ugly573600,
Good news, but I must add, something is very rotten in Denmark. If you are happy with this setup, that's all that counts, but be aware that something will fail eventually, as there are "too many amps" racing through your system.
The ONLY thing on the downstream side of the poor old ballast resistor should be the coil, and it should not draw enough current to make the proper resistor cook.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Stuart
