Leave it on

Jump to Latest
#21
Kyrk said:
I've heard from many that leaving on your electronics isn't always bad and sometimes it might be in your advantage.
More specifically in solid state amps the burst of power during the power on period can cause more Harm than the "fatigue" components might experience when having electricity flowing through them all the time.
Click to expand...
Not such a thing.

You also don't have to wait for them to heat up for the best performance.
Click to expand...
Not such a thing for SS stuff.
Most will "wake up stupid" until all internal capacitors reach working/idle voltage, and that is one of the main causes for turn-on Thump, it all evens out in 1 second or 2 at most (and usually in tenths of a second).

Don´t overthink it 🙂
 
#22
JMFahey is correct.
These old "wives tales" that are born from paranoid, worried minds have been circulating for ages.
Of course, the general public for the most part, doesn't have any way to judge the credibility of certain claims.
And how could they? - not everyone is educated or trained in electronics, and its plethora of complex formulas.


Like the man said, "Don't overthink it"
 
#23
JMFahey said:
Not such a thing.


Not such a thing for SS stuff.
Most will "wake up stupid" until all internal capacitors reach working/idle voltage, and that is one of the main causes for turn-on Thump, it all evens out in 1 second or 2 at most (and usually in tenths of a second).

Don´t overthink it 🙂
Click to expand...

you are wrong
light bulb left on will last decades
light bulb constantly turned on and off will last considerably less
and always breaks at power on or off
batteries have certain number of charge cycles
starting and stopping your car engine at crossroad is bad for battery and starter motor
mechanical switches have certain number cycles of life
so do transformers, capacitors, and even transistors
each surge of current or voltage shortens the life of the part
because the part is not in thermally stable state yet
if the circuit is designed to be on all the time, it should be left on all the time
if its not designed for that, fine, turn it off
 
#24
I've been told that electrolytic capacitors deteriorate faster in amplifiers that're left powered down for long periods. But that's different to never powering down and it's probably also mixed in with the general conditions in which equipment is stored.

I can remember back in the 70's and 80's it was quite the thing to leave HiFi amplifiers switched on because the subjective audio brigade swore that an amplifier wouldn't sound its best until it had been switched on for at least an hour or ideally more, before listening.
 
#25
adason said:
you are wrong
light bulb left on will last decades
light bulb constantly turned on and off will last considerably less
and always breaks at power on or off
batteries have certain number of charge cycles
starting and stopping your car engine at crossroad is bad for battery and starter motor
mechanical switches have certain number cycles of life
so do transformers, capacitors, and even transistors
each surge of current or voltage shortens the life of the part
because the part is not in thermally stable state yet
if the circuit is designed to be on all the time, it should be left on all the time
if its not designed for that, fine, turn it off
Click to expand...

Well. everything with a on/off switch is designed to be turned off while not in use. I have never ever seen any kind of audio electronics that do not have a on/off switch.

While your at it, never ever use the breakes on your car. the breake pads have a lot longer lifespan it you never use them.
 
Last edited:
#26
My den TV setup with LM3886’s have been on 24/7 since 1999. No audiophile reason, just laziness. When I want a more ‘emotional’ experience, I use one of my Pass or tube amps. After awaiting the correct warm up period of course. On occasion I forget and the next day I’m wondering, “Why is it so hot in here?” 😕
 
#29
scottjoplin. Or economy. That was my point 🙂
If you leave a 1000hour 100W $1 lightbulb on all time instead of using it 4hours a day, to extend the lifespan of the bulb. Then you soon will figure out it is a very expensive saving 🙂
 
#33
The USB issue can happen if you have a powered USB device that is feeding power back into the PC. Had it before with a USB hub that would keep all other USB devices powered when the PC was off, devices that were connected to other ports on the PC and not the hub...
 
#36
adason said:
you are wrong
light bulb left on will last decades
light bulb constantly turned on and off will last considerably less
and always breaks at power on or off
Click to expand...

Incandescent light bulbs normally last for about 1000 hours when left on and used at their nominal voltage. They can last much longer at a somewhat reduced voltage, but then their efficiency gets even worse. The thermal shock at switch-on is often enough to push a bulb that was already close to breaking down over the edge.

In the Netherlands and presumably in the rest of the EU, LED lamps normally have both the lifetime when used continuously and the number of on/off cycles printed on their boxes. Both numbers are finite.

By the way, Senseo coffee machines can't be switched off, only put in standby, and one of their main failure modes is the selfhealing capacitor of their standby power supply losing too much capacitance. So that's an example of a circuit designed to be on all the time that fails when you leave it on all the time.
 
#37
I bought two Sylvania "Daylight" 40 watt bulbs for the bathroom light fixture back in 2006.
They are switched by a dimmer, (around 80% brightness) and they get turned on several times a day (usually evening) for the time it takes to shower, etc.
The fixture was changed back in 2011 when I remodeled the bathroom, and naturally I used the same bulbs. - and they're still going.


In the bedroom, I have a pair of "art deco" wall sconces flanking the dressing mirror, using 60 watt candelabra base bulbs - installed back in 2010 - and never had to change the bulbs yet.



So much for the previous conversations about bulb life - it can be anywhere!
 
#38
my sony boombox has no power off switch
it has stand by switch, but the display always shows time, since it has clock and alarm function
never off, only if you take cord out of the wall

my cambridge audio azur cd player has on/off switch on the front, but that is only standby switch too, it still receives remote infrared signal, it has hard mechanical off switch in the back, which is not accessible, and I never used it

i used to have california audio labs cd player, and the only things the switch on the front did was to turn the display on, otherwise the electronics was on from the moment you plugged it in the wall

well, I was not advocating leaving the incadescent light bulb on all the time, I hate it when empty offices are lit all night in every city, you completely misunderstood me, that's ok, you can do whatever you want, I was just pointing out that turning it often on and off will stress the filament sooner to end its life
Edison's light bulb in the museum is still on

you can twist my words any way you like, I stand by my opinions, you do not have to take them
 
#40
If we switch to renewable energy that would remove the worry of wasted power. Shouldn't matter if we leave everything on then.
Even standard filament bulbs might be more environmentally friendly than LED bulbs and the resources (like lots of water) they need to make the semiconductors.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom