Electrical whips

Hi-

I was talking on the phone with my electrical building inspector who will be examing my basement rough electrical work before I start putting drywall up. I told him that I was putting in a suspended ceiling, and that I would have some lighting sitting on the grid for my suspended ceiling. He told me that he wanted to see the "whips" from the junction boxes going out to where the canned lights on the suspended ceiling will be. What are "whips" and what is he going to want to see with these whips?

Thanks,
Steve

 

The whips will be the cable going from the junction box to the desired location of the lighting. What he will want to see is the whip connected properly in the junction box. If this is Chicago code then the whips will not be allowed to be longer then 6 feet so take care your junction box is within that limit. You might also want to check what type of cable they would let this be, is Romex allow or do you need a MC cable?

 

Holy Moly gard you're quick!!! I'll look into what the code out here requires.

thanks,
Steve

 

My brother who has been doing this kind of work...electrical...for about 2 years is putting in 9 recessed lights with a couple new switches to make them three way.

is this similar to what you had done?

I also live in the chicago suburbs...Elmhurst to be exact...

I'll have to check to see if any of the whips we used are more then 6 feet in length. I think one may be, but not sure. I'm kind of limited as to junction boxes because I have an existing drywall ceiling and we just cut holes in the ceiling for access.

Do you have pictures? I can post some too if you want. I'm just interested to see if my brother really knows what he's doing...sometimes I wonder...

Thanks...I look forward to your reply...
John

 

if the recessed lights have junction boxes on the units, which many do (at least the good ones), you can use those boxes as junctions for the wiring. if this is the case, then the wiring may go from light to light and are, technically, not whips. this would mean no length maximum.
also, i believe elmhurst does not allow romex, but i'm not sure. check the codes. around chicago, do not assume the nec is the final say. most suburbs' minimums exceed nec standards and chicago does not use the nec.
john