I have numerus older (25 year) old recess can lights that each have a transformer 12 volt 50 watt halogen 16mr bulbs. I was going to convert them to led fixtures.
bought the retro kit with the trim and wass going to spice the 120volt ac to the 120 volt wires for the new kit. Then i remembered that I could not get access to the 120 ac wires that go to the transformer. The only wires that are present are the 12 volt going to the bulb. Can I somehow splice into the new led light and bypass the components of the led fixture??? ???
Unknown and unlikely.
- You haven’t told us what make and model light nor the transformer and the wiring you are working with.
- It is unlikely that you can safely reconfigure a fixture intended for 120VAC to use 12VDC.
- The 12VDC wiring is likely not suitable or legal for carrying 120VAC in this case.
- Your question would best be asked of the fixture manufacturer and an electrician who has seen your wiring setup.
They are both likely to answer; NO! But, the electrician can likely safely update your wiring without too much trouble.
It’s a simple question, that a model number is not needed!!! A older low voltage 12v 50 watt halogen light and i want to add a new Halo(Cooper) trim w led light to and want to splice the 2 lead wire that goes directly into the mr16 bulb…There isn’t anyone in the forum that can answer that…only talk about lighting effects???
So are you wanting to run 12V right to the MR16 LED bulbs or the wires connected to those bulbs?
If so, I did something like that on some old track light fixtures in my kitchen. I bypassed the built-in solid-state transformer in each fixture, running the bulb wires right to the track connector (after disconnecting the transformer wires). Then in the track, I eliminated the 120Vac connection from the wiring box and ran a new 12Vdc connection into the track wiring power insertion connector and ran that back to a relay, keeping the 12V wiring separated from the existing 120V wiring. The relay is connected to a 12Vdc power source and is triggered by a small Class-2 wall transformer plugged into a switched outlet. Flip the switch (or use a Zwave module) and the relay closes, passing 12Vdc to the LEDs.
I clearly labelled each modified track fixture with “low voltage, 12V only” and I fused the DC source to 5 amps to make it a Class-2 circuit (less than 100 watts and under 50 volts). I have a total of 6 - 5.5W LED bulbs on the track, so that is under 3 amps of current. The track is rated for about 600W on AC power, so that would be around 5 amps or 60W on 12Vdc power.
Some of my track fixtures were dead; the solid state transformers had burned out. But bypassing them gave the fixtures a new life, glad I did not throw them out when they died.
Also, I am using the LEDs off of a 12V solar battery bank, so I went with the non-dimmable bulbs as they maintain a constant power/brightness as the battery voltage varies. If you have a regulated voltage source, you could use a dimmable bulb, but be sure and check that the bulbs have a DC rating. I went with the Phillips MR16 bulbs, they are Energy Star rated (my utility gave me a $10/bulb rebate) and DC rated. With the Philips bulbs, I found that once you go above about 6W, the bulbs have a small cooling fan, I wanted to avoid that, thus the 5.5W units I chose. Lights have been working perfectly the last 15 months, I have them on about 6-8 hours a day since it costs nothing to run them (actually the wall transformer trigger uses 1 watt of AC power so the lights cost a couple of cents per month to run).
Note that this is with the GU-5.3 bi-pin base bulbs that run off 12V not the GU-10 bulbs designed for 120V or 220V.
Before doing the conversion (described above), I did test the LEDs in the unmodified track light fixtures and they did work, although not well on the low voltage dimmer I had installed. So depending on your old halogen fixtures and the LED bulbs you got, you may be able to hook the LEDs up to the old halogen lamp sockets.
But it you are asking about converting the 12v wiring to 120v, that would probably not be a good idea. I know on my track lights, the 12v wiring is some sort of woven high temperature insulation on the wires. Not sure what voltage that stuff is rated for.