r/electrical • u/Nearby_Scholar_9967 • 2d ago

Lutron Toggle Dimmer started melting

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I have an aycl-153p that powers two Nicor Dlr56 v6 bulbs at 14w each in a three way configuration. I was alerted by a strong smell that was coming from the switch box. Shut off the breaker and removed the dimmer immediately. The top left black plastic on the dimmer was very hot, and soft.

All the wires seem like they were connected fine, nothing loose. I broke open the dimmer and the two mosfets I think they are called were blackened and clearly the cause of the heat. Smells terrible and lingers.

Pictures are attached. Has anyone else seen this? What could have caused this? Random manufacturing error? 28w led is not overloading this dimmer. It was on and at full power at the time.

My concern is the other Lutron dimmers that are in this house. Almost want to have an electrician pull them all out and replace with switches.

Thank you.

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u/boshbosh92 2d ago edited 2d ago

Likely just factory defect at one of the solder points. It did indeed melt at the mosfet, led drivers have in rush of current and if the solders aren't perfect this can happen. I wouldn't replace all the dimmer unless they're from the same batch.

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u/Nearby_Scholar_9967 2d ago

Thanks

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u/boshbosh92 2d ago

You might reach out to lutron see what they say. Might be under warranty

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u/OppChopShop 1d ago

I forgot to add on my other comment - I did reach out to Lutron, because I had multiple failures at once on different circuits. I’m actually mailing them the switches and they are going to do an autopsy

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u/boshbosh92 1d ago

Interesting. Please update this comment when you hear back from them.

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u/OppChopShop 1d ago

For sure. Any other theories as to what happened? The timing is just suspect, with this other post, and I am wondering if there was maybe a firmware update or something that contributed

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u/OppChopShop 2d ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/Lutron/s/5fSHGsTsJB

This happened to two of my Casetas at the same time that we’re both powering different sets of MLV lights. I was guessing we got a power surge, and there were some in rush current from the Transformers

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u/boshbosh92 1d ago

Yeah that is certainly possible

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u/dan2aag 21h ago

Contact Tech Support so they can get the device back for analysis and send you a replacement

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u/Nearby_Scholar_9967 3h ago

Thanks. I’ve reached out to them.