I need to find an outlet box that will fit inside the shallow AS wall, and allow a little room for a wire in and a wire out. The old ones look like they are about 3 x 3 5/8, and about 1 1/2" deep.
The single-gang shallow plastic ones at the box stores are ok for one wire in, but not enough room for a second wire, for when I run a circuit in a series. I don't want to use an external extension box, either.
I am using marine grade wire, and its kind of bulky
I've been using the shallow boxes from Home Depot by opening up the holes where the wires come in, or drilling additional holes in appropriate places. The extra wire gets pushed out, so it sorta works...
Or you could gang together your wires with a crimp connector, and run a single wire to the plug. Maybe hot glue the bundle in a place where the plug won't hit it.
Don't know why they have to make those Decora plugs so big!
If you look carefully at Home Depot or Lowe's you may find a shallow box with an offset piece which gives much more room to both put wires in, and is legal. It is kind of hard to describe but picture a box with the normal size face opening, but with a kind of L shaped backside compartment which gives it more room. It is slipped into the hole on an angle and then brought flush with the hole and held in place normally.
I believe it would be something like this, available at Lowes. Although it is for "new construction," the concept is there, and of course it can be modified (nails removed, etc.). As you can see the flap is flipped over and secured to the front of the box once the wiring is completed. I've seen these at Home Depot as well.
Thanks, I bought all of the shallow ones mentioned. The ones with the offset are what I need, but are too deep. I picked up a 2 gang plastic box, and cut it at a little over 1 1/2" deep, and used my big ol' soldering iron to weld a new back on, and then seal any gaps with a solvent cement. It gives me the room I need, and looks pretty spiffy. I seems really solid, so I think the box is sound enough to do what it needs to do.
I used the shallow boxes and rewire my whole 1976 Tradewind with new wire and outlets. I had to custom cut the romex so it wouldn't bunch under the plug. Once in place I would push the outlet in and wiggle the in out out wires back out of the box. Worked great just takes a little more time to cut the wires to different lengths as to avoid any bunching under the plug.
I riveted the blue boxes to the skin through the outlets upper attachment holes, very sturdy. Servicing them would take some work as the boxes will not fit through the factory holes if I wanted to pull the box out. In hindsight enlarging the holes in the wall might have been a good idea as long as the outlet cover would use the blue box edges.
Mine used the quick connect outlets, no boxes for most of the outlets, found replacemens on Amazon.com, link below, while redoing the inerior and re-wiring I'm using the blue single gang shallow outlets from Lowes/HD just made extra hole in box for the extra wires and installed as described by millertime.
Mine used the quick connect outlets, no boxes for most of the outlets, found replacemens on Amazon.com, link below, while redoing the inerior and re-wiring I'm using the blue single gang shallow outlets from Lowes/HD just made extra hole in box for the extra wires and installed as described by millertime.
Mixter, I'm replacing the old press the wires into the back of the outlets with the blue boxes riveted onto the sheet metal. Mocked up one but have a bunch more to do. I replaced all the 120v (except outdoor outlet) wiring in the trailer, from the 30A inlet to the outlets and everything in between. Installing AFCI breakers on all circuits except the A/C unit since the compressor start doesn't work well with GFCI/AFCI circuits. Replacing all the interior skins, so I cut the new holes with a dremmel tool just big enough to fit the blue boxes so that the ears on top and bottom can get riveted to the skin securely. With this setup I need to run all the wires in/out of the box from one end, otherwise with the tight fit you can't get the box in and out of the hole, so I'm drilling a hole in one end of the box for more room for the wires to go through, except boxes where the wire ends. I bought a few of the old style outlets but didn't like the look or construction. This way I can use whatever outlets/covers I want for the desired look. Below link to the box I'm using.
I cut the depth down to 1.5" and used heat and glue to fabricate this. Not sure I will use it, as its kind of rough.
I need the extra room for the 2 marine grade 12 ga. wires going into the box. I will cover the box with a combination cover, below.
I only need this in 2 spots, where 2 wires go to 1 box. All the others are 1 wire/1 box.
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