wiring design/box fill question

mjt610

I'm doing some renovations and want to replace a ceiling fan/light combo with 3 flush mount light fixtures. The fixtures will run in a straight line about 12-15 inches apart. I had planned to wire all 3 fixtures in serial but the problem is that the line in is on the center fixture. My first thought was to branch the outer lights directly from the center box but after doing some research online i'm now worried about box fill.

by my calculations i would have:

6 14-2 conductors (2 for the line in + 4 out)
1 for the ground
1 for the light mounting strap (i'm assuming this is what NEC refers to as luminaire stud or hickey?)

this would total 16 cubic inches. i'm using 4x1.5 octagon box listed at 15.8 cubic inches.

so here are my questions:

1) Are my calculations right? is this box too small for the wiring configuration?

2) Assuming the box is too small, it seems like i would have a couple different options a) get a deeper box (assuming it fits) b) splice only a single light from the center fixture and then splice the two outer lights together c) run a second line in from the junction box directly to one of the outer lights d) any other ideas i may have missed

will all of these work? Is there a preffered option or are they all the same?

rjniles

Since the boxes are only 12-15" apart, run from the center box to to the left box, and then run from there back past the center to the right box. Avoids all the congestion in one box.

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Location:
Coastal South Carolina