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I'm going to replace exterior flood lights (4 of them) that are mounted under soffits.

When I looked into the current wiring, I saw that the wiring was coming from the switch (inside the house) to the attic (no stairway or permanent ladder) and then to one of the lights. But there were also splices at the light covered with electrical tape feeding another flood light. I didn't go into the attic to look at the complete routing. I disconnected the wire from the switch so there is no power getting to them. So I'm planning on installing a junction box in the attic and then run the 4 feeds from there to the flood lights. I think this is the correct approach. Your insights on this would be appreciated.

JimCzek
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Splices need to be in junction boxes, and properly made, [listed wire nut / Marrette, Wago Lever-lock, push-in splice, etc...] not twisted and taped. You're right about that being wrong.

There's no right or wrong to one junction box feeding 4 cables to lights, (a star) .vs. one box at each light feeding the next one, (a daisy chain) and generally lights need to be mounted to junction boxes, (since the junction between the cable and the light ALSO needs to be in a junction box) so those boxes come "for free" if doing it right in a daisy chain.

Efficiency of cable routing is usually more of the practical concern for "star" .vs. "daisy chain" (or a blend, all are good.)

Ecnerwal
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  • That's what I thought. In terms of mounting the junction box, my attic has blown in insulation. Should I mount it above the floor joists? Or can it be mounted on a floor joist? I have to admit, I've just started looking through the NEC and haven't hit all the relevant sections yet. – JimCzek Apr 30 '23 at 15:58
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    Boxes can be buried in insulation that's movable (per code) just as they can be behind a picture or a door that covers them. What you can't have is no access to the box, or access to the box requiring tools (before you get to the box cover screws) - moving insulation aside is considered access without tools. If convenient, nobody will mind if you make the thing easy to find without moving insulation, but you don't have to. – Ecnerwal Apr 30 '23 at 16:04