I seriously recommend you at the minimum get a copy of article 680 of the electrical code and read and make sure you understand EVERYTHING in it before going further. Electrification of bodies of water you're going to immerse yourself and loved ones in is NOT for amateurs. We've had several electrocutions from pool lighting alone in the past year.

The way the question is phrased shows you don't have the even the beginnings of the understanding needed to do this safely.

Pool wiring has some special wiring requirements. First, the ground wire must be insulated. For all practical purposes, you will have to use conduit (at least for all parts external to the structure). I highly suspect that this will be a wet area, which means that everything (panel, conductors inside the conduit, the conduit itself, ...) be rated for such. If it's exposed to sunlight, the conduit needs rating for that (if plastic).

The pumps need to be protected by GFCI. So do the transformers feeding the lights. The entire pool light system needs to specifically listed for such (no mixing and matching your landscape lighting stuff).

There are specific requirements for the location of a required receptacle and locations of any other outlets (lights, receptacles) that are in the pool area.

There is a VERY IMPORTANT requirement for both grounding the equipment and bonding the equipment and all exposed metal together (including things like pool ladders, the metal sides of the pool (if so constructed), the REBAR system in the pool shell/decking, ) etc....

There is specific requirements for a disconnecting means that is a certain distance from the pool but in sight of the equipment (the breakers may provide this means if they are placed suitably).

I would SERIOUSLY recommend you get an electrician who has experience with pools to do all this. It's far to easy for an amateur to screw up with FATAL consequences.

Oh, and I meant to say it but forgot when I posted. You can buy an NEC online (or even read it with some level of difficulty at the NFPA site. Most public libraries I've come across typically have a copy in their reference section as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: NFPA NEC pages

I understand the concerns and I am taking it very seriously. The whole setup will have to pass inspection, so if anything is messed up will have to be fixed. Although, it is complicated, it is not a rocket science. I've got till next year to finish it.

The whole setup will have to pass inspection, so if anything is messed up will have to be fixed.
Do not depend on the inspection to catch everything or even anything! The inspection can be thorough or it can be a cursory glance because the inspector wants to go grab his lunch.
An inspection doesn't mean it's safe.

It's more ROCKET SCIENCE than you appear to be want to give it now. Your questions were so inanely basic, that you obviously haven't even begun to do the research that you need to do this job SAFELY and LEGALLY. I can't explain to you the entire ARTICLE 680 (and by reference 250 and 300) in a few news postings. If you can't be bothered to actually do what I suggested and go read and learn Article 680 (and the prerequisite sections of the code) and you are too pigheaded to get a professional in there, GOD HAVE MERCY ON YOUR POOR FAMILY.

As I mentioned earlier, we LOSE people in pool wiring screw ups several times a year. This is no place for cocky know it alls.

"it is not a rocket science."

psssh, yea I mean come on. It's not like it takes a 4-5 year apprenticeship consisting of both formal schooling and on the job training and then 24 hours of continuing education every 3 years.

I mean geesh all we really do is wire nut black to black and white to white on stuff and then charge people insane amounts of money. All of us electricians are all insanely rich. Don't tell anyone though please.

Ron,

I've never constructed a pool nor do I want to but I'm curious about your statement about bonding the ladder(s). I guess I never examined that ladders of the pools I've swum in and assumed they were just screwed the the side of the pool. How is bonding achieved for ladders in run-of-the-mill concrete in-ground pool?

It's accomplished by attaching a #8 SOLID copper grounding wire to it somewhere. In pool ladders, the ladder typically fits into some sort of anchor (typically bronze) in the concrete which is connected to that bonding wire put in before the concrete is poured. The anchors all have a terminal for accomplishing this bond. This is one of the aspects that I wouldn't rely on the ELECTRICAL inspector to catch. Often they don't show up at this point in the construction.

And you should bond both arms of the pool ladder since the rungs are often non-conducting.

Please go watch the Mike Holt video linked below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mike Holt Video

Nice video.

That's for the information guys! I guess I never thought that much about installing a pool ladder (unless you're building a pool, who would).

I have to wonder how many people have installed a ladder in their pool after the initial construction without any consideration to bonding...

There's a lot of issues for retrofits to pools that cause SIGNIFICANT safety problems. In fact, I suspect some of the fatalities we've seen were due to upgrading the pool lighting and doing it wrong.

Wet (meaning surface moisture, not uncured) cement is incredibly conductive. Learned this years ago when I worked in the theater (learned some lessons the hard way about bonding then). Another commonly missed things is the equipotential bonding of the decking (when concrete or metal).