leaving power on?

[max cooper]

I don't leave tube gear on all the time.

I mean, do you KNOW it's not gonna go up in a blaze?

How about tube life?

But I do sometimes leave on my s.s. stuff. for days.

Depends on how much use it's getting.

I figure everything's got a lifespan. Otherwise why would stuff need re-capping?

I know that once I heard the difference between a mic preamp with old, bled capacitors and a freshly capped one, I started turning my stuff off a bit more often.

[phelbin]

All of my gear gets turned off every night, except the console. I was told that powering it down and back up exerts more stress on the caps than leaving it on all the time. Supposedly it wears them out faster. We just had it recapped, so I'd like to wait another few years before we need it again.

[Improv]

tubes, things that get hot, and external hard drives, yes. Computers like to be rebooted every now and then but will often happily live out their useful lifespan left on most of the time, in my experience. I just turn off the monitors (VGA/LCD etc... not speakers.... usually leave them on )

[nosebleedaudio]

I see very little good reason for leaving gear on all the time.
It totally depends on how long it's going to be inactive...
8 hours or 3 to 5 days...
If the power goes off/ back on more damage can be done to monitors, that huge pop when powered up.
As far as caps go I would say age and heat have a far more detrimental effect on them...
Some large power supplies create a huge current surge when first powered up, the caps LOOK like a short for the first few milliseconds, thats why better companies like Bryston have a SOFT start circuit, they ramp up... far better design...and Transformers have the same problem...

Consoles with incandescent lamps is one reason people left them on, they pop more often when cold...
My .02 cents

[Stormkloud]

I used to turn all my stuff off every nite. When I got my new Neotek , Mike (the owner) told me to leave it on 24/7. He said that the power up causes things to fail more than anything. So , its basically been on for the last 4 months straight.
I do turn off everything elso in the studio every nite tho.

[Zwinter]

Most equipment does not like to be turned off and on; in fact, you will probably have more problems during the initial rush of current than any other time. Think of a light bulb. Most lights burn up when you first turn that light on, not after they have been sitting there for a couple of hours.

So here's what I do with my equipment. If I am working on a mix everything stays up; including all tube gear, computers, and anything else I am using. I will turn off any computer monitors, plus my nearfields, and the amps to the mains at the end of the day.

If I am not mixing anything in the near future everything is getting turned off. This is mainly because I don't want to pay higher power bills. Plus, the gear doesn't need to cook for a couple of days while I am on vacation. If you have a console I would leave that on. When I was working in LA we always left the consoles on. The only time they would be shut off was when major maintenance was being performed. If we were just swapping out modules the board stayed on. But your 24 channel Mackie does not really apply to this rule and you can turn it off with the rest of your gear.

Computers can cause a lot of frustration. Apparently they can sense every time you have an important project or presentation. So when I am working on a project and everything is running smoothly I don’t want to take a chance with the computer being shut down and then starting up. During start up your computer is writing lots of information to RAM and occasionally something will be stored in RAM where something, that was needed, already was. This is where your errors come from. So unless the computer is acting funny I will leave it on and not take any chances.

[u b k]

tube mics and computer get turned off when not in use. comps, pres, console, tape, and everything else get left on all the time.

the only time things have ever gone wrong was when i powered up; things never fritz when in use.


gregoire
del ubik

[Matt Syson]

Hi
You shouldn't have to leave stuff on as modern electrolytic caps should not be leaky although it may take say an hour to fully stabilise. Older equipment may be more cranky but you should be getting it fixed anyway. Does your insurance cover you for equipment left on unattended? you are mostly wasting power by leaving it on and where relevant, aircon cooling it again. Equipment used to be tested for gain stability, clicks and response after it had been on for 15 - 30 minutes accepting that there may be minor abberations during a 'warm up' period. If you were to go into the studio, power up then get your coffee, kick the cat out and get yourself ready, your equipment will have got itself sorted at the right time. You backed up last nights session anyway so nothing can go seriously wrong???
Matt S

[Cojo]

I'm not going to judge if it's good or bad leaving gear powered on but consider this... If you have a short power loss your computer might freeze in a number of different ways:

#1 Your hd can be locked spinning at highest speed (have happened to me and it was HOT)
#2 If you are using your PC as your midi sequencer, midi notes can get stuck.
#3 If your current project is open it can be corrupted.

/Cojo

[chadly]

Originally Posted by Cojo

I'm not going to judge if it's good or bad leaving gear powered on but consider this... If you have a short power loss your computer might freeze in a number of different ways:

#1 Your hd can be locked spinning at highest speed (have happened to me and it was HOT)
#2 If you are using your PC as your midi sequencer, midi notes can get stuck.
#3 If your current project is open it can be corrupted.

/Cojo

Two words: Battery Backup

[Cojo]

Originally Posted by chadly

Two words: Battery Backup

Yeah I know... But in case you don't have battery backup or if your batteries are running out.

/Cojo

[ShamansDream]

It's a simple physics thing. Thermal stress will cause early failure on certain items. Lifetime is definitely a consideration for tubes and mechanical devices. If a piece of gear is totally solid state, leave the power on. This will keep connections on cables thermally constant and elliminate normal power cycling surges at a minimum. Any thermal cycling causes stress on solder joints if they are not strain relieved by design. Transformers too suffer from thermal cycling if they use the shim type cores. Wire become loose and begin to vibrate and shims can delaminate and buzz.

Having said that, well designed and manufactured gear should not care if you cycle the power. It's those other pieces of gear that might complain. For instance, the DigiOO2's power harness problem would crop up much less if you left this unit on all the time. It also scares me to have wall warts running constantly when no one's home. Those things have the lifespan of a gnat on some gear drawing power near the limits of the warts. Power switches too deal with a lot of stress each time you use them. If they are not well rated for the power-on surge, they will fail someday. Use a master power strip for powering down your rack.

I turn my OO2 off every night because I put a towel over it. But I never move the unit and expect it to give me years of use even with cycling the power.

[socologan]

thanks for the input!