Electrical shutdown on 96 Tacoma

I drove my 96 Tacoma down to a store and back home today. I turned it off for about 2 minutes and got back in to start it but the starter just made contact for about a quarter second then the panel all went dead.

I tightened the loose battery terminals. I put a charger on the battery and it indicated full charge. Then I tried to start it and I got the same thing. Just as soon as the ignition switch contacts all electrical shuts down.

I waited 4 hours and tried it again and now I get nothing when I turn the key.

It seems to me that I have some kind of electrical protection circuit kicking in. Possibly my starter is causing this protection circuit to open? Does anyone have an idea about what to look for here? Maybe a relay?

 

Are your battery connections CLEAN?

Are the connections to the starter clean & tight?

You could have a 'ground' wire that's not connected.

I had a problem with another car 10 years ago. One of the ground wires came off the block and was just dangling there. Whenever it was in contact with the block (barely hitting it), the car would start. It was so intermittant and it drove me crazy - car would start/car woudn't start. etc.

 

I went out and took all the battery connections apart this am and brushed them off and tightened it back up and the truck started. So I think it was a loose ground connection to the batttery. The last time the battery terminals were put on was by a guy from autozone when I bought a crimp connector there. I guess you need to do everything yourself.