Hi, I am a newbie here and have a few questions.

1. I have two exterior receptacles, one in the front and one in the back. The weather resistant in-use cover came off the one in the front. When I was replacing it, I noticed the receptacle wasn’t in an outlet box. The wall was cut out so the receptacle would fit into it and the receptacle was screwed directly into the wall through the four mickey mouse ears. Out of curiosity, I removed the cover to the receptacle in the back. The setup was the same as in the front. Is an outlet box required or is this arrangement acceptable?

2. When I was painting the ceiling in the kitchen, I took the globe off the light over the kitchen sink. The fixture was a loose and came down a little. It appeared to me, there wasn’t a ceiling box installed. I removed the light fixture and, sure enough, there wasn’t a ceiling box. There was a small hole in the Sheetrock that the wire for the fixture came through. There were a couple of sheet anchors in the Sheetrock and the light fixture was screwed into them. Is a ceiling box required or is this arrangement acceptable?

3. There is an exterior light in the back yard that is on motion-sensor. There isn’t a switch for this light. I believe the previous homeowner installed the light by powering it directly from a receptacle inside the house. Is this an acceptable installation?

4. My garage and exterior receptacle are wired on one 20 amp circuit. There first receptacle on the circuit is a 20 amp GFI receptacle located in the garage. The rest of the receptacles, 1 in the garage and 2 exterior, are regular 15 amp receptacles. Is this arrangement acceptable?

Thank you in advance for your responses. I really appreciate you taking time to answer my questions.

Answers to your questions:

1. All receptacles need to be mounted in an approved outlet box, along with the wiring connecting to the receptacle. The sheathing must be remove from the cable so there is at least 6 inches of wire in the box. You can get either metal or plastic "Old Work Wall Case" boxes for this.

2. Same as #1. Here you can use either a metal or plastic 4 inch round old work box.

3. Not having a switch for a light fixture for a motion light is acceptable.

4.The 15 amp receptacles on a 20 amp circuit is fine, since you cannot plug in a true 20 amp load into the 15 amp device.

One basic rule of wiring is that all connections, splices, devices, be mounted or contained in an outlet box of the correct size and be rated for the cable you have installed.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the info.