Maestro CL Dimmer MACL-153 won't dim or turn off

I replaced a Maestro dimmer when I thought a short in a light damaged it. The light was dead and the volt meter showed only 5 volts at the dimmer terminals. The pigtail upstream from the dimmer read 120 volts. At the same time as I installed the new dimmer, I also installed a new chandelier. The chandelier lights up all the way, but won't dim and won't turn off. I used incandescent bulbs. None of the little indicator lights on the dimmer are on at all. I wired the new Maestro exactly like the old one. I noticed there are two different Romex wires coming to the box. Did I do something wrong in the installation?

Make sure you have power in on the black screw. Power out to the light on the brass screw. The blue screw is only used if you are controlling from more than 1 location.

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Originally Posted by randyc

Make sure you have power in on the black screw. Power out to the light on the brass screw. The blue screw is only used if you are controlling from more than 1 location.

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Hey Randy,I'm having the same issue as the original poster and I've tried swapping the black wires on the back of the dimmer that were plugged into the brass and black screws (it's not multi so nothing is plugged into the blue). The light still stays on and there appears to be no power to the dimmer (LEDs don't light up and I can't control the light). The light does, for clarification, turn off if I tug on the FASS tab. My next stop is going to be trying to replace the whole dimmer switch unless you have any other suggestions. The fixture I'm trying to control is running 5 40w incandescent bulbs, should I be looking at a different dimmer?

We have experienced a related problem. A client called us because they reported that their Maestro system in their family room (MACL-153 and MA-R) was "ghosting". It was coming on during the middle of the night and then it would not turn off. We thought that the Master was damaged so we replaced the the master and the slave. We noted that they has installed LED retro-trims. After we left they reported that the system started doing the same thing again. We also noted that the hallway adjacent to the family room was on a sensor but that the family room was not on a sensor. Are missing something?

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Originally Posted by Alex K

Hey Randy,I'm having the same issue as the original poster and I've tried swapping the black wires on the back of the dimmer that were plugged into the brass and black screws (it's not multi so nothing is plugged into the blue). The light still stays on and there appears to be no power to the dimmer (LEDs don't light up and I can't control the light). The light does, for clarification, turn off if I tug on the FASS tab. My next stop is going to be trying to replace the whole dimmer switch unless you have any other suggestions. The fixture I'm trying to control is running 5 40w incandescent bulbs, should I be looking at a different dimmer?

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Sorry I missed this. The MACL-153 will work fine for incandescent lighting. It sounds like you might have the hot and switch-leg (wire going up to the light) tied together. Power is looped from box to box. Sometimes they make the connections in the back of the box, sometimes on the switch itself, sometimes both.

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Originally Posted by Anthony Pozos

We have experienced a related problem. A client called us because they reported that their Maestro system in their family room (MACL-153 and MA-R) was "ghosting". It was coming on during the middle of the night and then it would not turn off. We thought that the Master was damaged so we replaced the the master and the slave. We noted that they has installed LED retro-trims. After we left they reported that the system started doing the same thing again. We also noted that the hallway adjacent to the family room was on a sensor but that the family room was not on a sensor. Are missing something?

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It is possible the lights were doing it during the day but the ambient light was overwhelming the LEDs. Try adjusting the low-end trim (instructions in the installation instructions).

It is possible the sensor got crossed with the MACL. If that were the case I would expect the MACL to come on at normal brightness, not ghost level.