Clamping wire in pancake box?

[Noozer]

I'm installing some lighting on the outside of my garage. It seems pretty straightforward, but I've got a question regarding the electrical boxes...

I'm using "pancake" boxes. I knockout one of the holes in the back of the box. Then I hold it up where I want it mounted and mark the wall. I take it down and drill my hole. Put it back up and screw into place. Pull the wire through.

How do I clamp the wire so it doesn't pull out of the box? I know that there are clips that can be put into place, but the sheathing of the garage wall precludes my using them. I guess I could put the clip in backwards, but they are wider than the pancake box is high.

Do I just leave the wire loose and depend on the "staple" inside the garage to hold the wire?

Just want to be sure that this will meet code here in Calgary. Don't want to fail my inspection.

Thanks!

[RBM]

Assuming you are using non metallic cable, you can get a connector called "button" made by Arlington Industries. It's very small and just pops into a

1/2" knockout, and the cable just pushes through it

[willshak]

on 9/13/2007 6:51 PM Noozer said the following:

My outside front door lights have been that way for 23 years. How can they pull,or fall, out? It was probably a little tough to bend it around the pancake box to begin with.

[J.A. Michel]

I'd use one of these if I were going in or out of a box. I assume you're using NM cable?

[John Grabowski]

An 1 1/4" hole should be the right size to allow a two screw Romex connector to fit behind the box. You can cut the screws a little to make it fit better. As RBM suggested a button type connector will work also.

[Cliff Hartle]

One question no one is asking. I this box rated for exterior use? The only pancake boxes I have seen are for indoor work.

[Noozer]

Don't tell me this!

I did not see anything that looked like an "outdoor" pancake box. What's the difference between an outdoor rated box and a normal box?

[Toller]

The clamp is as much to protect against electrical fires in the box as to hold the wire in place. A hole in a box is unacceptable.

[RBM]

The pancake box is designed to be installed on the sheeting, not the siding. you use a hole saw and cut through the siding material, then mount the pancake. The surface should be flush with the siding. It is not an outdoor box, and is not being used as one

[Noozer]

Ahh.. Good. That's exactly how it'll work.

I marked where I wanted fixtures and the siding guy installed the proper "beneath the siding" trim at each location. Once the pancake box is in place there is a second piece that finishes the trim around the opening in the siding.