Rep Power: 289

sorry but it's about house wiring....it should be pretty straight forward because I don't have a multi-meter handy, and I've checked everything else.


I have a doorbell problem.
I picked up a new doorbell and new button (both in sealed from factory boxes).

the button is lighting up and turning off when pressed.
the "chime" (doorbell) is ringing when power is supplied.
I have three wires running 2 hooked up and one not (I'm assuming this):
white=negative
red=positive
green=back door line (as its not hooked up to anything)

the transformer is pretty warm not hot but fairly good temp.

the wires already hooked up to it look to be singed at the copper lead.

I'm thinking worse case I need to replace the transformer.

when I hook up everything the chime dings then does that electrical buzz until i let the wires loose.



so in summation: DO I have a bad transformer?

 
Rep Power: 0

You nailed it on the head !!! But what I find weird is, usually only 2 wires are going to a door bell, black and white. Black= hot, white=common, green almost always is ground though. Anyways, get a new transformer, problem solved.

 
Rep Power: 289

cool...good first post heh....

 
Rep Power: 280

Red = Hot wire +
White = Neutral -
Green = Ground

And transformers will get warm. They are basically an electro magnet and your connecting + to -. So its all good. dont worry about it, if its working then your find, just need to ground it so you dont shock yourself

 
Rep Power: 289

I mean yeah i figured the transformer was sposed to be warm but this thing was warmer/hotter than expected like i previously stated. aside from that I'm hoping I just need to connect the lines fromt he new transformer and connect the doorbell and it should work...
what i don't understand is why the green lines if they ARE grounds are not hooked up? are they not needed? I figure I'm going to ground the transformer as there is a ground lead in the junction box (or w/e it's called) for it in the ceiling.

 
Rep Power: 306

http://home.howstuffworks.com/doorbell.htm

 
Rep Power: 308

The transformer is A/C, the output terminals are isolated from ground. They only have voltage with reference to each other.

 
Rep Power: 289

ok....
I took the button off the wires completely and tried to connect the chime wiring .....
it did the same thing
connect wire-ding-buzzzz-disconnect wire-dong....

I'm sooo friggin pissed.....I want the damn thing to work right....

 
Rep Power: 308

ding buzzzz ====> solenoid engaging = ding ///// buzzzz = solenoid staying engaged.

dong====> solenoid releasing.

 
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there's someone at my door bell, are you gonna ring it, are you gonna ring it...sorry, had to quote the white stripes there...yeah, I had the same issue w/ my stupid door bell, it does go ding...dong, or just ding sometimes, and the transformer does get warm.

 
Rep Power: 289

yeah, but what isn't something supposed to open the circuit?
that doesn't mean the chime is bad, does it? just means something is sending the power instead of having an open cicuit right?

 
Rep Power: 308

To me, it acts as if the the switch is somehow actuated all the time. (although 2 defective switches is unlikely) Do you have a multimeter handy to check voltage and continuity ??

 
Rep Power: 289

I need to buy one here soon for work, anyways.

 
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if your door bell stays on, mean you have the two transformer output wires on the solenoid, instead of having on from the button. at your doorbell, take apart everywire there is there (even the ones joined together), if you have a multimeter, check wich 2 wires have power (10-24 volts ac), if you dont have a multimeter, touch 2 wires together till you see it spark, those will be your 2 transformer wires. 1 of those wires need to go on the trasformer terminal on the doorbell and the other needs to be connected together with one wire from each door button, then the 2 other door button wires needs to be connected to the remaining terminals on the doorbell. if the solenoid is not releasing, it means the wiring is wrong, or the buttons are defective. here is a pic in case it is confusing.