On Wed, 24 Apr 2013 02:49:29 +0000 (UTC), gregz
wrote:

bob haller wrote:
On Apr 23, 5:35 pm, "ps56k" wrote:
Our doorbell is the standard one with the small rectangular "illuminated"
button,
that is screwed to the door frame.
Every so often, usually just prior to Halloween
I go out and replace the button - as the tiny bulb has burned out.


geezI never had a liighted buttons bulb burn out.

Your transformer voltage may be too high

I think you just have good luck or a well designed unit.

Greg

I don't think I've ever had a button burn out either. I'm on my
second button and the house is 34 years old, but I think the house
came with an unlighted button, so I changed that almost right away,
and after 15 or 20 years, the new button got so weathered the light
didn't show through. (Or maybe it burnt out but it was still after 15
or 20 years.)

I bought the 2nd button at Home Depot. It's just like the first one,
pretty much the cheapest lit button that they sell, other than the
round one that goes almost entirely in the hole. (This is a black
plastic rectangle which sits on top of the wood, with a metal cover
that wraps around the top, front, and bottom, with a white or cream
colored plastic button in the middle**.) . When I put in a doorbell
in the basement, in parallel, I had to put in a bigger transformer, so
I got either 16 or 18v (whichever the bigger doorbell transformer is)
from Home Depot. In other words nothing special.

The OP's voltage may be too high. Maybe the previous owner didn't use
a standard doorbell transformer. Or maybe it's broken.


**Actually all the buttons by the same maker are probably of the same
quality, just the cases are different. I know in 1967 when my car
compass didn't work, I wrote to Airguide, I think the name is, and
asked if I bought a more expensive compass would it work better? And
they wrote back, "No. All the compasses are the same. Only the cases
are different."