Summary: Plan attic paths, drill clean holes, and secure outdoor cabling without creating eyesores.

Primary Wiring

This section covers the wiring that leaves the electronics box and heads toward your lights, including any “dark” spans where you’re routing cable but don’t want LEDs. We’re assuming you already mapped out your start, middle, and end points back in Planning.

Running Conduit Into the Attic

I started by deciding exactly where the electronics box would live on the wall. From there:

1. Measured from the top of the box to the ceiling and added about a foot for wiggle room.
2. Cut the conduit to length.
3. Held it loosely in place and traced where it needed to enter the ceiling.
4. Removed the conduit and cut the opening with a multitool.

Cutting the conduit opening with a multitool.

I later 3D‑printed a transition piece to clean up the ceiling hole. Nothing fancy, just something to hide my very human drywall skills. After that, the conduit slid through and was fully secured to the wall.

Cable Choices (and Some Honest Thoughts)

• 14 AWG 3‑wire for the initial run toward the start of each segment.
• 12 AWG 2‑wire for middle and end power injection points.

The cable quality has been great so far and the price makes it even better. My only gripe is the jacket. It’s a harder plastic than I’m used to and snaps cleanly along a scoring line, especially when cold. That’s great for stripping but makes me slightly paranoid about long‑term brittleness. I’d still buy it again (and have), but I’ll keep an eye on it over the next few seasons.

Running Cable to the Start of Each Segment

With the conduit in place, here’s the repeatable process I used:

1. Drop the 14 AWG 3‑wire from the attic down through the conduit, letting several feet hang out below.
2. Loosely staple the cable to a truss to keep it tidy.
3. Run the cable toward the track where the segment begins.

Earlier I had already:

• Installed the track.
• Drilled a 1‑inch hole through the track and soffit.
• Fed a wire fish through so it was waiting for me.

Once the wire was cut long enough to stick out about a foot from the soffit, I taped it to the fish (with a tail for easy removal) and pulled it through.

Fishing the 14 AWG run through the soffit.

I installed the xConnect pigtail outside on a ladder — much easier than doing it in the attic. Then I repeated the whole process for the start of the second segment. After everything was in place, I added staples to keep the runs neat.

Middle and End Power Injection Runs

This follows the exact same playbook as the segment‑start wiring:

• Drop 12 AWG 2‑wire down the conduit.
• Staple loosely.
• Run it to the injection point.
• Cut, fish, pull through.

For the middle injection, I hardwired directly into the strip. You can absolutely use the included 3‑way adapters to keep things modular, but they bulk up the track a bit.

For the end injection, I used an xConnect pigtail and capped the data line since it isn’t needed there.

Cable‑Only Runs (Around Chimneys, Gaps, Peak Transitions)

Anywhere I didn’t want LEDs — chimney bypasses, stacked roof peaks, etc. — I used 14 AWG 3‑wire as a dark span.

Just like before, all the track holes and wire fish lines were already in place. The process:

1. Pull one side of the cable through the first hole.
2. Re‑fish from the second hole.
3. Cut cable to length (plus a little extra).
4. Pull it through the second hole.

From there, I tried a few different methods to tie the cable back into the LED string.

Option 1: xConnect Pigtail + Butt Connectors

14 AWG fits in red butt connectors if you keep the strands smooth. This is great when the LED strip already ends in an xConnect. I avoided it on freshly cut segments.

Option 2: Hardwire Directly

Use butt connectors from the 14 AWG straight to the puck wires. Fewer connectors, less bulk, but sacrifices flexibility later.

Option 3: “Softwire” With Inline Wagos

Not a real word, but it works. Connect cable to puck wires using inline Wagos. Best flexibility, but Wagos weren’t designed for outdoor use. They’re somewhat protected inside the track, but still use caution.

Inline connection options for cable-only runs.

What I’d Probably Recommend

Hardwire the end of the light string to the start of the cable, then put an xConnect pigtail on the other end of that cable. Now one side is fixed, but the other is modular. That said, if the string already had an xConnect attached, I usually just used it.