Switching hardware on and off

[Miska]

Did you really mean 1000-2000 hours? Where do you get that information? That would be no more than a set of power vacuum tubes.

 

Yes, that's from the capacitor data sheets.

[Miska]

Here's pretty easy to read table you can use.

 

Since audio elcos are designed for other properties than endurance, those are typically rated 1000 or 2000 hours at +85C, so you can check the top part of the table "Standard grade" and columns 2000 and 1000 respectively.

 

If the box is considerably warm outside, the temperature inside near heat sinks or such can be quite high already (can be measured nicely with IR-camera).

 

That's why I'm using the "extended temperature & life" parts in my PSUs exclusively, but still want to power down the device because I'm expecting to get five to fifteen years of good performance out of the device.

 

If the expectation is just two to five years, the device probably manages for that time even if left on all the time.

[krass]

I believe this.... my Krell KRC-3 pre-amp has no off or standby unless I unplug it, and there is continuous heat through the top grille. It's probably about 10 years old, and I had all he ELCO's revised this year, ie changed to new ones. The guy doing the work said mine looked fine, but said that he often sees Krells brought in with ELCO probs, simply due to heat ageing.

[esldude]

Hello Miska,

 

Well I guess the other take home message is go to some considerable length to keep your stuff quite cool. I was aware of the 10 c increase cuts life in half. You just don't think that not all that much extra heat really cuts that deeply in life as it in fact does. Good link you gave there.

[Ralf Hutter]

Solid state audio gear stays on all the time, tubed audio gear stays until an hour or so before a listening session.

[joveral]

I used to leave everything ON 24/7 and it sounds great with no warm-up time but these days I have less time to enjoy the system maybe 3 times a week so it doesn't quite make sense now to keep it on. However, I kept my PSU on at all time.

[spdif-usb]

The DAC is rated at only 14 Watts and I have removed its vacuum tube from it, so it stays on (I'm using it as a preamp also).

The power amp is class AB and rated at 45 Watts when idle so it stays on because in its dictionary the word "heat" does not exist:

[Spaaceman]

Is it detrimental to plug some monitors (two HS80Ms) into a single surge protector and use that to switch the monitors on/off daily? I am not a lazy person so I don't mind turning off the monitors directly but if it is of absolutely no harm to do it the surge protector way then a little convenience would be nice .

[smdb01us]

My Mac Mini, external HD and Berkley USB are always on. My NAD and Krell are put on stand-by when I am not listening / watching TV...

 

The Krell is always hot... on or stand-by... ;-)

[ipeverywhere]

In my experience electronics fail when something changes; like turning them on or turning them off. For that reason I leave everything on if I'm going to use it that week. I turn everything off when I leave the house for greater than a weekend and unplug during storms.