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Changing a 3 way circuit...using recessed lighting box as a junction box?

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#1 ·
I am finishing my basement [which is coming along quite nicely thanks to the help of folks here!!!!!!], and am at the point where I am revising the existing 3 switch [4 way] lighting circuit....installed by the builder to controll all of the basement lights.

The issue I have is with the power feed to this circuit. The power feed goes to the first light fixture in the circuit...a light that I am wanting to remove from this circuit, and place on a seperately switched circuit [essentially it is going to be framed in a large storage room so I do not want this light to come on when the main lighting group is on.] I can't replace the feed wire without tearing out walls....

The existing ceiling light fixture is a surface mounted fluorescent fixture wired directly into the fixture...no box.

Can I use the fixture as a junction box as well as a box to wire the light to the new circuit?

If not, can I install a ceiling box at the flourescent fixture and use this for both a pass through connection for the three way circuit and a switch feed for the new circuit.....problem with this is that the box is then visible?

...or are there any other possibilities....for example could I use a recessed fixture and use that box as a pass through for the three way circuit as well as for the single switch circuit to this light?

I hope I made sense here ....I know what I want to do, but want to do it within code.....we have no residential electrical inspections where I live, so whatever I do has to be right!

Thanks!!!!
 
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#2 ·
Can I use the fixture as a junction box as well as a box to wire the light to the new circuit?



Legally, no. I don't have a code reference but I have been turned down for having anything other than the fixture cable in the fixture.

In the real world the splices are safely contained in the metal fixture enclosure and I wouldn't hesitate to do it.

The wiring is actually more accessable inside the fixture than in a jbox above the fixture.
 
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