apollosfire Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 This is a pretty basic question, but I'm currently doing some work for a charity who have a large events space with a decent lighting rig, projector, PA system, etc. They never turn anything off though: lighting desk, lighting dimmers, sound desk, amps - EVERYTHING. I don't just mean that they leave them on overnight: they leave them on over the weekend, Christmas holiday time, etc. Thinking about it, I'm convinced that they probably hadn't been switched off for about two or three years until I powered down a few nights ago... Everything was pretty warm. I'm currently working out how to explain that this is very bad practice and going to draw up a list of the correct power up / power down order so that even non-technical people can do it if necessary. My question: are there any reasons not to leave everything switched on 24/7/365 other than: "it reduces the life of equipment" and "it may cause a fire"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 ...are there any reasons not to leave everything switched on 24/7/365 other than: "it reduces the life of equipment" and "it may cause a fire"? Actually, it's turning things on and off which causes them to fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timsabre Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 The only reason is that It uses electricity unnecessarily. Leaving stuff on does not, in my experience, reduce the life of the equipment or increase the chances of a fire. In fact frequent turning on and off is more likely to reduce the life of the equipment. edit: Brian beat me to it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vinntec Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Although it might be in the terms of the building's insurance that all but essential power is turned off when it is not occupied. This in the case at the Chesil, where we are not allowed to leave main stage power on. Some theatres I have lit shows at certainly leave everything on, others turn everything off every day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Old job we turned everything off except the dimmers, Other old job I turned everything off because it was easier than worrying caretakers. New job everything gets turned off, I guess it is better to have kit off when not in use, there is of course that debate of projectors and movers of is it better to leave on or off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew C Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 In my book it depends... Midnight now, and it'll be back on at 06:00 tomorrow? Probably leave it on. Leaving work at 17:00 on Friday, and no one in until Monday? Turn it off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulears Posted December 11, 2013 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Our ancient STM dimmers are still going strong since the seventies. In 1984, after a damp closed season, we lost a few on power up. They have been switched on ever since then. That's over 30 years! At home, I switch off only when away - like now, but my work spaces are dry, but cold. The only reason for turning off is electricity. My equipment, left on, uses 800W and hour which over a year is sizeable, but I claim 50% of my electricity consumption as a business expense, which seems pretty fair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cedd Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 In the day job nothing gets turned off, ever. It does have the slight down-side that if you eventually do switch off a PC that's been running for 6 or 7 years continuously, it really is a lottery as to if it'll come back or not. It tends to be a bit of a killer for the power supplies. I think my biggest concern about kit running continuously would be dust accumulation in fan cooled devices that don't have proper filtering. It's still a concern in kit that gets turned off, but 4 or 5 hours running a day is a lot better than 24. I really feel that all fan cooled devices in a professional world should be filtered, but then again, that means somebody has to clean them! My amps, desk and show PC ran continually for 3 weeks during Narnia, but it was a cold, unheated church and I was relying on their own heat generation to keep the cold out. No problems but they've all had a vacuum out since then as the building was rather dusty too - must have been the 5300 children! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 ...must have been the 5300 children!Yeah, children are amazingly dusty and smelly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smalljoshua Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 ...must have been the 5300 children!Yeah, children are amazingly dusty and smelly.Continuing OT, the worse projectors we service for dust and dirt are in school classrooms. You can tell the school uniform colour by the tint on the dust and lint in the filters. Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Some Bloke Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 there is of course that debate of projectors and movers of is it better to leave on or off. When a report was commissioned a couple of years ago about greening West End theatres, all the major manufacturers of moving lights were asked if turning off the rig over meal breaks was a problem. All of them looked into it and replied that it didn't matter at all. This is, therefore, the recommendation now for moving lights: as the lamp burns, pulling power, all the time they are turned on and it does not cause a problem to turn them off, then every time you are leaving movers for any length of time (meal breaks, bewteen matinee and evening show etc) then all moving lights should be powered down to conserve electricity, thus saving both money and the environment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scjb Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 Moving light manufacturers having ultimate faith in their products? That's unusual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the kid Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 there is of course that debate of projectors and movers of is it better to leave on or off. When a report was commissioned a couple of years ago about greening West End theatres, all the major manufacturers of moving lights were asked if turning off the rig over meal breaks was a problem. All of them looked into it and replied that it didn't matter at all. This is, therefore, the recommendation now for moving lights: as the lamp burns, pulling power, all the time they are turned on and it does not cause a problem to turn them off, then every time you are leaving movers for any length of time (meal breaks, bewteen matinee and evening show etc) then all moving lights should be powered down to conserve electricity, thus saving both money and the environment. I was meaning more towards lamp hours and how much you kill the lamp in doing such things. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldradiohand Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 We used to have an old radio desk in a rather damp studio that was always failing. I instigated a policy of keeping the desk powered 24/7 and it improved the reliability enormously. Same goes for my old Quad power amp I use at home, you don't get the crackles and noise on power up that I used to. So it depends - newer kit, you'll save energy by powering down. Older, more fragile kit you'll probably extend its life and save on repair costs if you leave it powered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted December 12, 2013 Share Posted December 12, 2013 Calculate the cost of lamp life and separately the cost of electricity used, then work out the cost of leaving things ON. The possibility of something failing in power up is significant but probably not easily quantifiable. Work out a maximum period when you leave thins ON and then a limit before which you turn things OFF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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