Hiding junction boxes?


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Old 08-02-06, 08:21 PM
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Hiding junction boxes?

Hi. Im working on a basment that has no drywall on the ceiling yet, and I'm planing on installing resesed lights.

I'm pritty sure that the legal code in canada says you can't have a hidden junction box, but these lights arent designed to work with a box.

This would be fine, except that the power to everything in the room gets chained through the existing light boxes, so I cant remove them.

I'm out of ideas on how to deal with the situation. It seems like the proper way to deal with this is have the power coming up from the bottom and the plugs, but that would involve too much effort and the room layout makes it unideal.

On a seperate note: The 4-way system in my house is all messed up. The switches are all the 4-way kind. That should technicly work in place of 3-way switches on either side, right? And is there any way to simply take the results of all the different combinations and their result, and understand how the thing is wired now?
 
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Old 08-02-06, 09:33 PM
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What do you mean when you say the lights are not designed to work with a box? How are they designed to wire?

Many recessed lights have built-in boxes that are considered accessible because you can disassemble the light from below and access the wiring in the built-in box if you really needed to.
 
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Old 08-03-06, 02:16 AM
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You say that all the wiring is feed through the light boxes. This is a violation in the US. You are in canada and codes are different. Here a light fixture cannot be used as a raceway for other circuits.

Four way switches will work as three way switches if you can identify the proper three terminals to use. There are four combinations that will work.
 
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Old 08-03-06, 08:30 PM
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I havent looked at the lights too closely, but hopefully they will have boxes integrated then...

The light where the electricty was being passed through had a pullstring on it, so it was just twisted together with the 2 plugs + incoming power.

I wasent aware of the fact that this may be a violation, I've been meaning to get my hands on the ontario electrical code. I've never seen it set up like that anywhere else. theres no reason to make the power go through the ceiling.
 
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Old 08-04-06, 02:04 AM
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You didnt say you lived in Canada. The code may be different.

If it is a pull chain then the power does not go through the fixture. The fixture is surface mount on a typical junction box.

If you install recess cans with intergral boxes, then the circuits would be passing through the fixtures.

Since you cannot burry the boxes, you need a new plan. Purhaps access panels where needed.
 
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Old 08-04-06, 04:53 AM
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Sorry that I made that unclear. There is proper wiring right now, but I was asking about whether these resesed lights will be an issue for me. From what I understand, it should have some kind of integrated box, so it should work out.

Thanks for all your help!
 
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Old 08-06-06, 06:26 PM
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All modern recessed fixtures should have a built in JB.

You should remove the old fixture boxes and their wiring.
If any require circuits feed from them, then that wire needs to be replaced and fed to where an accessable JB can be installed.
 
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Old 08-06-06, 08:02 PM
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So that part of the code is the same in canada too... darn.

I can chain a couple of the plugs, but it will be anoying to do because I will have to buy a lot more wire and go through a ton more effort to chain them through the plugs.

Or, I could just be illegal since it will work fine anyways.
 
 

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