thanks for all the suggestions! i wired up lines straight from the battery to coils using a relay and started testing out my work with a multimeter. the power to the coils looked fine when turned on, but as soon as i added on anything else (like the lighting circuit), the voltage just plummeted to 5 volts.
I started removing stuff from the lighting circuit until i just had the lone LED bulb for the neutral indicator and was still seeing 5V. there was simply no way that my battery could not sustain 12V for lighting a LED bulb. The issue had to be something else.
I sat there for the longest time looking at everything.. and started thinking about what I had not already eliminated as an factor. Then I looked at the battery ground strap and where it connected to the frame. Then it dawned on me that I had just powder-coated the frame!
SILLY OLD ME HAD NOT REMOVED THE POWDERCOAT from where the ground strap connected to the frame. I pulled out the dremel and ground off the coating and reattached the strap.
BINGO. we have strong, solid juice!
I'm going to go off and drink myself into oblivion tonight. Sheesh!
I started removing stuff from the lighting circuit until i just had the lone LED bulb for the neutral indicator and was still seeing 5V. there was simply no way that my battery could not sustain 12V for lighting a LED bulb. The issue had to be something else.
I sat there for the longest time looking at everything.. and started thinking about what I had not already eliminated as an factor. Then I looked at the battery ground strap and where it connected to the frame. Then it dawned on me that I had just powder-coated the frame!
SILLY OLD ME HAD NOT REMOVED THE POWDERCOAT from where the ground strap connected to the frame. I pulled out the dremel and ground off the coating and reattached the strap.
BINGO. we have strong, solid juice!
I'm going to go off and drink myself into oblivion tonight. Sheesh!