It's baaaack! HELP

You'd be correct about hooking it up directly to the battery. I did that to test an HEI box and my car would run with the key completely off.

I did see something "kinda" similar on accel's site, but the search functionality is a bit lacking...
http://www.accel-ignition.com/TechSupportResults.aspx?ID=99958

Let us know how the voltage checks out and we'll revisit the possible causes.