both wires to doorbell button are energized

[Allison]

I am trying to repair a non-working doorbell system in my house, and when I removed the push-button outside the house, there are two wires which hook up to the back of that button. Both wires are energized, since I checked them with a digital multimeter I found in our toolroom. One of the wires is reading a voltage of about 18 volts AC and the other wire is reading about 10 volts AC. I made sure that when I was reading the voltage of both wires, that the exposed tips of the wires were NOT touching each other. Is this a problem that both wires are reading that they are both energized when NOT touching each other?

I was always under the assumption that only 1 wire should be energized, and that pushing the button would then momentarily connect the two wires, to send power through the second wire. However, either I was always under the wrong impression, or else I am wondering if I have a short or burned out insulation in the wiring somewhere, which is leading power to go "jump" between the wires somewhere in the dark caverns of the house.

[HayZee518]

ok, given two wires. what did you use as a reference to measure the voltage? what I mean is what did you use as a common to each wire?
what you are reading is the path of current from the transformer through the remainder of the circuit to the other side of the transformer.
Never use a digital meter for voltage measurements like this. An analog meter works better.
anyway, look through this forum. I made up a diagram for another person on how to connect up a doorbell.