I wired the flap drive circuit today. When I was finished I wanted to test the circuit so I went to hook up the battery but found the master and starter solenoids engaging as soon as the battery negative terminal was contacted. At first I did not know why so I held the battery negative cable to the terminal a short while. Then I noticed smoke. I quickly disengaged the battery terminal and had a closer look. It turned out the starter solenoid engagement ground wire had melted its insulation. Assessing the problem I found I had incorrectly hooked up the master and starter solenoid spike catcher diodes. I corrected the miswiring and removed the damaged wire. I hooked up the battery, switched on the busses again and this time everything worked correctly so I tested the flap circuit and this worked fine so I called it a day as I had to go to work.
