Yeah, should be 12 volt when cranking, 8-9 when running. Sounds like some crossed wires, shorts, broken wires, not necessarily a loose one! Not sure a ballast resistor is even necessary on the Unilite, though. I'm running it with a Hyfire 6AL and ProCoil with no resistor, but might be because of the hyfire. Don't remember, but one manual or the other said the resistor wasn't necessary so it went in the trash (Hate those things). Check the website for directions and wiring instructions.
Ray