LED bulbs b15d socket 120 vac not 12vdc

I have some 12vdc lights with brass and wood rings in the overhead ceiling and was thinking why not use AC LED in these light fixtures.

Dimmable BA15D 10W 152x3014SMD 1000LM 2800-3200K/6000-6500K Warm White/Cool White Light LED Corn Bulb (AC110V/AC220V) 3627989 2016 – $4.99

Of course only 2 wires no ground for my wires, but I would use a GFCI to power the fixtures, so no shock hazard would exist. Using a GFCI, no ground is needed.

In the link, the price is low, the lumens are 1000 which is great. And they are dimmable.
I have found lots of LED b15d socket bulbs but most are low lumens anywhere from 150 to 350.

Anyone have a link for high lumen but relatively cheap LED b15d socket bulbs?
There some more on Amazon but higher priced that are like these.

Dimension(cm) 6.5x1.5x1.5, so will need to measure the fixture.
2.55 inches long, should fit fine.

Same bulb on amazon is 10 to 20$
https://www.amazon.com/Bulb-Dimmable-152x3014SMD-2800-3200K-6000-6500K/dp/B016D8PSMC
Amazon.com

I did last year off Ebay buy two corn bulb 120 vac with the screw edison type socket for $5 and it was bright and worked ok.
I had one in a work light and accidently dropped it into bilge water and it killed the bulb, but it was a very tough bulb, you could slam that worklight and bulb still worked.

I would not power 12 volt lamps with120 volts. They may not be insulated for this voltage.


Why not use 12 volt LED bulbs? You should always have 12 volts DC available. I would hate to have to fire up a genset to light a lamp.

WesK said:

I would not power 12 volt lamps with120 volts. They may not be insulated for this voltage.


Why not use 12 volt LED bulbs? You should always have 12 volts DC available. I would hate to have to fire up a genset to light a lamp.

Click to expand...

I can not find any bright 12 vdc bulbs that compare to the brightness of the 120 vac bulbs.
They certainly will function fine, LED take very little power, so very small amp load on the switches and wires. The wires are all 16 gauge, of course just 2 wire no grounds.

The insulation issue is definitely a problem according to code but nullified by a GFCI.

I am a reasonable minded person I think anyway. On land, if you have a 120vac circuit GFCI protected, the ground according to code in unnecessary.

I have two installed inverters I can use to power lights etc...

I switched my bilge lights to all 120 vac LED bulbs. They have the large screw in edison sockets. For them I did switch out the wires to 3 wire. Did that because it was easy. These other lights though are buried under the headliner.

A b15d socket has no power running thru the metal base, it only runs thru the pins.
So it is better even than the screw in bulbs which have the neutral attached to the bases.
If polarity was reversed on a screw in bulb, the base becomes hot so an electrocution hazard.
The code issue is really that the supply wires are not rated for 120vac seeing they are single
insulated, of course plug in house lamps do the same thing. But see with a GFCI not a problem.

The existing boat wires are just basically 16 gauge grey lamp cord, like you have on all 120 vac house lamps.

Sounds to me like you're asking for electron trouble. There are many 12V LED replacement bulbs out there that will put out as much or more light than the incandescents and halogens they replace. Every light on my boat has been replaced with LEDs, except for the running lights. They all run on 12V and provide ample warm white light.

Why not order a couple of 12V replacement LEDs to try them out rather than reinventing the wheel?

1000 lumens is a lot of light. A 60watt incandescent is 800 lumens.

Electrical engineer for 35 years and still going.

Never, ever, piss off an electron. He's always got buddies. And they are always rabble rousers.

You seem to have all the answers so I am left wondering why you posted in the first place.


The nice folks who write the NEC and ABYC electrical codes are some pretty smart cookies and have lots of resources and data from accidents, electrocutions, etc. Probably more than any one individual.


It's your boat and nobody will pull you over and do an electrical inspection but if you ever have to sell the boat, it's not likely to pass a survey and you will have to do the wiring all over. Why not do it right in the first place, especially since it's much simpler to replace the 12 volt bulbs than to convert the circuit to 120 volts AC?

I suppose I do have all the answers. Suits me fine.
If I do this, l plan to use a dimmer maybe on all 6 lights.
10x6 is 60 watts.
Toggle dimmer on all lights together. And each light keeps it's original switch. Or 2 dimmers.