Dim Hot Springs Exterior Logo Light?

[JB0113]

I just recently got a new Hot Springs Flair that I am thoroughly enjoying. The logo light on the exterior of the tub, however, is extremely bright. Like bright enough to light up some of the patio in front of the tub, fence, and even a bit of my neighbors screened in porch when it's extremely dark outside. It's not a huge deal by any means but I was thinking about purchasing some kind of tint film on Amazon to put it over the exterior light. Curious if anyone else has done something similar and how it held up in the elements.

Thanks!

[d00nut]

I believe you can dim it via software.  You have to go into the service menu... which I absolutely hate telling customers to do it... because they could really screw up the hot tub software.

A lot of times if a customer is making comments about the brightness, next time we are in the area, we will go out and dim it via the software as a courtesy.

I believe there are 3 levels of dimness.

Worst case, the easiest thing for you to do is to just unplug it.  If you place something on it (I had a customer use duct tape....) it could ruin it long term.  No one has tried the tint film to my knowledge yet.

[WarmWaterOasis]

Well, that would make sense! Do you care to share the details on how to do that for me here or via private message/email?  It would be greatly appreciated!  I consider myself pretty confident when it comes to this kind of thing so I wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to doing it myself.  Let me know when you can!  Thanks for the reply!

[d00nut]

It's no secret

You have to open your black IQ box.  With the power on, there is a small, around half the size of a pencil eraser, white button on the top right side of the IQ Board.

With the power on, press and hold it while looking at your controls.

This is where we tell the spa, how many pumps does it have, if we run the heater concurrent, what lighting zones... all that crap, so you can see it's easy to screw up and confuse the crap out of your hot tub.

You basically will keep hitting next until you get to logo light.  There you will see that you can dim it.

If you start this process and think... I really don't want to mess this up.  Message me later.  I'm not at the store now, but I can make a little video on how to do it if need be later this week

[JB0113]

I appreciate it!  If you could make a video for me on exactly how to do it, that would be fantastic!  Thanks!

[zigzag930]

Wow, I just got my Envoy today and have the exact same question.  Please send (or post) the video. 

Thank you!!!

[JB0113]

@zigzag930 welcome to the Hot Springs family!  We are loving our Flair so far!  The logo / status light brightness isn’t the end of the world by any means but it really is insanely bright, isn’t it?  I haven’t heard back from @d00nut who posted below yet but I will let you know if/when I do!  I did reach out to the salesman who sold us our tub and asked if it was possible to dim it and his response was, “no, it’s like that by design so you can easily see the status and any issues.”  I get that but there is zero reason it needs to be even remotely as bright as it is. It’s bright enough that our neighbors next door said when they’re on their porch at night it is somewhat of an annoyance.   I’m not sure if our sales guy honestly doesn’t think it’s possible or just doesn’t want to have to send someone out to mess with trying to change it for us. Let me know if you happen to find a video or tutorial!

[swilly1000]

d00nut gave you some pretty explicit direction on how to change the brightness.  Sorry to sound cynical but it sounds like that salesman isn't working too hard to help you out, to say nothing of his desire to know his product. If I was him I would be happy to have researched your question and gotten back to you with helpful information that will benefit him and his customers in the future.  Pretty mediocre after care going on there.

I'm interested in what he will have to say once you get this figured out and you let him know.

[JB0113]

He did indeed give me some explicit direction; however, considering I will have to unscrew a mounting arm from my cover lifter to get under the service panel and attempt it, I thought I would await his offer of sending a video on exactly how to do it prior to attempting it.  I have zero experience messing with anything under there and thought it would be a safer bet to actually watch someone do it as I would hate to accidentally change something else and cause issues.  That said, for all I know, it could end up being extremely simple to do.  If I don't hear back from him soon I will most likely attempt it based upon his written response.

As far as the commentary regarding the salesman's response goes, I would have to agree with you there!  I thought the same thing and have been thinking about calling him back and informing him that I was told there actually is a way to adjust the brightness level and see what his reasoning was for not giving me the correct information.  Before I call him out on it though, I would like to have some confirmation from someone else other than d00nut (or at least a video of him actually performing it) stating that it really can be done on a 2019 Flair.  I haven't been able to find anything online confirming it but if any service technicians for Hot Springs read this message and can confirm it's possible and d00nuts post is accurate, I would appreciate it.

