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Leaving scopes and other bench test gear on?

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Does it matter if scopes are left on?

DS2072, or maybe its a "2202" not sure ;)

I notice a lot of people seem to turn these off

In a professional setup precision instruments are typically never turned completely off. It is also common that this is extended to any kind of non-handheld instruments in the lab. I remember an episode where a workshop supervisor even insisted on keeping the soldering irons powered, until health and safety told him in no uncertain terms to stop that because of the risk of fire, or to get fired. ;)

At home it is up to you. Part of my stuff is in a storage room and apparently not powered until I dig something out because I need it. I have a few precision references and meters running 24/7 in the lab, everything else gets turned off when not used. For low-end stuff like the Rigol I wouldn't be bothered to keep it running. I would not even trust that stuff to survive 24/7 (see the fun Dave recently had with the Rigol PSU).

But even if you don't keep any piece of equipment running intentionally, I highly recommend you install serious smoke/fire detection. The forgotten crap instrument going boom or the forgotten soldering iron, you know ... I also have a fire-proof door.

I can see why you would want to keep a high-stability voltage reference or a frequency standard on all the time, but why would you keep a scope on? It's only going to degrade it faster.

I build a small 230V distribution box for my bench that switches power to 4 powerstrips. It allows me to turn on groups of equipment with a single switch.

It's got 4 group and 1 main power switch with big neon. The neon make it really easy to check my desk at night. I don't have to inspect every device to check its off.

Brown switch = Bench power on/off
Main = soldering gear, power supplies, magify lamp
1st = generic test equipment (oscilloscope/siggen)
2nd = specialized test equipment (stuff i rarely use)
AUX = unused output for future use.

Most equipment reach thermal stability with in 30 minutes.

there is no point leaving on, unless your life depends on it.

Medical Equipment,
Defence Military Equipment.

Server & Hi class Motherboards lasts 50 years at <64°C,
but less than a Year, "5000hours" at 105°C.

Precision equipment has clocking devices,
age degrades accuracy in ppm/year.

Harddrives, have a power saving mode, spin down, windows controls at 20 minutes,
if you spin down more often say 1 minute idle, the harddrive will damage, too much turn-on/off, HDD needs 2Amps at turn-on.
if you leave-On all the time, harddrive will damage, too much heat, even IDLE eats only 0.6Amps.

most equipment have a 50.000hour life,
very high end equipment have up to 200.000hours of life.
decent equipment 70.000h.
moving parts degrade more easy.

All electronic equipment have a failure rate of 10%, Sony is proud of 5% failure of the PlayStation2.
Wrong designed equipment have a failure rate of 50%, for example: Thermaltake Dual 5G BlacX hard drive docking station,
but the Single 5G Thermaltake BlacX docking station is flawless. "i have 2, and want to buy the 3rd".

if the equipment is New, is better to burn-in or leave-on the 1st month, to see if it fails.
if you need to turn-on your equipment many times a day, is better to leave-on.
Power Buttons that handle too much current degrade more easy, like high pressure h20 washing machines.

in the end all depends.

what kills life in the desert its the temperature differences: +45°C day, 0~(-3)°C night.
more stable temperature is better.


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