I've made a seven segment adder circuit with decoders, however the 7 segments keep exceeding their peak reverse voltage by around 3 volts. I've tried everything in order to solve this problem and really need help. There are two switches on the circuit. The top is and on/off switch and the lower is a reset switch. Apart from this one problem the circuit should work completely. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. I am pretty much a complete circuits novice and have very little knowledge about these things so please don't word it too complicated.

 

As a start remove the 10K resistor near the battery and remove the wire going from the top of the reset button to ground.

Where is the counter ?

 

Here is a link to Texas Instruments' CD74HC4511 datasheet:
http://focus.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/cd74hc4511.pdf

What is not entirely obvious in the datasheet is that the IC is constructed to source current to the 7-segment display; therefore you either need a common cathode 7-segment display or you need another driver IC that will invert the outputs of the 74HC4511.

Right now, you have the 7-segment common connected to +V via a 220 Ohm resistor. The display needs to be a common cathode type, and the common cathode connection needs to be connected straight to ground (-V).

Mik3 already mentioned the 10k resistor needs to be removed.
There is a more subtle problem in that you are shorting V+ to V- at the leftmost bottom junction. This will result in a non-functional circuit and a dead battery in very short order; they may even explode.

The L inputs need to be held low.
The RB and LT inputs need to be held high.