Ring doorbell voltage

rickyroma

I have an existing wired doorbell which I was hoping I could do a stdaight swap to replace with a ring 2 doorbell. I'm trying to use a multimeter to check the voltage of the wires but can't seem to manage it. Online help suggests it's really easy but when I take a reading the display shows flashing numbers such as 0.2, 0.3 etc. What am I doing wrong? I expected to see a stead reading of 10, 15, 20 volts or whatever. Probes are connected correctly and dial set to AC

Belenus

Unless the door bell is running on mains AC then you need to change your meter to read DC.

Proceed with caution if you don't know what you are doing.

Start with the highest voltage option and work downwards.

rickyroma

Belenus said:

Unless the door bell is running on mains AC then you need to change your meter to read DC.

Proceed with caution if you don't know what you are doing.

Start with the highest voltage option and work downwards.

It does say DC on the readout. On the dial  I've selected V with a wavy line on top. Is this wrong? 

Andy_L

Can't you just look at the transformer label?

The Wires won't have a voltage,The voltmeter needs to be in parallel with the load (ie the door bell) and the door bell will need to be ringing to get a voltage reading

Andy_L

rickyroma said:

Belenus said:

Unless the door bell is running on mains AC then you need to change your meter to read DC.

Proceed with caution if you don't know what you are doing.

Start with the highest voltage option and work downwards.

It does say DC on the readout. On the dial  I've selected V with a wavy line on top. Is this wrong? 

That is the AC setting, there should be a V with a straight and/or dashed line

rickyroma

Thanks sorted now