Fixture malfunction?

[inbox42]

I have replaced a fixture in my bathroom at the end of a circuit. The old fixture had rusted over and wasn't functioning so I don't really know about the conditions before the change. I connected a new 3-bulb fixture to it, and on the first test, it would power a 60W bulb only dimly (it's rated for 3x60W), and two bulbs barely at all. Nothing else on the circuit dims when the new light is switched on.

Here's the weird part (to me, anyhow): With one bulb socketed, the voltage across the other open sockets dropped from ~122V to ~82V. With two bulbs socketed, the voltage across the open socket dropped to ~41V. (By the way, the fixture doesn't feel warm to the touch even after a few minutes.) It pretty much has me stumped. The three sockets on the fixture certainly appear to be wired in parallel with one another, but putting one bulb in drops the voltage dramatically across the other sockets, but presumably not on the rest of the circuit?

Does this kind of malfunction ring a bell with anyone?

Thanks in advance for any ideas,
--
Don

[jadnashua]

Sounds almost like they're wired in series...none of the bulbs would be very bright as they'd be getting about 1/3 the voltage (assuming they were identical bulbs). It would also mean that none of them would light unless there was a good bulb in each socket.