I wanted to replace a dimmer switch on a wall outlet that had 3 switches next to each other. The dimmer was in the middle. There were 3 wires I disconnected from the old switch – green for the ground, a red wire T'd with wire nut with a black wire attached, and a black wire T'd with wire nut with a black wire attached. The dimmer I bought had no wires attached only color labels to tell u where which wire is suppose to go. I put the black wire from the wall to the black label on the dimmer. I put the other wire (red) to the yellow label on the dimmer. Green to green. When I turned on the power and tried the light the fixture to the left shorted out. What did I do wrong? 
Electrical – Replacing a dimmer switch
electrical
Related Solutions
Not sure what make and model dimmer you're trying to install, so I'll describe a common installation. Wire colors could vary, depending on manufacturer.
- Black is the common terminal, and is attached to the ungrounded (hot) conductor feeding the switch.
- Red is the switched lead (or a traveler in a 3-way installation), and is attached to the switched hot going to the light.
- Red with white is a traveler, used for 3-way installations. In your situation, you'll just cap this one off.
- Green is ground, and is attached to the grounding conductor.
From Lutron Luméa® Installation Guide
If you don't have grounding conductors in your home, you could install a GFCI breaker and you'll be code compliant.
Lutron devices typically have a red and a red/white stripped wire, whereas Leviton has two red wires.
Since the 4 white wires are already connected, they need to stay connected. It would be correct to wire all 6 whites together. Note that for 6x #14 wires you need to use a new red wire nut.
Related Topic
- Electrical – Replacing Non-Working Single-Pole Dimmer Switch
- Electrical – Replacing a dimmer switch with normal light switch (picture)
- Electrical – Replacing a dimmer switch with regular
- Electrical – Leviton Dimmer Switch Model DW1KD
- Electrical – Did I install this motion detecting light switch correctly
- Electrical – Confused by Dimmer Wiring
- Electrical – Help replacing dimmer in household
Best Answer
I can't be certain what you've actually done here but I do know what you have there, whether it's the new or old one, is a 3-way dimmer. Sounds like it'd be the new one because the old one doesn't sound like it was wired as a 3-way is done having only 3 wires (g,r, blk).
A grounded 3-way switch has 4 wires: a ground, a feed from the source or return to the light, and two travelers. What you had originally doesn't look like a good fit for the new one.
Why is it shorting out? Could be a number of reasons. But you'll probably have to clarify what you mean by the fixture to the left as we have no clue of where/what that is. It's most likely either the way you've wired it or contact between metal parts and wires in the box seeing as it looks pretty full. It may not be anything you've changed as far as the wiring and may be the shifting of the wires. Perhaps the bare ground is now sitting on a wire that has a bit of wire exposed out of the wire nut.
A couple things you could try:
If you're installing a device in a packed box, put a wrap of electrical tape around the back side covering the terminal screws.
Use a continuity tester to see if you have some unwanted contact between the ground/neutral/hot, or metal.
In the end, if I'm correct in assuming you have the wrong type of switch, I'd return it for the correct one, it should be cheaper and then it will be a correct match.