I recently wall mounted our bedroom TV. Naturally, that left both the AC
cord and data cable hanging down the wall. That was totally unacceptable so
I put a new box up high behind the TV, put the satellite receiver there too.

In order to provide AC to the new box I daisy chained off the duplex outlet
in the old box. That box was single gang - new one is double, AC and data -
and a shallow one at that. The old box already had two lines going into it
and my new one made three. That means three 12 gauge lines...six individual
wires plus a pig tailed wire nut for the additional three ground wires. I'm
telling you, I had a heck of a time getting all that stuffed back into the
box.

My question is, is there a right way to get all that into the box? Some
methodology of arranging the wires maybe? I always hate using brute force,
worrying about shoving a ground into something hot or maybe breaking the
grounds' wire nut.

Yes, I could have replaced the old box with a new, deeper one but I didn't
have one handy and didn't want to make a 20 mile round trip to get one.
Even if I had one it would have been a pain...cut off the nail holding the
old box, hope there was enough slack in the feeds to get into the new box,
hope the hold-in tabs on the new box don't fall off. before getting them
tightened...like that.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

Winters getting colder? Tired of the rat race?
Taxes out of hand? Maybe just ready for a change?
Check it out... http://www.floridaloghouse.net

On Friday, January 24, 2014 7:27:16 AM UTC-5, dadiOH wrote:
I recently wall mounted our bedroom TV. Naturally, that left both the AC

cord and data cable hanging down the wall. That was totally unacceptable so

I put a new box up high behind the TV, put the satellite receiver there too.



In order to provide AC to the new box I daisy chained off the duplex outlet

in the old box. That box was single gang - new one is double, AC and data -

and a shallow one at that. The old box already had two lines going into it

and my new one made three. That means three 12 gauge lines...six individual

wires plus a pig tailed wire nut for the additional three ground wires. I'm

telling you, I had a heck of a time getting all that stuffed back into the

box.



My question is, is there a right way to get all that into the box? Some

methodology of arranging the wires maybe? I always hate using brute force,

worrying about shoving a ground into something hot or maybe breaking the

grounds' wire nut.



Yes, I could have replaced the old box with a new, deeper one but I didn't

have one handy and didn't want to make a 20 mile round trip to get one.

Even if I had one it would have been a pain...cut off the nail holding the

old box, hope there was enough slack in the feeds to get into the new box,

hope the hold-in tabs on the new box don't fall off. before getting them

tightened...like that.



--



dadiOH


IDK of any special tricks, but the essence of your problem is that
per NEC box fill, the box in question is too small for all the
conductors and the outlet that it contains. You're not supposed to
put 10 lbs of stuff in a 5 pound bag.....

buy some spare boxes they are fairly cheap and replace your existing box ASAP.

I keep spare stuff around that saves valuable time if your in the middle of a project

On Friday, January 24, 2014 8:24:15 AM UTC-5, wrote:
On Friday, January 24, 2014 7:27:16 AM UTC-5, dadiOH wrote:

I recently wall mounted our bedroom TV. Naturally, that left both the AC



cord and data cable hanging down the wall. That was totally unacceptable so



I put a new box up high behind the TV, put the satellite receiver there too.







In order to provide AC to the new box I daisy chained off the duplex outlet



in the old box. That box was single gang - new one is double, AC and data -



and a shallow one at that. The old box already had two lines going into it



and my new one made three. That means three 12 gauge lines...six individual



wires plus a pig tailed wire nut for the additional three ground wires. I'm



telling you, I had a heck of a time getting all that stuffed back into the



box.







My question is, is there a right way to get all that into the box? Some



methodology of arranging the wires maybe? I always hate using brute force,



worrying about shoving a ground into something hot or maybe breaking the



grounds' wire nut.







Yes, I could have replaced the old box with a new, deeper one but I didn't



have one handy and didn't want to make a 20 mile round trip to get one.



Even if I had one it would have been a pain...cut off the nail holding the



old box, hope there was enough slack in the feeds to get into the new box,



hope the hold-in tabs on the new box don't fall off. before getting them



tightened...like that.







--







dadiOH





IDK of any special tricks, but the essence of your problem is that

per NEC box fill, the box in question is too small for all the

conductors and the outlet that it contains. You're not supposed to

put 10 lbs of stuff in a 5 pound bag.....

This. You can get gangable metal old work boxes that are 3.5" deep which are really what you need for this, alternately deep plastic Carlon old work boxes. The shallow ones are near useless when you use the more recent box fill calcs.

Also, if you have data and 120VAC in the same box they should be separated with a divider. Really I think what you're looking at to "do it right" is opening the wall, putting the 120VAC in a deep 1900 box with a mud ring, and putting in a low voltage single gang ring to finish that opening.

nate

dadiOH wrote:
I recently wall mounted our bedroom TV. Naturally, that left both the AC
cord and data cable hanging down the wall. That was totally unacceptable so
I put a new box up high behind the TV, put the satellite receiver there too.

In order to provide AC to the new box I daisy chained off the duplex outlet
in the old box. That box was single gang - new one is double, AC and data -
and a shallow one at that. The old box already had two lines going into it
and my new one made three. That means three 12 gauge lines...six individual
wires plus a pig tailed wire nut for the additional three ground wires. I'm
telling you, I had a heck of a time getting all that stuffed back into the
box.

My question is, is there a right way to get all that into the box? Some
methodology of arranging the wires maybe? I always hate using brute force,
worrying about shoving a ground into something hot or maybe breaking the
grounds' wire nut.

