IC Recessed lights and code

[Ryland]

This past weekend I went through verifying that the wiring for all of the recessed lights was good and correctly hooked up but my FIL pointed out that all of the junction boxes that are part of the light won't be accessible when the ceiling is installed and that that is against code. Does anybody know anything about this?

 

[wbrian63]

All of the IC lights I've got in my house have the junction box accessible from inside the can. You just remove a couple of wing-nuts and a panel and you're in the junction box from the back side.

This is the case on 5" and larger lamp housings.

I have no idea about the smaller 3" cans, but it wouldn't matter because unless I remove about 1/2 the width of my hand and part of my wrist, it ain't goin' in a 3" hole.

As for code, I have 69 IC lamps in my house. A mix of 5" and 3". All passed electrical inspection with no issues.

Think about it another way - you can install a non-IC can in a ceiling in a 2-story house with a floor above the light - that junction box isn't accessible either...

 

[Stuart in MN]

The wiring is generally accessible from inside the can, like wbrian mentioned. Are they going into an insulated ceiling? If so you need to use IC (insulation contact) rated lights.

It turns out there's a Wikipedia page for these things: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recessed_light

 

[Ryland]

These are 6" recessed lights that are IC rated. I will have to see if I can disassemble them from the inside. Thanks.