate that. So one of the advantages, of course, of of fewer transformers is that you've take up less wall space at the pool pad, and as you mentioned, you're not using multiple relays. So the controller of the IntelliVibe just requires one transformer to provide all the power to the controller versus, you know, different ways to control different outputs, or excuse me, different zones in the past were you had to have separate controllers. So by making the controller powered by just one control, excuse me, making the controller powered by just one transformer and then doing all the switching for the independent zone control within the controller, you save the cost of buying multiple controllers and also the space.

In the IntelliCENTER and on the wall of the cool pad. 

[00:11:54] Joe Trusty - Pool Magazine: Yeah. A smarter way to do things. Well, let me switch gears with you a little bit before you take us out. I mean, what do you feel are the overall advantages of using color LED lighting? 

[00:12:07] Jeff Zillmer - Pentair Pool: So LEDs really enabled the color lighting more than anything else.

Of course old and incandescent. Bulbs were only capable of white lighting. If you wanted to get color from an incandescent light, then you had to use a filter, which further reduced the light output because you're filtering out all the other colors that an incandescent makes and only getting out the one color that you want in the pool.

Because LEDs produce they're called monochromatic. They produce only the light that you're trying to get. So let's say that's blue. Then all the energy going into a blue LED produces only blue light, and you're not using a filter to filter out some of the unwanted wavelengths. So LEDs are more efficient and incandescent in general, but then you're also [00:13:00] avoiding having to filter out the unwanted colors which makes LEDs for color lighting twice as impactful.

[00:13:09] Joe Trusty - Pool Magazine: Well, Jeff, I really appreciate your feedback there. I mean, I'm sure you get asked that question all the time. Thanks for taking the time out to chat with us today and answer a few questions. Really appreciate it. If anybody wants to take a deeper dive about IntelliVibe, I'd encourage you all to register on Pentair's website for the on-demand webinar on customizing backyards with pool lighting, where they discuss the challenges, best practices, and what to be on the lookout for when considering your lighting options.

Really informative segment there with Rick, Jeff, and Kirk that I'm sure you'd all enjoy. There'll be a link to that in the show notes. Jeff, thanks so much again for joining us today. You’ve been listening to the Pool Magazine podcast and we've been discussing IntelliVibe Lights with Jeff Zillmer with Pentair Pool.

That's all the time that we have left for today. Thanks to all of you for tuning in. Make sure to like, [00:14:00] share, follow, and subscribe and we'll catch you next time on another episode of Pool Magazine Podcast.