White Series Dimmer - 3-Way + Dummy is a major disappointment

Lighting Firmware Discussion
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I recently (yesterday) replaced a different 3-way smart switch with an Inovelli White Series dimmer, and immediately had problems.

Light flickering some of the time. I thought I had this fixed, but it would do random things like flash on for less then a second.

Replaced the bulb with a dimmable bulb (an 8-watt dimmable LED). This caused a different problem where the bulb wouldn’t turn off completely. I factory reset the switch. Still the same problem.

Using a Non-Contact Voltage Tester I verified the dumb switch wiring. The light is attached to the black terminal, and the two brass terminals are the connected to the two traveler wires.

Here’s what’s wrong… I see voltage on BOTH traveler wires!

  • Light is off, and the dumb switch is “up” (selecting the black traveler wire). Voltage tester shows voltage on the red traveler wire, and no voltage on the black traveler wire or the load (going to the light)
  • Switch the dumb switch to “down” (selecting the red traveler wire), and light starts flashing. Voltage tester shows voltage on the red traveler wire AND black traveler wire. (Also voltage on the load).
  • Starting with the dumb switch “up” and the light off, I tap up on the Inovelli switch. Light turns on (with no flashing). Voltage are on BOTH traveler wires. Now switching the dumb switch to “down”. Light is lowered to a very low level but does not turn off completely. Both traveler wires show voltage. Home assistant shows the light as Off.

This seems to indicate that sometimes the Inovelli switch sends power down one traveler but not the other. In other situations, it sends full power down one traveler, but then partial power down the other. Which is completely wrong.

Verified that the inovelli was wired with the red traveler wire connected to the traveler terminal, the black terminal wire to the load terminal, neutral to neutral, and line to line.

Not even sure why the light flashes on and off. It only happens some of the time.

Also tried using another switch that has never been adopted by Home Assistant. Manually configured it to 3-way+Dumb, and dimmer. Still same issues. Sometimes off is off, sometimes it’s dimmed. Sometimes it flashes sometimes it works.

Another White Series dimmer that I have in a single pole works, non-dimmer, works great so far.

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The new Inovelli dimmers suffer from leakage current, like many other smart dimmers. The easiest cure is incandescent bulbs that require. A higher current to light. Don’t let anyone talk you into that. Either use a Lutron Caseta dimmer that doesn’t suffer from leakage current or install a bypass ($15 on amazon) between the load and neutral lines near the load. I like the new Inovelli White Series Dimmer, but they either need to fix the leakage current issue or provide a bypass with every dimmer purchased.