my timer wont allow enough electricity?

so, i got a timer from home depot. is there a specific timer that i need for a 1000 watt ballast? it seems when i plug the ballast into the timer, it just lights up 20% of the max it could be lighting up.

any help would be great. dont want to have to manually do this every day

A typical 1000 watt ballast is rated at 9-10 amps. Taking that into consideration, check the wattage and amperage loads on the timer and make sure everything you will be plugging into that timer added up is less than the timer states. My timer is rated at 15 amps, 1725 and it runs on 120 volts power. When lights are wired for 240 volts it cuts the amperage needed in half. For example, my 1000 watt digital HPS ballast is 10 amps @ 120V and only 5 amps @ 240V. Of course you need a timer rated for 240V when wiring 240V.

tl;dr Just make sure the total amount of amps and watts you will be plugging to the timer does not exceed the maximum amps/watts ratings for the timer.

Typical mechanical and digital timers like this



and this



Are usually around 1700 watts/120V/15 amps. Make sure you check anyhow because your timer may be different.