making a 12 v fixture

deltabravo wrote:

westend wrote:
....Observe proper electrical phase, (-) and (+) need to be correct for the LED to illuminate.

DC isn't "phase"... it's "polarity"

Thank you, I'll correct my bad electrical nomenclature.

I agree with Gdetrailer, it is hard to make suggestions without knowing what the fixture looks like. There are a lot of places to buy LED bulbs and it is easy to wire them. All of the strips I have purchased were marked with the polarity. I have used the film type strips that generally come in 5 meter spools and I have used the aluminum backed strips 0.5 meters long.

The wire size can easily be as small as AWG 18. If you are looking for a corncob with a A19(Edison) base in 12v, that is a little harder, anything used in vehicles is easy to find.

Any fixture that has the base of the bulb down will require a higher lumin rating than LED that are pointing down. Also LEDs come with and without lenses, in different Kelvin ratings and different angle of disbursement.

I buy all my LED strips on eBay and have only had one failure and that was a 12" amber waterproof strip. I have been using a 5 meter strip cut down to 9' in my kitchen of the S&B for about 5 years. I had one touch pad dimmer fail but none of the LEDs.

I have been wiring strips and power cords since I started making my own fixtures for two reasons, first they are easy to solder and I think better and second, they don't take up any room. I've been soldering electrical and electronic components for over 63 years and I find it more secure.

It is really easy to rewire fixtures to accept LEDs once you know what style bulb you are going to use and hook the bases up.

westend wrote:
....Observe proper electrical phase, (-) and (+) need to be correct for the LED to illuminate.

DC isn't "phase"... it's "polarity"

You could buy an LED flat panel. I have a bunch of them in different fixtures and fixtures I've made. Observe proper electrical phase, (-) and (+) need to be correct for the LED to illuminate.

No way of knowing exactly what can or can't be done to your non electrified fixture without a picture of what you have.

In general, if you have a tube to your fixture (hanging pendant) you could pull some wire through the tubing, (if chain, thread the wire through the chain)then find some sort of 12V LED that will fit in the fixture.

Keeping in mind that generally with 12V lights many use some sort of socket to plug a bulb in, you won't have a socket to work with. There are many different aftermarket 12V LEDs some may have a socket adapter with wire going to the LED.. In that case you could cut off the socket and wire directly.

Be aware, many LEDs are polarity sensitive, so if it doesn't light up. try reversing the wires.

As far as painting the bath wallboard goes, don't bother with paint. Paint is the wrong product to use for this application and will not hold up.

Instead, buy and install a plastic home bathtub wall surround, these kits are made to be universal in fit so you will need to adjust the panels to fit correctly.

You simply use adhesive to stick the plastic tub surround to the existing wallboard. Once installed, you can use Kitchen/Bathroom silicone caulk (Kitchen/Bath silicone caulk is formulated to prevent mold) to seal up the joints in the tub surround.