Electronic gadgets - leave on or turn off between uses

[Curt Harms]

I know we have knowledgeable electronics people here. What is best for the longevity of occasional use consumer electronics such as TV set top boxes or wireless routers/wireless access points, leave 'em on or turn 'em off? I know that 'off' is not really off but 'sleep' and some of the boxes we have get pretty warm even when 'off'. I'm thinking one power cycle/day.

[Pat Barry]

Power cycling is used as life test indicator for electronics because the cycling between hot and cold over and over again creates large stresses that end up breaking things, particularly solder joints. I would say that if you are giving the choice between turning the box off for an hour say, and then right back on, I'd leave it on. If you are talking about a daily thing - on in the morning, off at night, then I'd say the duty cycle is not going to lead to problems for a very long time. On the other hand, heat is the thing that kills electronics the fastest. Make sure the box is not enclosed so that it can't breathe so to speak - fresh air is very important. You can leave it on generally without concern if you keep it cool.

[Rich Engelhardt]

In my past experience as an electronic technician/computer repair person/network engineer - - - it doesn't matter one way or the other - - provided you are consistent about it.

If you let things run, then continue that way. If you cycle the power, then continue to do that with the item.
I saw more file servers fail after years of continuously being turned on when they were taken out of service and recycled as machines that were turned on and off on a regular basis.
Same thing in reverse for machines that were turned on/off, then placed into use as a machine that was on 7x24x365.

I've done both. Matter of fact, the TV in our living room has been turned on now for better than 25 years with only a few times being off when the power went out. OTOH, my old AM/FM/Short Wave radio gets powered up every once in a blue moon - as it has for the last 40 years. I'm sure if I turned it on and left it for a week it would die.

[julian abram]

Shouldn't we discuss not only the longevity of the gadget but the cost of electric consumed when said gadget is not in use. I turn off TV boxes when TV is not in use. Wonder what the cost of wasted power would be on a box 24/7/25 years if left on continually.

[Brian Elfert]

My PC at home stays on 24 hours a day. I don't want to power it on and wait for boot up every time I use it. My Tivo also stays on because it only has a standby mode that barely saves any power.

The TV and audio receiver get turned on and off as I actually watch TV. I don't leave the TV on in the background like some do.

[Myk Rian]

Cable modem, and router all stay on 24/7, unless we leave the house for several days. Cable TV box stays on 24/7. That way I can record a program using a phone app.
I turn the computer off every night. Using an SSD for fast booting. About 20 seconds.

[Robert Delhommer Sr]

The hardest thing on any electronics or electrical device is the start up surge.

[Rich Engelhardt]

The hardest thing on any electronics or electrical device is the start up surge

Heat's worse - IMHE.
I saw far more "cooked" mother boards in my years fixing PC's than anything else.
Carpeted offices were the worst. All of the PC's inside have/had a fur coat of fine dust that held the heat in like a blanket.
Just getting the PC up off the floor and onto a desktop would about double it's life.

Solid state devices don't seem to be as bothered by that startup surge as the old tube stuff.

[Curt Harms]

Thanks everyone.

In my past experience as an electronic technician/computer repair person/network engineer - - - it doesn't matter one way or the other - - provided you are consistent about it.
If you let things run, then continue that way. If you cycle the power, then continue to do that with the item.

Rich, I've noticed the same thing and don't understand why. Maybe electrical gadgets get set in their ways and don't like to change, just like us.

Shouldn't we discuss not only the longevity of the gadget but the cost of electric consumed when said gadget is not in use.

Probably, though most modern devices aren't really OFF when turned off, just shifted to a lower power state. For example, our Verizon set top boxes stay pretty warm when in standby so I'm not sure how much power is being saved. The only way to really depower many devices is to either unplug them or add a switch.

[paul cottingham]

In my experience, computers, and especially hard drives last much longer when left on. Power and heat cycling is especially hard on them.

[Brian Elfert]

We have a number of servers of the same model at work that almost always lose a power supply any time they are unplugged or lose power for any reason.

[Dan Hintz]

Difference in power of a Verizon box when in "standby"... (nearly) zero. Nothing shuts down other than the display, which only consumed a few a couple hundred millWatts to begin with. The hard drive is still spinning (assuming a DVR), the graphics chip is still decoding MPEG streams, the tuner is still running, etc. TVs, on the other hand, consume significantly less when in "standby"... but not nearly as little as they should, particularly if you have one of those "smart" TVs that listen in on the room's conversation. Routers will consume considerably less... but they don't consume a whole lot to begin with.

If the device gets very warm to the touch, it's bad to cycle it (twice a day isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things)... devices that barely change temp will die of other reasons before it dies of thermal cycling issues.

My computer is "on" 24/7... but it shifts into sleep mode after an hour of non-use and the monitor goes into "standby". I use an SSD, so "boot" time from sleep is about 3 seconds. It takes my monitor longer to go through it's wake-up test cycle than the computer takes to fully wake up.

[Garth Almgren]

We have a number of servers of the same model at work that almost always lose a power supply any time they are unplugged or lose power for any reason.

At my work, the desktops stay on except for a reboot at the end of the work day, so they're never really off. Every time we have a power outage, we're almost guaranteed to have 2 or 3 computers that need a tech to either replace the BIOS battery or swap out the PC because the power supply fried (probably due to surges, but still) so the business has decided to just leave them on 24/7.

[Kristopher Powers]

If you are talking about a daily thing - on in the morning, off at night, then I'd say the duty cycle is not going to lead to problems for a very long time. On the other hand, heat is the thing that kills electronics the fastest. Make sure the box is not enclosed so that it can't breathe so to speak - fresh air is very important.

This^ exactly, Heat is a killer but also if pulsing hot and cold. Think about it this way, when the tire on your car is flat you are more likely to pop it because it expands and contracts so much. If your going to turn off your electronics keep them off for 2-3 hours never less otherwise keep them on. (ps what are you losing by keeping it on, at most $.30 with a 500w power supply)

[Jim Becker]

We never turn any of them off...