Jump to content

Leaving tubed equipment on.


eth2

Recommended Posts

I leave CD player on 24/7; chip or Class D amps 24/7 as they consume nil power and sound better with caps always charged; tube pre/amps maybe a full day. When I owned Threshold, Nelson Pass, Class A monoblocks I read where it was best to run these 24/7 as the inrush of power would shorten their life with repeated on/off sequence. I only did this until I saw my power bill had increased 25% one month! A 1500 watt/hr. current draw (750 watt each mono) per hour adds up quickly. Solid state Class A - 100% current 100% of the time. They are not green but their sound is beyond reproach. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Agree with the others that you did no damage to your gear and as far as the tube go, just a relatively small impact to their finite lifespans.  However, I think the big concern here is with fire.  I had a power tube fail on me upon power up of couple months ago.  I'm just glad I was right there when it happened to quickly shut the amp down.  Had I been out of the room or worse, away from the house (yes, I've also forgotten to turn my equipment off), I don't know how bad it could've been,

 

Also correct on the thermal cycling not being good for electronics.  I have a friend that used to work in the semiconductor industry and he told me they left the equipment running 24/7.  Part of the reason was that they were always in use, but the other was to avoid thermal cycling.  Materials expand and contract as temperatures rise and fall and not all at the same rates -- think about that happening to all those electrical connections (solder joints in many cases).  Reliability is a big deal with large-scale manufacturing but also consider that this was mega-buck equipment that they want to last as long as possible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

35 minutes ago, JMON said:

I have a friend that used to work in the semiconductor industry and he told me they left the equipment running 24/7

 

es).  Reliability is a big deal with large-scale manufacturing but also consider that this was mega-buck equipment that they want to last as long as possible.

My buddy used to work for GE Plastics world wide technology center and he said said the same thing your friend said.  They would plug in computers which would run for literally years at a time without being shut off.  He said they did it for the same reason you cited, reliability.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My advice is not to leave anything on when it is unattended (both SS and tubes).  Equipment has a notorious way of failing when no one is around.  In fact, I also recommend plugging devices like TVs, in which the power supply is always "on", into a power strip which can be turned off when the set is not in use.  I won't relate some of the awful situations I've encountered over the years in the service field.  

 

 

Maynard

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You can look at it from another angle:  equipment left on 24/7 tends to fail whenever it is powered down, usually a power outage or UPS failure.   

 

But.  Tube gear is different, and I'd not waste the finite life of a vintage tube with constant power.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, USNRET said:

Reminder: make doctor's appt. I think I had one a few years ago. Perhaps I should get a variac for my AED.

I'm using a variac with my VTA ST-70 dialed to 117 volts as my wall voltage is 125 volts. I used this one...works like a champ for my needs. 5 amp capacity and the amp has a 3 amp fuse so plenty.

 

https://www.circuitspecialists.com/variac-variable-ac-ps05kva.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

ONE turn on shock is probably more "harmful" than leaving electronics on for a weekend, or a week, maybe more than a month. I once opened a closet door to find the VPI turntable going round and round, and the stylus had played God only knows how many hours of that last groove against the label. I figured the stylus and cartridge was TOAST. After a long listenting session, it sounded fine to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought I would chime in on this one as I had a SED EL34 with ~200 hours on it fail, after an hour or so into listening session, and took on the look of a light bulb. This happened over the weekend and luckily I was standing next to it when it red plated. This being my first inflight tube failure my wife even commented on me freaking out as I first thought the amp was toast. Apparently I was more upset than she thought I should be. :)

 

I monitor bias when I us this amp and it was normal. So I had the amp shutdown in less than 10 seconds but am worried that if I had not seen the failure happening I don't know how much amp damage would have occurred of if a fire would have been the result. The replacement quad of tubes is working without issue.

 

So my thought is turn it off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Having 4 cats  have to keep an eye on my tube amps so I am diligent about shutting down when done. Imagine the time I went to power up my power amps to notice that 1 12ax7 was missing - found it upstairs under bed one of my cats pulled it out of the socket and carried it upstairs. It was undamaged have to love cats.

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...