Wire termination under cabinet

Question

When I moved into my home, there was an ancient under-cabinet fluorescent light fixture over the kitchen sink, which I promptly removed. The fixture was just mounted to the cabinet, no electrical box, as you can see in the photo. (Based on what I've seen elsewhere in the house, I assume there is armored cable on the other side of that hole.)
I'd like to install new LED under-cabinet lights using this circuit. Given proximity to the sink, do I need to install a GFCI outlet here, and plug in to that, or is there safe, code-friendly way to hard-wire the new fixture using only an under-cabinet junction box and raceway conduit?

Fresh Codemonger · Answer

Led lighting typically requires a transformer or power supply.  The power supply is plugged in or hardwired somewhere that is hidden like under the sink or on top of the cabinets.  Low voltage wire 18/2 is then typically run from this location to each location that requires led lighting.
You could use your armored cable to carry low voltage if you know where the cable ends and can disconnect it from the actual junction box.  At that junction box you could then hookup the power supply and splice the low voltage output onto the armored cable to supply the led fixture under the cabinet.
I don't think there are any gfci requirements for low voltage lighting in proximity of a sink.

Wire termination under cabinet

One Answer

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question