For the past year or so I’ve had a Red Dimmer working fine with 6 regular 8w dimmable LED bulbs.
Recently the bulbs would not fully turn off, they would go to really-dim but not off. I did the usual resets etc and the problem continued. So I thought the dimmer was likely busted and replaced it with a brand-new out of the box Red Dimmer. The same problem occurs. Oops.
My trusty meter indicated that both dimmers had the “load” connections at ~50V AC from neutral & ground when turned off in factory reset mode (no load attached). Thats enough to light LEDS.
Why would two Red Dimmers have 50V on load when “off” ? I have verified that load/line are correct. This is a 2-way setup with neutral.
Do you mean a 3-way setup?
If not, do you mean that it is just a single switch connected to the lights?, or how is it wired?
If, it is a 3-way … is the other switch an aux switch, or a standard switch? … and did you try removing the traveler wire from the Red to see if the problem persists with it being the only device involved?
Hi, this is a single switch directly connected to the lights, aka 2-way. There is no traveler wire or Aux switch.
The off voltage of 50V was measured on the load terminal of the dimmers with nothing being connected to it. I had expected off to be 0V output, or something close to it.
I realize you’ve been using this for a while, but this is still worth asking. Does the hub reflect that the dimmer is off? I’m asking because there have been some that were thinking a long press down on the dimmer will turn it off, which isn’t the case. It takes a short press. Checking the status at the hub will confirm the dimmer is truly off.
All smart dimmers will leak a bit . … it’s just their nature. So I wouldn’t put much stock in your voltage measurements. This is particularly true unless you are using a low-impedance meter, which likely isn’t the case. Some of the voltage you’re seeing may be induced i.e. ghost voltage. An since you’ve swapped the dimmer out and the wiring configuration was working fine for some time, I wouldn’t get distracted by the voltage.
That being said, the electronics in your bulbs may have changed over time, presenting the issue. If you’ve confirmed via the hub that the dimmer is off, I’d test by substituting incandescent bulbs to see if they turn off. If the incandescents turn off, then your bulbs are right at the edge where some leaked voltage will turn them on. Add a bypass and the problem should resolve.
Others have had the same issue (even with a neutral installation) and a bypass has solved the issue.