I am installing ultra thin recessed light in the basement and it comes with a very small metal box (probably 2×4 in in size). Due to the old wiring of the house, there are 5 wires coming in totally: power to light 1, power to light 2, 2 switches, and the light itself. It's going to be very "crowded" because the wire nut will have to fit like 4-5 wires.
I would like to "connect" everything" outside of the ultra thin metal box and only leave 3 wires (white, black, ground) coming into the box itself.
I am thinking of a few options:
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Use an electrical box and connect everything in there but leave 3 wires out to go into the recessed box. Then close the box with a lid and just sort of "throw" it up in the ceiling somewhere (no screw or mount into joists).
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Tear up the ceiling to find a joist and install a Round Hard-Shell Ceiling Box then connect everything there. However, the hard part is to connect existing wiring since some are not long enough. I may have to create additional lumber support. Either that or I have to use the ceiling box that has a metal bar to mount both joists. Regardless, this is major ceiling work and drywall fixes.
I am leaning toward Option 1 as I doubt there is any unforeseen issue. What are your thoughts?
Reference: the light I bought is
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079GLKCV7/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Best Answer
Use an old work box to house the splices
There's a simple way out of this, and that's to use an old work box mounted into the ceiling drywall to house the electrical splices. A 3 gang switch box will do the trick, or you can use a 4 11/16" square box that's 1.5" or deeper if you can get an old work mountable version of that. (Really, anything that supplies more than 29.5 in3 of space will do.)