Ballast mounting suggestions

the box might not be a bad idea just make shure that they get lots of air movement in the box

while electronics need good air circulation, I have to offer a few suggestions on the M57 ballast's, these are the magnetic variety.
make sure that box is a metal electrical box, those ballast's do catch fire once in every blue moon. I have seen more than my share working on lighting. and they burn good. It would be best if they were each in their own box, it will help with heat dissipation.
 
you can get them pretty cheep in every possible size from a electrical supply store. they do not have to be ventilated, but it could help,(see caveat's below)  they sell boxes that do have some vents.
 just keep in mind that if a fire were to happen inside of that box that the box is placed so that the fire has no place to go.

my ballast is sealed (not water tight, just closed) inside of a non-vented metal box, the trouble that I have with the vented type, is that salt water can easily get into the vents.

I have mine in a vented metal box as described, then I put a little shelf inside my stand kind of high up. The vent in the ballast box lines up with the vent and fan that draws air through my sump area. So the fan pulls air out of the sump area in the stand, through the ballast box and out the back of the stand. That way the hot air isn't just blown into the stand from the ballast. Hope that makes sense.

It's worked great for me so far. Out of sight and no heat problems yet. 

Stephan, that sounds like a good way to set it up. 

Yeah, I guess I'll have to see if I get any trouble from pulling what would be humid air through the ballast box like Mark said. Here's a picture of the shelf. It sits just low enough to clear the drawer I put in the stand. I have plenty of room to move around and get into the sump and stuff.

You can see the blue lights from the fan behind it (it has LEDs on it). The red pads are my attempt at vibration isolation so that the 60 Hz hum from the ballasts doesn't transmit to the rest of the stand.  I think it helps a little.


Edited by stephan - March 22 2008 at 7:36pm

I know some people just mount them in a small computer case.
It gives them a mostly fireproof box and if you leave the powersupply and fans connected, it gives good airflow also.

I used a gutted out computer case and just sat it next to the stand (told everyone who visited that it was the server that controlled the tank ).  You can get a computer case from DI for very cheap.  Here's a couple pics:

Yes.  It's silent and provides cooling!