I would think that it is normal for it to get warm but hot is something else.

From my experience, my timer gets warm but not the cord. And warm as in, it's not uncomfortable to touch.

Might be the ambient temp that allows the wires to feel so warm/hot. Might be because it is running for 18 hours straight then a short break of 6 hours off. Your gauges and amps sound right. Not sure......

If you don't mind getting a new ballast that will do 110/240 and won't have a problem running the lines, I'd say go with the 240. Instead of drawing the 9.8, you'll draw closer to 5 with just one 1k. So essentially, if you do two 1k, you can use twice the amount of light for not much more than what you are now drawing with one. Will definitely improve your conditions!!!!

CanGroIt::::::