Yes, I could have replaced the old box with a new, deeper one but I didn't
have one handy and didn't want to make a 20 mile round trip to get one.
Even if I had one it would have been a pain...cut off the nail holding the
old box, hope there was enough slack in the feeds to get into the new box,
hope the hold-in tabs on the new box don't fall off. before getting them
tightened...like that.


Couldn't use one of these?
http://preview.tinyurl.com/o6u77yy



--
Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeros after @

On 1/24/2014 8:24 AM, wrote:


In order to provide AC to the new box I daisy chained off the duplex outlet

in the old box.


IDK of any special tricks, but the essence of your problem is that
per NEC box fill, the box in question is too small for all the
conductors and the outlet that it contains. You're not supposed to
put 10 lbs of stuff in a 5 pound bag.....


Yeah, but he said he put AC in the box. With Air Conditioning, it should
be able to handle more.

On Fri, 24 Jan 2014 11:58:29 -0500, wrote:

The trick to stretch a box is to abandon the receptacle and put a
blank cover on it.

Not an electrician, but that was my first thought.

wrote in message

On Fri, 24 Jan 2014 07:27:16 -0500, "dadiOH"
wrote:

I recently wall mounted our bedroom TV. Naturally,
that left both the AC cord and data cable hanging down
the wall. That was totally unacceptable so I put a new
box up high behind the TV, put the satellite receiver
there too.

In order to provide AC to the new box I daisy chained
off the duplex outlet in the old box. That box was
single gang - new one is double, AC and data - and a
shallow one at that. The old box already had two lines
going into it and my new one made three. That means
three 12 gauge lines...six individual wires plus a pig
tailed wire nut for the additional three ground wires.
I'm telling you, I had a heck of a time getting all
that stuffed back into the box.

My question is, is there a right way to get all that
into the box? Some methodology of arranging the wires
maybe? I always hate using brute force, worrying about
shoving a ground into something hot or maybe breaking
the grounds' wire nut.

Yes, I could have replaced the old box with a new,
deeper one but I didn't have one handy and didn't want
to make a 20 mile round trip to get one. Even if I had
one it would have been a pain...cut off the nail
holding the old box, hope there was enough slack in the
feeds to get into the new box, hope the hold-in tabs on
the new box don't fall off. before getting them
tightened...like that.

The trick to stretch a box is to abandon the receptacle
and put a blank cover on it.
You can then add another cable and still end up with the
same wire fill count. (you count the current carrying
wires as one each, times the wire size factor) but all
grounds are counted as a total of one wire. You count the
receptacle as 2.

Yeah, I've done that in the (recent) past, just didn't want to mess with a
new hole and getting a box this time.

Thanks.


--

dadiOH
____________________________

Winters getting colder? Tired of the rat race?
Taxes out of hand? Maybe just ready for a change?
Check it out... http://www.floridaloghouse.net

willshak wrote:
dadiOH wrote:
I recently wall mounted our bedroom TV. Naturally, that left both the
AC cord and data cable hanging down the wall. That was totally
unacceptable so I put a new box up high behind the TV, put the
satellite receiver there too.
In order to provide AC to the new box I daisy chained off the duplex
outlet in the old box. That box was single gang - new one is double,
AC and data - and a shallow one at that. The old box already had two
lines going into it and my new one made three. That means three 12
gauge lines...six individual wires plus a pig tailed wire nut for the
additional three ground wires. I'm telling you, I had a heck of a
time getting all that stuffed back into the box.
My question is, is there a right way to get all that into the box?
Some methodology of arranging the wires maybe? I always hate using
brute force, worrying about shoving a ground into something hot or
maybe breaking the grounds' wire nut.
Yes, I could have replaced the old box with a new, deeper one but I
didn't have one handy and didn't want to make a 20 mile round trip to
get one. Even if I had one it would have been a pain...cut off the
nail holding the old box, hope there was enough slack in the feeds to
get into the new box, hope the hold-in tabs on the new box don't fall
off. before getting them tightened...like that.

Couldn't use one of these?
http://preview.tinyurl.com/o6u77yy


The heat ducts for the second floor run inside the wall where my TV is
mounted so I couldn't add any receptacles up behind the TV.

I used the wide flat cable channel (4th one down on that page) and painted
it to match the wall. With the DVD holder and other items on the AV
equipment cabinet below the TV, only about 6" of the cable channel is
visible.

Works for me.

"willshak" wrote in message

dadiOH wrote:
I recently wall mounted our bedroom TV. Naturally,
that left both the AC cord and data cable hanging down
the wall. That was totally unacceptable so I put a new
box up high behind the TV, put the satellite receiver
there too. In order to provide AC to the new box I daisy chained
off the duplex outlet in the old box. That box was
single gang - new one is double, AC and data - and a
shallow one at that. The old box already had two lines
going into it and my new one made three. That means
three 12 gauge lines...six individual wires plus a pig
tailed wire nut for the additional three ground wires. I'm telling you,
I had a heck of a time getting all
that stuffed back into the box. My question is, is there a right way to
get all that
into the box? Some methodology of arranging the wires
maybe? I always hate using brute force, worrying about
shoving a ground into something hot or maybe breaking
the grounds' wire nut. Yes, I could have replaced the old box with a
new,
deeper one but I didn't have one handy and didn't want
to make a 20 mile round trip to get one. Even if I had
one it would have been a pain...cut off the nail
holding the old box, hope there was enough slack in the
feeds to get into the new box, hope the hold-in tabs on
the new box don't fall off. before getting them
tightened...like that.

Couldn't use one of these?
http://preview.tinyurl.com/o6u77yy

Sure, I could have used a chase of any kind, just looks better without.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

Winters getting colder? Tired of the rat race?
Taxes out of hand? Maybe just ready for a change?
Check it out... http://www.floridaloghouse.net