Sudden problem with 2 interior lights in '65 Globetrotter

[classicfins]

Hey folks,
I bought a '65 Globetrotter a few weeks back and am trying to get some things ready for a trip on the 17th. Tonight I had something strange happen and I'm not sure what to check for. On either side of the front couch there is a wall mounted light with a twist switch to turn it on and off. These switches were weak and worn from age so I replaced them today with new socket/switch assemblies. I only had one light bulb out there with me so I tested one, then pulled the builb and tested the other. They worked fine.

Tonight my wife and I are out there working on some other stuff, drawers, etc. One of the lights is still on and had been for about 4 hours. I had mounted another lamp in the rear and asked my wife to turn off that light so the bulb would cool so I can swap it into the other one I had just mounted. I pulled that bulb and put it in the new lamp and turned it on and the bulb blew. So I went in the house and got some new bulbs, put one in the lamp I had just installed and it worked fine. Put a new bulb in one of the front lights and it didn't work. So I changed to another bulb. Still nothing, so I tried the light on the other wall and nothing there either. Then I got to looking and when I turned on the one on the left it would barely glow.. really faint. You could barely see it and it's a 60 watt bulb. The one on the right doesn't glow at all.

The light I installed at the rear is not a permanantly wired lamp. It has a cord that plugs into an outlet, so that shouldn't have a bearing on the ones up front which are hardwired into the wiring inside the walls. Everything else up front works... Outside light, ceiling lights, water pump, fridge, microwave, the wall plugs... Just those two lamps are screwed up. Any ideas on what I need to check or how I need to go about trying to diagnose the problem? I am not an electrician, but I can wire a whole house from scratch, but I'm not very savvy on trouble shooting stuff like this.

Thanks for any ideas.
Doug

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, I'm not sure I can help you on this light thing, but I will try. It is possible that some of your lights might be 12 volt and others might be 120 volt. They look the same but are different. Sounds to me that you have put a 120 volt bulb into a 12 volt socket.

[47WeeWind]

Hi Doug:

All factory wired interior lights in your 1965 GT originally were 12 volts DC, not 120 volts AC. You might confirm the voltage with a voltmeter. Or you could put in 12 volt light bulbs and see if they work. If your previous owner did not alter the electrical system, 12 volt bulbs should work fine. I use small 12 volt Halogen lamps in my 1964 GT's front lights for good lighting.

[Alwhisman]

Definitely put a meter on it. It does sound like you put a dc bulb in the table lamp causing it to blow, and a household, 120vac, in the wall fixture.