I was running a MH bulb and needed to start flowering a new plant so I threw the HPS bulb back in and set it to turn on in the morning. Now I realize I forgot to flip the switch from MH to HPS. And I'm at work and will not be home for another 6 hours while its running. Is it gonna catch on fire and burn my house down? Or burn out the ballast or bulb? What's gonna happen? Do I need to rush home ASAP and turn it off? EDIT: its a 400w ballast if that's any help.
I've done that once, but I was there. The bulb did not fire up.....there was only a moment or two though and I figured it out, so I couldn't tell you what will happen. I would like to think that the people that designed these switchables figured that us potheads are sometimes forgetful and built in a safety feature for this problem. Hopefully you're all good........
if i were a guessing man, id wager that your bulb improperly lit during that period, but otherwise no damage i wouldnt recommend anyone actually try to find out intentionally though