Never put anything that plugs in (that's not designed to be there), in or near your pool. Don't string lights above the pool, even if you have a gfci. Only takes one time to change your life forever. Don't put these in your pool. More on reddit.com

It would also require me to get ... using it underwater, so I’d like to avoid this if I could … · Any ideas how to attach the brackets so they don’t fall off this easily? (Problem is that once a couple fall off, due to the weight of the rope , they take all the ... More on reddit.com

To distribute light across a wide area, I use submersible LED strip lights (waterproof IP68) mounted on 3/4" aluminum bars. Here are a few pictures how they look and perform. I bought the strips from Aspect LED . You'll need a power supply to run them. Cost is very reasonable, less than $150. I bought mine 6 years ago, so I'm sure there are other options out there as well. The strips are 5 meters long, but you can cut them to your desired length. Depending on where you make the cut, you'll need to solder on some connection wires and you'll need to waterproof them. A little tedious, but doable. I believe they have some connector parts that make this easier (maybe without solder), though I didn't use them. Suggest you go with 24 volt instead of 12. Also, stick with 3000K color temperature, which looks better at night in my opinion. I annotated one of the pictures to show the difference in color between 3000K and 5000K. The top level (area above the false bottom) is lit by a 5000K strip. The lower level is 3000K. The lights are controlled with Wemo smart switches that are scheduled to turn off later in the evening. Fish need sleep, too! Other than an occasional cleaning with a plastic brush or wash rag to remove algae, my light bars have been mostly maintenance free. I just replaced the top level bar in my pond today (which I'll probably swap out again with 3000K). The old one finally gave up after about 5 years of service. Not bad for a pretty harsh environment. More on reddit.com

Just out of curiosity: does your pool have an underwater pool light mounted in the pool wall? What kind of LED strip are you hoping to put around it? single color? RGB analog ("dumb RGB"), or addressable either in segments or individually? It really helps to specify this up front when asking for suggestions, as it greatly influences what's possible to buy and install, especially for larger installations. It's apparent from some of the answers that different people are making different assumptions about this, likely based on their own experiences. More on reddit.com