Switch them off?

[hongteck]

My little studio is at a corner of my study room which sometimes becomes my guest room when we have visitors. I often have all the equipments in the rack on overnight so that corner of the room looks 'threatening' to our guests.

So I wonder if its okay to keep on switching them on and off everyday ? Anyway I'm not even sure if is it okay to keep them on all the time in the first place. I'm just doing it because I'm too lazy to switch them off.

What are your practice ? and why ?

[Emeric]

I wouldn't worry about leaving them all the time. But I would recommend.. having good ventilation for the rack units, and having some good surge protection. Even one of those cheap APC per7 surge arrest bars are better than nothing.

[Emeric]

Oh yeah.. I turn all my stuff off, unplug it from the wall, and even unplug the telephone from my computer. But I'm pretty paranoid to begin with...

[drstawl]

Emeric: I guess a cable connect would <really> freak you out as the connect is both fast & live 24/7 unless you pull the plug on it. But seriously:
If someone were to have the capability and the inclination to upload sections of your hard drive without your permission while you were away from your computer, how would you know that wasn't taking place only when you were <at> your computer. Making the efforts you describe somewhat delusional.
If you're talking about the chance of a lightning strike propagating a current through a phone line that could damage your computer before the line melted in the wall
I think that's a fantasy as well. That's how those glass Buss fuses on amplifiers work. But the power cord might give your computer's PS an unwelcome jolt if your power grid got boosted by lightning. I use a UPS.

But from the data point of view & the speeds involved, your surfing would remain indistinguishable from ordinary performance
while a clandestine stream of data left your computer. But I'll admit to not only the same paranoia but the same irrational response. I turn my computer off when I leave my studio.

Hongteck: How are all those glowing lights threatening? Who's afraid of a Christmas Tree? It's kind of like a nite-light. The only time my guests were frightened was when I left my synth music CDs looping on the 5-disc changer overnight....

[This message has been edited by drstawl (edited 12-08-1999).]

[Larry Sheehan]

To answer the original question, if you're not using the rack for more than 1/2 hour, I'd shut down and let the guests sleep in peace. Continuous on as noted above shouldn't hurt anything either, but heat and surges/brownouts can be harmful.

[Fishmed]

I have a friend who leaves some of his equipment on all the time. He has high end analog gear, so keeping it on all the time guarantees him a consistent sound.

My stuff is lower end stuff, so I turn it off if am done with it for the day. I don't thinking keeping my gear on would improve it's quality of sound.

[Spin]

ummm drstawl...wha wha what??...i dont mean to be rude but what are ya talking about..should we turn our gear off or not?? lol
spin

[drstawl]

Spin: I wrote that reply based on one reason you might have for unplugging all your equipment (hacker intrusion; that phone line disconnect threw me) and then realized Emeric might be talking about the other reason (voltage spikes) so I covered my opinion on that, too. To sum up:
Use a good surge protector (a UPS covers both high and low spike situations) and leave your equipment on all the time. Your HD will be the component that benefits the most from this. Maintaining an elevated temperature prevents moisture from condensing onto your equipment. I live in the desert, so that's not as important for me as for those that live in the jungle.

[drstawl]

Spin: I wrote that reply based on one reason you might have for unplugging all your equipment (hacker intrusion; that phone line disconnect threw me) and then realized Emeric might be talking about the other reason (voltage spikes) so I covered my opinion on that, too. To sum up:
Use a good surge protector (a UPS covers both high and low spike situations) and leave your equipment on all the time. Your HD will be the component that benefits the most from this. Maintaining an elevated temperature prevents moisture from condensing onto your equipment. I live in the desert, so that's not as important for me as for those that live in the jungle.

[Spin]

right on..dude...on my gear stays...thanks....what desert by the way?

spin

[hongteck]

I've seen a computer literally exploded because of a power surged caused by lightning or something. When I went to check out the damage, part of the mainboard became charcoal and along with it, went the CDROM, the harddisk and the printer(? .. it was connected to the mainboard) ..

BTW doc, my guests are mostly the elderlies. They are afraid of radiation leakage.

[Emeric]

Guess I should check in more often.. Yeah Drstawl, the reason I unplug my telephone is because I've seen way to many modems and connected components fried by lighting and other related voltage spikes. I'm not concerned about hackers, they can have it all. These days I've decided to leave it plugged in though.. I get lazy and tired of searching for the stupid connector.

[drstawl]

Hongteck: YIKES! What was "that something" or did you ever find out? And this didn't start a fire that burned your dwelling to the ground? Did you have any surge protection, or did that fry as well? In my neck of the woods (Southern California) lightning isn't as common as brownouts from an aging power grid. I'm convinced that shabby (lower than specification) voltage has destroyed a computer, a TV, a VCR, a printer and an answering machine (all surge protected) to the tune of $1700. I think the $150 for the UPS was well worth it. Last blackout was almost fun as I had plenty of time to casually shut down my system without losing a byte. And I understand about the "elderlies" fearing radiation. The former occupant of my place, a really nice old lady moved away because she felt the proximity of high voltage power lines to the bedroom (~15') was detrimental to her brain. She died shortly after moving away.....

[Emeric]

Oh yeah, I also pull down all faders when I leave the room for more than 5 minutes, even with no mic's up. I'm paranoid of some weird feedback loop from nowhere, and for no reason happening, destroying my speakers and everything else with it

[drstawl]

Now that's a good idea. It's just one fader on my system, the volume control on the receiver. I've been blasted out by sudden bursts of unexpected signal routed to my speakers. Fortunately I don't use an amp capable of damaging my Events. If you choose to ignore Emeric's advice on this one, and you have a high-powered amplifier, at least get some inline fuses for your speakers.
Aside:
I've seen large resonant waves form in a 2.5 gallon plastic jug of drinking water stored on a high shelf
(to protect it from cat fangs; she likes to play Dracula and drain them on the floor)
that walked the container forward far enough to throw it on the floor with a really loud crash.
No occult influence required.

[c7sus]

drstawl... did you know that most of the people killed by lightening strikes in the U.S. are using telephones at the time? True story. Another little known fact is that most of the damage done by lightening to electrical distribution systems is not from strikes to pole-mounted transformers or transmission lines but rather by the strike entering the system through the UNDERGROUND portions of distribution lines. Lightening will actually blow through conduits buried 3 feet or more underground under certain conditions. Just a little something to think about.

[kristian]

my house was hit by lightning when i was on the phone.. it hurt... a lot. the modem in the computer melted. also my brother told me my face turned yellow. im not sure though. maybe he was just scaring me.