1000w hps only pulling ~ 600w

[Saratj1]

One of my timers messed up so I had a kill-a-watt meter handy that also functions as a timer so I plugged it up, and noticed my 1k watt hps is only pulling around 600w.
A little bit about my setup:
! bought the ballast used about 18mos ago.
It is a sunleaves luma 3.0
I believe it is a old style ballast.
It has a new (1month 24/7, 1month 12/12 )hortlux 1000w hps bulb.
It is running off a wall outlet with around a 20ft extension cord to a surge protector to help balance the load at the house.
The cords are in good condition and not warm to touch.
The bulb fires fine looks brighter than a 600w hps that I also run.
The kill-a-watt meter is accurate when tested with other items of a known wattage.
on the kill-a-watt timer I have a three way spliter that I also run a 150w hps and two 42w compact fluorescent bulbs I think they are 150w equivalent.
I know its kinda ghetto wiring.

If you've read this far thanks, any ideas are appreciated.
I thought the old magnetic ballast would pull more than 1k watts due to ballast eneffeciency. I have to run something off another room's plug or else I kick the breaker . tell me if im an idiot or not. lol

 

[JointOperation]

try pluggin the killawatts into a outlet no extension cord.. and see if its different..

if not. iuno what it could be.. maybe the capacitor????????????? no clue.. but id try plugging directly intot he wall to see if it might be the extension cord.. and or the surge protector.

 

[Mister_D]

Either your capacitor needs replaced badly! Or you are in fact running a 600w ballast (that is also due for capacitor replaced) with 1000w bulb. I'm leaning towards the second one as a 1k + 400w + some cfls would definitely trip a breaker, and very likely burn up your extension cord and timer. Which while we're on the subject, ballasts NEED to be plugged directly into an wall outlet, or heavy duty timer that is connected direct to the wall (no extension cords). Running them through extension cords is just asking for a fire, as is using cheap lamp timers (i.e. your kilowatt and those 15 dollar pieces of shit they sell at Wal-Mart and hardware store) to run them. Do yourself a favor an don't burn the house down. Invest in a intermatic t-104 timer (sold as a hot water heater timer at home depot and just about any hardware store for ~50 bucks) for your lights (can do four 1k lights per timer safely). Then if you need more power in your grow room have a electrician run a new circuit to the room. Oh and just because your friends sister's cousin did it and lived doesn't mean it's not an issue. 100's if not 1000's of homes burn down every year because of what you are trying to do. Power is NOT the place to half ass your grow setup!

 

[Jhhnn]

I'd suggest that you may have a 600w ballast, which would explain everything. Open it up, read the label on the transformer. Seems like you're playing with fire (literally) the way you have it set up.