Sorry for taking so long to respond, was on vacation. Most likely the waterfall light is shorting out, causing the overheating. If you can figure out which one is the waterfall plug, you should be able to replace the controller and leave the waterfall light unplugged and be fine. Turn the lights on with the new controller and just keep an eye on it for about 30 seconds. If it doesn't start to overheat, you are all set. If it does, you have another light that is bad, but that is unlikely.