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LED Recessed Retrofit Downlight Kits without Canned Light

BobV | Posted in General Discussion on December 15, 2015 11:02am

Has anybody ever used a LED Recessed Retrofit Downlight Kit just by itself without actually installing it in a Canned Lighting Assembly?

I need to install some lighting above a kitchen sink.  I’ll be installing a frieze board, crown molding, and a piece of finish plywood to create a small sofffit area that is only 4″ tall by 10″ deep by 66″ wide. between to wall cabinets.  Romex is roughed into the area. The soffit is not yet installed.

I could extend the Romex thru the plywood, install a shallow box for the electrical connections, and then install a flush or semi-flush fixture, but most fixtures end up being too wide and will extend past the front of the soffit, and/or hang too low.

So I’m considering, some type of lighting that can be recess mounted in the plywood.  I can’t seem to find any recess mounted pucks, plus pucks seem to all need some type of transformer.  I’d rather not have any devices other than the lights to deal with, because once the soffit is installed I dont ever want to have to gain access to the inside of it again.

However, a 3″ or 4″ can light would seem to OK except they are all too tall to fit in the limited space.  But a LED Retrofit Light that normally get installed in a canned light would easily fit in the area.  I’d just cut the right size hole,  and it should just pop into place, Then instead spinning the retrofit into an incondescent socket, just cut that off and wire it to the Romex.  There is a Molex connector that I would leave inline, so future replacement of the light would be possible without too much issues.   I think I could somehow make the splice accessable thru the holes for the light kit, but since these are LEDs it will be a while before I’d have to worry about that.

Any thoughts or other ideas???

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Replies

  1. calvin | Dec 16, 2015 07:01am | #1

    Bob

    Did a quick search and spent no time looking into this but see if this is something that might work for you.

    http://www.amazon.com/Lemonbest®-Dimmable-Downlight-Recessed-replacement/dp/B00D8VKR0G/ref=pd_sim_60_2/181-8381655-6134656?ie=UTF8&dpID=41%2Bh-JiXemL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=0G4G4DCE7CHQ6H6YBJ7Z#Ask

  2. User avater
    Condoman | Dec 17, 2015 08:50am | #2

    I have used the LED flat or plate lights in several places.  They install in a standard J box.  I have put 9 of these in so far.  What I learned is to keep wires to the minimum because there is so little room in the box.  So, I only have one 14-2 romex coming into the box and I used the smallest wire nut that would work with the romex and the light wires. I also carefully removed the Molex connector and saved it should I need to reattach it to return the light.

    All the installs have been with regular J boxes made to be used for old work.  That means I created plywood strips to attach them to the drywall since I needed the absolute minimum depth.

    I had one of these lights go bad in that it would flicker even with the dimmer on hi.  I brought the light back to the big box orange store and they did not even want a receipt (which I had) to replace it.  It has been almost a year and the last installed lights are working great.

  3. DanH | Dec 17, 2015 09:06am | #3

    Not clear what you're intending to do, but do keep in mind that likely the entire lamp assembly must be inside an enclosure to meet code.

  4. florida | Dec 17, 2015 04:59pm | #4

    Home Depot has Halo LEDs that go ona box, no can needed.  About $37.00 each.

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