Is it OK to leave your boxes plugged in all the time, or should you unplug them every once in a while?

I think is safe to say to leave them pluged I never had any problem with them being plugged they don't get damage but if you have 40 boomboxes plugged in then the problem is the electrical bill at the end of the month.

... Gee like most things if you KNOW that you are NOT gonna be using somthing for a long time would you leave it plugged in ??? Not me ...
.... see below .....

well I only plug in my boombox's through a "protected" outlet ... that is Specificately a UPS like from www.apc.com I have about 8 of these all around here I dont just use them for the computer as they work like a line-conditioner - especially the one's that are "avr" enabled meaning automatic voaltage regulation ,,, that is they purify the electrictcity from the wall socket, other than my cpu i use these for the tv and the vcr and then all of my boombox outlets .... I dont need a "" SURGE "" frying my whatever electronic device or a brownout doing the same thing in reverse .... its cheap insurance and the batteries that are in them last about 3-4 years and are easily replaceable and optainable .... shuck's there are three of them with-in arms reach from right here .... James

On many electrical devices is written that when left unused they should be disconnected from mains. It's better to do so. Disconnected device = zero power consumption. Plus when you get a spike in the mains grid you can still damage equipment.

Hi-Bad electrical storms can burn out a t.v.,computer or boombox,so if your not at home-unplug them.
If your experiencing right now or are going to have a bad storm-unplug them.
It's good advice if you don't want a storm burning out your power switch or worse yet frying your transformer or something bad-even a fire heaven forbid.
I've seen worse stuff happen from freaky electrical storms!
So unplug during these times and your stereos will last as long as you do hopefully.
Have a great one-Ghettoboom777.

quote:

Originally posted by Eddy:
On many electrical devices is written that when left unused they should be disconnected from mains. It's better to do so. Disconnected device = zero power consumption. Plus when you get a spike in the mains grid you can still damage equipment.

. again therefore I use my ups's as they protect me all the time expecially when i am online an we lose power i can still do stuff for about 45 minutes or so because of the many larger ups's that I have I'm sorry I Forgot ( I have 4 of these ups's with in arm's reach here ) one for the cpu an monitor , one only for the dsl and the telephone with answering machine ,,, another one for battery chargers and 3 boombox's and the one over there for a Flouresence lamp and another boombox incase we lose power in the dark time I still have a bright place :-) James

What I'm saying is, assume you already had a line conditioner/protector....Would you leave them plugged in? If not, why not?

I thought I remembered a post saying that the capacitators or whatever those electrical bits are inside boomboxes often go bad if they aren't used regularly.

It's a habit of mine. What i don't use i disconnnect. Pure and simple. No chance of damage , no power consumption.There's some expensive equipment here so......

quote:

Originally posted by Reli:
0. What I'm saying is, assume you already had a line conditioner/protector....
1. Would you leave them plugged in?
2. If not,
3. why not?

4. I thought I remembered a post saying that the capacitators or whatever those electrical bits are inside boomboxes often go bad if they aren't used regularly.

4. yes capacitor's go bad over time but this depends upon the quality of the cap in the first place.
0. ok
1. Yes the protector's always as they are designed to be in all the time ...
2. no as I value All of my Electronic Equipment that I have Presently, and I have learned the EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE way just how important a simple surge protector really is !!!!
3. I am not made of money & if I was i would-NOT care, I guess ?
But since I Do Care and these things are not just around the corner I am gonna give them the care that they were never thought of before the idea of power surges and brownout's that we have today because of the rapidly expanding population & Since I am NOT in A Throwaway enviornment because I can go and buy another one ??? from? where? what? time machine? can I get into and go and get another one of these HUH !!!?
.... James ....

But if you use a line conditioner why bother unplugging them

quote:

Originally posted by Reli:
But if you use a line conditioner why bother unplugging them

Do You know how many Boombox's i have here ?
.. I dont even know ... although the ones that I am presently using are the Sanyo M-X520 and the Sansui CP-77W and both are plugged into a Line conditioner and the other's when and if they get plugged in ALL go through a Line conditioner just to be safe rather than ...

... and the only other way to be truely safe is to run/play these from batteries

Mine only stay plugged in when they are in use.
No sense risking your equipment when they are not in use.
I agree that surge suppression / line conditioners are definitely a great Idea as well when they are in use.

You may want to unplug those not being used. Many will be drawing small amounts of electricity even in standby mode.

One of our electrical gurus should weigh in decisively on whether or not transformers are consuming power even when not in use.

quote:

Originally posted by el rojo grande:
You may want to unplug those not being used. Many will be drawing small amounts of electricity even in standby mode.

One of our electrical gurus should weigh in decisively on whether or not transformers are consuming power even when not in use.

yes you are correct about the transformers consuming very little power while there is not an inductance being drawn off of them,,, gee that's kinda hard to explain in a few sentence's

especially items like your remote contolled tv when its off its is still consuming power because it is in standby mode.... however mine goes through a ups even though it not needed for a crt tv it helps ... and my 32 in lcd shall always be used with a ups/line conditioner !!! ... safety.... protection...

If it's rarely used, I'll switch off at the wall. This, barring a lightening strike, is as good as unplugging.
Most UK AC mains sockets (wall outlets) have their own on/off switch (I've noticed this is often absent in other countries I've visited). If there's no switch, I guess unplugging is the only way to stop the AC transformer wasting power & wearing itself out.

btw, I didn't do this when I was younger. Guess which part of my 3D7 doesn't work & is unfixable (by me)?

it's fine to leave them plugged in all the time. You can't burn out a transformer in the power supply if left not used. I'm in the electrical business so it's ok. I agree with the guys about using surge protection, it's very good insurance to protect your valuable boomboxes

Fair point about the surge protection.

All electrical components have a life expectancy MTBF (mean time before failure) & when AC is present the transformer will be at the mains potential (voltage).
Surely this will shorten the life of the transformer (allbeit much more slowly than if the b-box was being used)? Or maybe with no load the effect is negligible?

I would prefer to unplug the device from mains.
Two only negative things about plug and unplug:

1) Transformer feels a little shock when pluged because filtering capacitors are empty.

2) Transformer selfheating (even while in standby) keep moisture away from the device.

In most cases supply filtering is working all the time, but since no current is drawn from the supply it doesn't matter.

The oldest box I have, early 70's National Panasonic, still have the original main capacitor (in fact all capacitors are still orignal). Figure that it was used as a kitchen radio for about twenty years (perhaps more, but twenty for sure), it was plugged to the mains all the time, even when my grandparents leave for holidays the box was plugged.
I don't think that could shorts the box life or it's unsafe. Of course the main cable need to be in good condition in both ends.

Some good info on both sides........I think I'll just get surge protectors and leave the boxes plugged in.