Inovelli Blue Dimmer overheating when hooking up to line + load, old dimmer works

Switches Wiring Discussion
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https://imgur.com/a/AAX3jut pics of wiring and old dimmer switch.

Old dimmer switch:

Gang (the black wires were initially connected):

This was originally a dimmer switch with 3 wires since it was hooked up with another dumb on/off switch in another room. Black is hot (120V as measured from multimeter); white and red go to the dumb switch. On the dumb switch I tied red to load going to the light and confirmed using the old dimmer with just the middle black and far red wires connected that the lights can turn on/off and dim correctly.

I’m no electrician but I imagine the white wire is connected to the other gang which isn’t connected to anything so it’s just a dead wire. With my limited understanding I can only surmise that I have a reasonable hot (black) and load (red) with the white not used.

When I tried hooking up the Innovelli so the black (hot) going to line and the red going to load, when I flipped the circuit breaker on I felt a humming which did go away after a few seconds but the innovelli switch started smoking and I saw smoke from the lights. I immediately cut the breaker and restored the old dimmer switch which still works.

Any idea what could be going on and if I can get this dimmer switch installed?

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What is your load? i.e. what lights is the switch controlling?

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They are 6 overhead lights, I’m not sure what kind but they are philips bulbs (not hue). If needed I can get a pic of the bulb.

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To be sure, the same thing happened with just 3 lights as well (I tried the same thing in a different room). I have 2 Inovelli blue smart dimmer switches.

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Your issue is that you used an Inovelli Dimmer that is NOT rated/suitable for use with your lights.

The Lutron dimmer you tried to replace (SLV-603P) is specifically designed for you with Magnetic Low Voltage (MLV) lights. The means that the lights use a MLV transformer, and those lights require a switch specifically designed for that use. So that is why you got the humming and smoking . . . you used a dimmer not suitable for that load.

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You’ll need to replace that dimmer with something specifically designed for MLV applications, or you’ll need to replace the lights. I’d be hesitant to continue to use those lights. Since smoke was coming from them, you may have damaged the transformers.

From the dimmer page:

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The Inovelli Blue On/Off is suitable, but you won’t have dimming.

On/Off:

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Thanks for your reply. I should have checked the existing dimmer switch before picking up the Inovelli’s I bought. I’ll likely just leave the old dumb switch in place for the time being and consider other options outside of dealing with these particular lights. At least I learned something (and I’m now 0 for 2 when it comes to dimmer switches…)

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