Exterior lighting: Is a round waterproof lampholder ACTUALLY compatible with a rectangular housing?
I happened to be at Home Depot for something else, so I didn't get a good look at our exterior floodlights that need to be replaced (they're about 13 years old and don't work anymore). So I picked up two of these, just to have 'em in case they were a good fit:
But when I came home I saw that the boxes on my house are rectangular and not round like the lights I bought. I was planning to just exchange them for the right kind, but then I noticed that in the description on that Amazon listing, it says they work for round OR rectangular waterproof housings! So... what gives? Can I actually expect to mount the round lights on the rectangular hole and have 'em work? Seems too good to be true.
The product description on Amazon is pulled directly from the manufacturer's data sheet (the link is an excerpt from a catalog, scroll down two pages for the light fixtures you bought), so I think you can trust it.
Another assurance that you'll be OK: I see from that catalog that the base of the light fixture is 4 1/8" in diameter, which is the same as the outside dimension of the diagonal of a single gang box (at least the one I picked out of my big box of electrical goodies :). When you open the packaging, you should see a rectangular pattern in the molding on the back where the electrical box will be mounted.
How to Choose an Electrical Box | Ask This Old House
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