Through wall wiring help.

[SuperCooper22]

Hello, I am trying to wire to an exterior LED flood light outside my garage wall. The exterior is stucco. My question is do I run the conduit through the stucco wall, all the way to the back of the light or just run the bare wire through the stucco and then into conduit in the garage?

The light is mounted directly over the drilled hole in the stucco wall so no wires will be exposed. Thank you.

 

[beemerphile]

I would either cut in or flush mount a weatherproof round box to mount the light on and contain the wire connections. Conduit into the box. Most exterior lights I have seen are box mounted.

 

[mike93lx]

Individual conductors (e.g. thhn/thwn) require conduit for their entire length. Sheathed cables (e.g. nm-b/romex, and UF-B) only require conduit when the wire is subject to damage.

I agree on the box. It's the proper way to mount nearly all lights, gives you space to make your connections the wires and allows you to secure the wiring. If you are using conduit, run it all the way to the box with the right connectors

 

[Zeke]

You can run cable through the wall and connect in the canopy of the fixture IF the canopy has enough volume. Common sense will tell you if it does. Otherwise mount weather proof box. In both cases a gasket and/or silicone is needed. If you choose to run the cable (not individual wires) through the stucco you can protect that with a block inside so that you can't damage the cable if you tried.

It's not all that hard to use an LB and a short ****** if you are bringing wire to that hole in a conduit and gives you something to screw the box to. You can even use the LB and the ****** by themselves properly strapped with the cable if the rest of the cable is protected.

In a garage with open stud bays running the cable along side a stud 1 1/4" back is not considered protected.

 

[dave*99]

In a garage with open stud bays running the cable along side a stud 1 1/4" back is not considered protected.

This is perfectly acceptable in NJ. NM cable is routinely stapled to the side of a stud or drilled through a stud for horizontal runs.

As always your AHJ is the final arbiter for this.

 

[Zeke]

In CA we do have variables but mostly open walls mean conduit. Now above 8' I think is open to area by area.

Running horizontally across an open wall, centered in the stud (5/8ths hole max according to one inspector), at lower than 8' with no support in the stud bay will not work here. Someone can easily lean something on the cable. Idiots around here would use the wire to hang things on. Like garden tools.

A GJ thread.

 

[dave*99]

Cable protection is hotly debated on GJ.

Ultimately the AHJ is the final arbiter.

It’s common to see cable stackers full of NM on the side of a stud in an open stud bay in a garage here. Horizontal runs between garage outlets 4’ above the floor are also common.

And we even have idiots here in NJ. That’s not limited to specific geographical regions.