Leave CRT games on or turn them off

DragonLord

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I have some original CRT arcades that I want to keep as original as possible. Especially the CRT. They have high quality CRTs that I want to keep in good condition. I've heard two train of thoughts: 1. Leave your games on 24/7 will maintain the picture quality and such. 2. Turn your games off when you aren't playing them (or in some cases where they are on location - Turn on only during open operation hours).

What are some pros and cons of options 1 and 2?

Thanks
 
Not playing them? Leave then off...no reason to leave them running all the time, as they're old, failure-prone electronics. Leaving them on all the time will increase image burn on those nice CRTs, since there are many static screens shown during attract mode.

Yep. I understand the (correct!) argument that these games were designed to be turned on for many hours on end when they were first built, but (a) that was ~40 years ago, and (b) burn-in is still a thing, and worth avoiding all by itself.
 
Then, there is the exploding flyback issue.
This. As with ALL vintage electronics from this era, they should not be left unattended since there are risks that can cause fires.

My general rule of thumb in my home arcade: Don't leave them on 24/7. Turn them on at least once a day. (I've noticed if I leave them off for an extended period of time, they tend to have issues when I turn them back on).

Del
 
Use it or lose it!

I turn all my games on at least once a week and let them run for 1 hr.

This helps flush out any minor issues that arise. I work to keep my collection up and running 100% as much as possible.

I also use American DJ power strips that allow me to isolate games as sometime I just like hear a certain game running in the background with the attract mode playing.
 
I also use American DJ power strips that allow me to isolate games as sometime I just like hear a certain game running in the background with the attract mode playing.
I would like to know more.
 
I use a surge protector from the wall outlet. Then plug this AD power strip into the surge protector then plug the games into the AD strip. This allows individual control over which games are turned on. Also has the side benefit of not sending a massive power surge to your breaker box by having all 8-10 games turned on at the same time.
I would like to know more.
 

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I use a surge protector from the wall outlet. Then plug this AD power strip into the surge protector then plug the games into the AD strip. This allows individual control over which games are turned on. Also has the side benefit of not sending a massive power surge to your breaker box by having all 8-10 games turned on at the same time.

Same exact power switch that I use. Good stuff!
 
I would like to know more.
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I use Home Assistant and a bunch of Smart Switches, outlets, and Strips to accomplish the same thing. The "Turn on Arcade" button staggers power on of all the games so that nothing blows from overcurrent when all those CRTs warm up.

Also the games shut off if no motion is detected in the arcade for 30 minutes. (Unless overridden with Party mode). It will notify us before shutting things off. (Doesn't help if we're not looking at our phones though. Lol)
 
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