DOOR BELL

[rbm328]

my house is 1988. there was a door chime in our hallway and two buttons, one front one back. when I opened the bell, I saw three wires. I assume one to front, one to back bell and one to transformer. how come, when I put my meter to all three wires, it shows NO power? yes, the breaker is on. (I untied all the wires)
any ideas or thoughts?
thanks
rich

 

[Snoonyb]

If the "notification" does not operate, the transformer is likely bad, and if you have an attic and a single story dwelling, the transformer may be close to the access panel, setting atop an elect. box, or in a basement , or in a closet.

Or, you may have the meter on the wrong voltage setting.

 

[havasu]

IIRC they normally run on 18V or 20V. Mine was at the top of the closet and burnt out. A quick run to HD for $22 and I got a new one.

 

[Blue Jay]

my house is 1988. there was a door chime in our hallway and two buttons, one front one back. when I opened the bell, I saw three wires. I assume one to front, one to back bell and one to transformer. how come, when I put my meter to all three wires, it shows NO power? yes, the breaker is on. (I untied all the wires)
any ideas or thoughts?
thanks
rich

You will read NO voltage until the button is pushed.

 

[rbm328]

had an electrician come over on Saturday. of the 3 wires, one of them was showing 24v. he thought transformer must be in wall somewhere.

 

[user 4883]

had an electrician come over on Saturday. of the 3 wires, one of them was showing 24v. he thought transformer must be in wall somewhere.

shouldn't be in the wall, that would be illegal. look between the floor joists in the basement.

 

[havasu]

In California, I've only seen them either in the water heater closet, or like in my house, tucked on the back side of a closet.

 

[geochurchi]

Hi, 24 VAC is high for a chime , normally around 16 VAC, is the basement ceiling exposed, if so try to locate there or up in the attic above the wall where the chime is located.

 

[Jeff Handy]

They are often right near or attached to the main panel.
Or ganged onto a basement ceiling junction box, garage junction box, or any junction box fairly close to the chime location.

 

[rbm328]

I'm still searching! I went into the crawl space above the door bell (2 story house, roof spaces - not there. I pulled the CB panel off, thinking its somewhere in that area - NOPE! I have not checked in the crawl space yet. I'll keep all posted. Thanks

 

[Jeff Handy]

You can always just go to a wireless door chime.
And they can play more than just ding-dong.
Christmas, birthday, classical, novelty tunes.
Big Ben chimes.

 

[rbm328]

we did.
I'm just not crazy about leaving a live wire inside the wall

 

[JoeD]

I would start by finding the breaker that kills the power. Then you know which circuit goes off and start looking on that circuit.

 

[rbm328]

I gave up trying to find the transformer. I know its not supposed to be buried in the wall, but...
I wire nuted the hot (20ish VDC) and electrical taped them and pushed them into a stud (actually, they drilled into a stud to run wires!
i'll look for that transformer in the future.