Wiring lights before/after drywall - best way to do this?

[jpcjguy]

Hi all,

So my lights came in and I have the Romex that also has the dimmer control wires. I have created a lighting pattern that will be either 20 or 24 lights on the flat part of the garage. (See pics)

I have a question on the process of the running the wiring. The lights are only 2.4" wide. I don't plan on having junction boxes at each light, since it would be a pain to frame up the exact locations. So how do I ensure that the wire is in the right place after the drywallers are done? The holes in the lights are tiny. Fishing them after the fact seems like a futile act.
Luckily the "bays" between floors will not have insulation (insulating the outer shell of the building), so I can easily run wires in the cavity, (but then they won't be secured along the trusses - ****, just though of that).
What is the best course of action here?

Spec sheet of lights: https://www.ledlightingwholesaleinc.com/v/vspfiles/Erythin/E5SLB_SpecSheet.pdf

 

[Denwood]

I would run the wire, securing it to the approximate location on your trusses, and leave some slack, before drywall. Looking at your trusses, you may find it faster to run the wiring using a few sleeper plank walkways up top, so in that case it really doesn't matter which you do first. I figure it's easer to approximate your light locations from below, with no drywall in place.

If you lay your light locations out on the floor first, you can just use a string/bolt plumb to get your wiring locations sorted from above.

 

[Innovate1]

I would run the wire, securing it to the approximate location and leave some slack, before drywall.

^ +1

Running wire after drywall is a pain even if you still have access from the attic side.

Trying to get the drywaller to put the wire in the precise location is pretty futile to.

Just run the wire with some slack, have the drywall done, then punch the final holes and feed the wire through.

 

[jpcjguy]

Ok. Thanks for the advice. I was just wondering how fun it would be to find a wire through a 1-2" hole that is somehow taped or lightly attached to the joist so I can find it and hook it to pull down....

 

[sparky 1971]

It would take some time, but what about a piece of scrap lumber nailed up between the trusses at every light location. Drill a 1-1/4" hole at the center of each light for the wire. Or, do that once for each row at the end light, and run a piece of conduit between the fixtures .

 

[Innovate1]

Ok. Thanks for the advice. I was just wondering how fun it would be to find a wire through a 1-2" hole that is somehow taped or lightly attached to the joist so I can find it and hook it to pull down....

I thought you would have access to the top side of the ceiling so could just poke the wires through from above.

You can put up blocking and put the wires through holes like sparky said...

 

[sierradmax]

I ran wiring to each "first light" in each row per sparky's idea. Drywalled then hung the first fixture. After, I used 1/2" emt between each fixture within that row.