Narrative:

The flight was a night flight operated under part 91. Upon entering short final for runway 18 at my destination; the landing light was turned on. The landing light illuminated normally then went to a faint glow and the landing light was immediately shut off. Suspecting an electrical problem; I checked for tripped circuit breakers as the ammeter was not showing a charge.after landing I exited on taxiway delta. Tower instructed to contact ground. I entered the ground frequency but failed to hit the flip/flop button. When I reported to ground I was advised I was still on the tower frequency. By the time I contacted ground; I had inadvertently taxied onto taxiway alpha due to having my head in the cockpit checking for a possible cause for the failure.flipping to ground frequency I reported I wanted to taxi back for a runway 18 intersection departure at taxiway bravo. At that time the ground controller sounded confused and asked my location. I was surprised when the ground controller was unaware of my location since they should have known the hand-off from tower was coming. I was the only GA aircraft taxiing on the field at the time of incident and there were no other vehicles/aircraft in the vicinity. I responded I was clear of runway 18 and was now on taxiway alpha and would like to depart at bravo.I was told to standby then the controller gave a new squawk code and taxi clearance. I reported to the tower I was ready for intersection departure runway 18 at taxiway bravo. I was cleared for takeoff and given departure instructions.since my generator was not charging; I wanted to get back to my home field (five minute flight) before battery power was lost. The failure happened at the worst time of the flight necessitating landing and taxiing without a landing light. Another contributing factor was focusing more on finding the problem/solution (head-down in cockpit) to my electrical issue than on communication and aerodrome procedures.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An M20C pilot landed after losing his generator on final approach. After landing a taxiway incursion occurred when he failed to contact Ground Control while trouble shooting the problem. Unable to fix the failure; the pilot then took off quickly to return to his home airport before his battery failed.

Narrative: The flight was a night flight operated under Part 91. Upon entering short final for Runway 18 at my destination; the landing light was turned on. The landing light illuminated normally then went to a faint glow and the landing light was immediately shut off. Suspecting an electrical problem; I checked for tripped circuit breakers as the ammeter was not showing a charge.After landing I exited on Taxiway Delta. Tower instructed to contact Ground. I entered the Ground frequency but failed to hit the flip/flop button. When I reported to Ground I was advised I was still on the Tower frequency. By the time I contacted Ground; I had inadvertently taxied onto Taxiway Alpha due to having my head in the cockpit checking for a possible cause for the failure.Flipping to Ground frequency I reported I wanted to taxi back for a Runway 18 intersection departure at Taxiway Bravo. At that time the Ground Controller sounded confused and asked my location. I was surprised when the Ground Controller was unaware of my location since they should have known the hand-off from Tower was coming. I was the only GA aircraft taxiing on the field at the time of incident and there were no other vehicles/aircraft in the vicinity. I responded I was clear of Runway 18 and was now on Taxiway Alpha and would like to depart at Bravo.I was told to standby then the Controller gave a new squawk code and taxi clearance. I reported to the Tower I was ready for intersection departure Runway 18 at Taxiway Bravo. I was cleared for takeoff and given departure instructions.Since my generator was not charging; I wanted to get back to my home field (five minute flight) before battery power was lost. The failure happened at the worst time of the flight necessitating landing and taxiing without a landing light. Another contributing factor was focusing more on finding the problem/solution (head-down in cockpit) to my electrical issue than on communication and aerodrome procedures.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.