Various power questions.

[Triky1305]

hi!

Id like to ask some of the guys with a bit of general electricity wisdom a question.

Is it alright to have a euro modular powered on for long periods of time or is it better to shut it down?

Im working with quite alot of studio equipment aswell and im told from some people that i should shut it down, and just power up stuff like tube
equipment an hour or so before use. Others say its better to just keep them on all the time, that its better for the components to have electricity flowing through them constantly.
My knowledge of electronic components are very limited, im not really and under the hood person, i just like great sounding gear, so it would be nice to have some clearance.

A side question: lots of modules have led indicators of for example lfo speed or modulation amount on a certain parameter.
Does it wear the LED's alot to just stand there blinking for 8 hour sessions or something like that?

TL;DR:
Should i power off my modular when muting it for longer periods, during long sessions, or keep it powered on?
and does keeping it on wear the LED's alot?


Thx!

[JeshuaW]

I'm not an expert but my guess is that it would take years of prolonged use to need to start repairing components in your system and LEDs cost next to nothing to replace.

[Summa]

Also not an expert but sure some modules need some time to fire up properly. I know that whenever you have mechanical moving parts like a harddrive in a computer you shorten the lifetime by restarting it too much. Not sure about vactrols and such, if it works like a diode/lightbulb it might have a limited amount of time.

[daverj]

The lifetime of a panel LED is typically 100,000 hours of on time, when driven at full rated current. The lower current typical of many modules means the lifetime is extended often to 1 million hours or more.

So an LED that is lit 100% of the time should last a minimum of 11 years, and maybe as long as 100 years.

Of course cheap quality parts might fail before that.

Heat is the biggest problem for electronics that are left on all the time. Elevated heat reduces the life span of components. So having some ventilation in studio cases can extend the life of the modules.

Video synths I built in the 80s were run in a studio 24 hours a day, and only shut off for about 2-3 weeks once a year. They ran without any failures (other than pots and jacks wearing out) until about 2 years ago when the studio shut down. So that's about 25 years. And they are still fully functional.

Personally I turn my Euro system on in the morning if I plan to use it anytime during that day, and turn it off at night. If I'm not going to use it that day I leave it off.