Charles Bishop wrote:
Why do I get a higher reading than it should be? Is it because the wires
were not connected to anything? Oh, I put the neg test lead into an
extension cord on the neutral side (assuming that the plug it was pluged
into was wired correctly) and use the pos test lead on the wires coming
out of the wall.

For openers, do not use the house outlet neutral for your neg lead.
the doorbell trasformer's output has no connection to your AC
wiring.