MH Ballast

[Lampshade]

I'm mounting my MH lighting, and the Ballast has "This Side Up" written on the top. I imagine it's there for a reason, i'm just wondering, how bad is it to have the ballast on end? It fits in my stand much nicer that way, so if anyone knows why it should be put the right way up, let me know.

[Black Phantom]

The biggest reason is heat. Depending on what type you have they can really heat up. If it is vented on the ends and you close one off by standing it on end you will probably over heat. That will either shorten the life of the ballast or burn your house down:biggrin:
I would mount it the way the manufacturer says and keep the area around it clear.

[Lampshade]

That's most likly it, thanks. Maybe i'll hold off on using it until i get my PLC and use ambient temp to shut it off. Thanks for the info :D

[mike31154]

For good advice it would be helpful to know what type of ballast it is, electronic or core & coil. I would think for an electronic one it makes little difference so I'm guessing what you have may be a coil & core or magnetic ballast. If so, the transformers are very heavy and may only be attached to the housing bottom with light hardware. If you were to mount that upside down or sideways, the hardware may fail & the xformer would come loose. The other issue, as mentioned may be for efficient heat dissipation.