[swilly1000]

Call HS direct and ask them.

[d00nut]

Hey Everyone,

My apologies for the delay!  I'm not the best with video, so I did what I could here, but I finally got around to the video on how to dim your logo light.

Again... be careful, don't change your configuration regarding any other lights, heater, or jet pumps...

It makes a pretty dramatic difference though.

https://youtu.be/rM6AQOaBoLE

[JB0113]

Much appreciated! Thanks so much for taking the time to do this video. It seems pretty straight forward as long as you’re paying close attention to exactly what you’re doing and changing. As an aside, before I saw this, I actually forgot I had some of these “dimming sheets” by a company called Dim It (if I am remembering correctly) that I purchased via Amazon to dim some LED lights on clocks/router/etc around the house. I cut a piece of that sheet which is slightly sticky and stays attached by static electricity and it actually dimmed the logo light down dramatically as well. Those sheets are around $10 shipped on amazon so if anyone doesn’t feel comfortable following the steps/video that d00nut so kindly posted, I would try that as another option.

[d00nut]

You bet!  Sorry it took so long

[zigzag930]

Thanks for all the info here.  BTW, I had my tech out to install the stereo and subwoofer.  While he was here, he showed me how to dim the logo and we set it to 25%.  Much improved, but still bright enough to see in the daytime direct sunlight.

I will send a suggestion to Watkins that they add a photocell and simple circuit to allow this logo to self dim based on the ambient light conditions.  This would cost less than $10 in parts and SHOULD be standard on these high end spas.

[bud16415]

Thanks for all the info here.  BTW, I had my tech out to install the stereo and subwoofer.  While he was here, he showed me how to dim the logo and we set it to 25%.  Much improved, but still bright enough to see in the daytime direct sunlight.

I will send a suggestion to Watkins that they add a photocell and simple circuit to allow this logo to self dim based on the ambient light conditions.  This would cost lest that $10 in parts and SHOULD be standard on these high end spas.

Good luck on the $10 implementation. My top of the line Watkins spa sprung a leak and when I opened it up I saw a hose clamp had failed and came off. When I inspected the clamp it was the cheapest clamp made like a 39-cent China Wal-Mart clamp. I went to the auto parts store and bought a retail 99-cent American made clamp and it’s been fine. I complained and they sent me a size small T-shirt. Then my wrist jets spinners blew off  one at a time. I found them with my feet and tried to reconnect them but the bayonet mount tab had broken off. I figured I would get some new ones and then I found a glob of silicone in the filter shaped like the wrist jet mount. Upon inspection I could see the shape of the bayonet mount molded into the silicone and the tab was missing from the factory. They must have broke them and instead of using a new part they stuck them on with silicone. Fortunately I found the jets more powerful without the spinners so I now have just two PVC holes blasting away. I complained and got another size small T-shirt. It doesn’t end there when I unpacked my tub and went looking for the directions on how to access the equipment area to attach my power wires I took out the 6 screws and could not in any manner get the panel removed. I tried for several hours and then went in and searched for the owner’s manual on line. It said lift up and pull out something I had been trying for hours. I got a block of wood and a 2x4 and made a lever to push the bottom of the cover up. It sounded like wood breaking and it finally lifted. Here they painted the wood frame black with some thick paint and put the cover on when the paint was wet, gluing it in place. The good news was inside the compartment was my directions on how to open the compartment. I complained and that time they sent me test strips.

I’m not really bad mouthing Watkins here as I believe they have in their design a very quality product and there are many features I really like. Having worked for a monster sized company for 43 year I know how they can be. Something as simple as a hose clamp cost reduction seems huge to them and by all rights maybe tested good enough and 99 out of 100 times will do the job. They fight to remove a dollar of cost and seldom will add back in 10. They also have a zillion levels of management and when you complain or suggest it never makes it to the top or even to a product designer.

All the rest of the lights have a dimming mode right from the top side control panel. A couple lines of code more and that one could as well.

My pet peeve is if I go thru and set the lighting to the colors and brightness I like once I shut them off they return to the default blue. Again there is no reason as long as the tub isn’t powered down the lights can’t just remember what I like. It is enough messing around I just leave them on default blue now.

There is a good hack they don’t tell you that reverses the control panel so you can read it from inside the tub. one of the buttons you push and hold down if I remember correctly. Maybe one of the dealers remembers how to do it and what models it works on.