Measured actual electrical on my tank

[fkshiu]

So I picked up one of those Kill-a-Watt things from Crappy Tire and measured a bunch of stuff on the display tank and QT and here's what I came up with:

1. Eheim 1260 return (listed: 65w / measured: 53w)
Consistent with other results I've seen. Eheim 1260/1262s are underrated in terms of performance but overrated in terms of electrical usage.

2. Tunze 240/3 skimmer (listed: 45w / measured: 47w)
It is essentially a 6100 Stream turned into a venturi skimmer motor.

3. Tunze Wavebox w/6000 transformer (listed: 20w / measured: 15w peak)
The 20w number is for when the pump is being used as a 6000 Stream which may explain the difference.

4. Tunze Stream 6100 (listed: 45w / measured: 50w peak)

5. Tunze 6055 (listed: 18w / measured: 14w peak)

6. Tunze Osmolator (listed: 9 volts / measured: 10w peak)

7. Sureflow modded MJ900 (listed: 10w / measured: 8.5w)

8. AquaUV 2000+ (listed: 15w / measured: 15w)

9. Eheim 1048 CaRx recirc (listed: 10w / measured: 10w)

10. Dual M80 250w HQI MH ballast w/XM10K SE bulbs (expected: 748w / measured: 810w)
That's a LOT of power. The "expected" wattage is what Sanjay Joshi measured for one of the same bulb with the same ballast multiplied by 2.

11. Dual 80w T5HO on Workhorse7 ballast w/G-man actinic+ bulbs (listed: 160w / measured: 163w)
I should try an Icecap 660 to see how much it overdrives the bulbs.

12. Dual 160w VHO on PFO ballast w/UVL super actinic bulbs (listed: 320w / measured: 310w)

13. 23w spiral CF sump light (listed: 23w / measured: 22w)

14. 28w PC sump light (listed: 28w / measured: 20w)
I've noticed this light getting dimmer. It's on an old (+12 yr) Coralife ballast.

15. 3x 1w LED moonlights (listed: 3w / measured: 7w)

[spreerider]

in design everything should be overrated as it will only be at max power when its working at its designed max, if it is above max it means it is working harder than it was ment for, so it probably needs cleaning or was measured with a more acutrate device,
I can see this being true on some of the lower wattage devices as your meter is probably best at reading higher readings, like a digi voltmeter isnt very accurate at milivolts but is far more acurate around 120V because that is where its main use is and was calibrated for that level.

[Delphinus]

Wow. I'm blown away by the 810w reading for 2-250W lights.

Everything else looks pretty good though! But yeah, ... wow. Paying 810w to get 500w of light? It sounds terrible.

[sphelps]

might be worth while switching your halide ballast to electronic. I would imagine the HQIs are running pretty hot and at very low efficiency at that wattage.

With pumps the rated wattage should actually aways be higher than the steady state. Reason being is the pump will use a more power during start up, using the proper rating allows you to plan your electrical configuration properly to avoid tripping breakers and overloading circuits. However many companies are now rating there pumps at steady state to give the appearance of higher efficiency, in fact I would bet you're actually getting higher peaks than you observed, the device you used simply isn't fast enough to pick them up.

[spreerider]

wow thats really bad efficiency on the lights, your only getting 61% efficiency, most MH ballasts are rated at 80%-97% efficient i would be concerned with this and proably retest the lights then try one at a time, seems like your ballast is not operating properly and could be headed for a burnout (definatly the extra heat would not be helping,
Also i would take my bulbs out and put them back in, check for corrosion on connections, and redo all electrical connections as they could be poor and forcing the ballast to pull more amps.

[fkshiu]

Yeah, it's an old "industrial" M80 ballast. I'll double-check everything, but it might be on its last legs. I wonder if it could be a capacitor issue?