I have been using a high bay lamp with a hood (as seen in the link in my sig) i would like make it as efficient as possible, does anyone know if i would be able to hang it sideways without damaging anything or making it dangerous? then i would just cut half the hood of soo its reflecting downwards.
Yes, you can turn it sideways. I also have one of those and if yours is like mine then the "innards" are above the bulb, so any heat from the bulb will have to pass the already hot innards. But if you think about it sideways the heat from both places will go up without having to pass something already hot. Thinking about it this way it seems it would be better to run it that way. Even better idea would be to dissect the light and turn it into a remote ballast, I've done 4 of them already. Mine were parking lot lights and small security lights. Here's a link to a pretty detailed write up on how to do it. It's not that hard as long as you take your time and pay attention to what wires are connected together before you start. Then you can do whatever you want with the bulb and reflector. Depending on your grow room and if heat is an issue, you can keep the ballast outside the grow space so all it's heat is not contributing anymore. http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=36344