leave them on or off?

superbert1971

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i was wondering is it bad to leave your games on? i dont have as many as most of you and dont leave them all on but my playchoice 10 dual monitor is on all the time for my 6 year old to play at will. is that bad for the game? what do you all think?
 
Considering these games are ancient and still generating the same amount of heat and voltage on old cooked wiring, i'd shut it off. All of us smart guys had fire extinguishers close at hand and a rider on our insurance umbrella and the rest of you that leave your games on 24/7 without the previous mentioned are fucked.
 
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Depends on the game really. Arcades normally left the things running constantly anyway, they just need to have proper ventilation so as to not overheat the sensitive electronic components.
It is the screens you should worry about though, CRTs are very easily burned in, especially on something like those dual screen nintendo playchoice since the selection menu pretty much stays in one spot on the top screen.
 
There's cons to both ends of it...

A: Leaving them on 24/7 surely shortens the lifespan of components throughout the entire machine. The longer it's on, the higher the temperature will be inside the cab and right on the boards where the heat is generated.
Then there's your hydro bill...and the fire risk.

B: Just like a car, constant startups are NOT good. In the case of our machines, the sudden startup is a good jolt. If you measure startup current, it peaks higher and then settles.

I think, if you're turning your games off and on several times a day...just turn em on and leave them on for the day. Shut them off before bed.
 
There's cons to both ends of it...

A: Leaving them on 24/7 surely shortens the lifespan of components throughout the entire machine. The longer it's on, the higher the temperature will be inside the cab and right on the boards where the heat is generated.
Then there's your hydro bill...and the fire risk.

B: Just like a car, constant startups are NOT good. In the case of our machines, the sudden startup is a good jolt. If you measure startup current, it peaks higher and then settles.

I think, if you're turning your games off and on several times a day...just turn em on and leave them on for the day. Shut them off before bed.

Yea What they SAID
 
There's cons to both ends of it...

A: Leaving them on 24/7 surely shortens the lifespan of components throughout the entire machine. The longer it's on, the higher the temperature will be inside the cab and right on the boards where the heat is generated.
Then there's your hydro bill...and the fire risk.

B: Just like a car, constant startups are NOT good. In the case of our machines, the sudden startup is a good jolt. If you measure startup current, it peaks higher and then settles.

I think, if you're turning your games off and on several times a day...just turn em on and leave them on for the day. Shut them off before bed.

The only games that get left on 24/7 on location anymore are in locations not owned by the operator, and even then sometimes the op will ask the location to turn the games on/off as part of their opening/closing ceremonies. FECs in particular always have marked up breaker boxes and turn the games on at open and off at close via throwing banks of breakers.

I really think that's the way to go. My only machine right now is more of a testbed/workhorse so it goes on and off constantly as I'm fiddling around.
 
...and think of the wasted energy... sure... one or two games is no big deal, but try leaving 50 100w+ games on overnight every night...

Cha-Ching..
 
look at the beating i took on the topic about a year ago.

http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=152820

...because it is a bad idea. :)

CRT tube burn alone should be scary enough of an issue to not leave these things on. If you're in your game area for a few hours, sure. Turn em on. Leave em on.

Leave them on for like...12-24 hours? Hell no. So many reasons not to.

Pinballs may be an exception, but you're still burning power and bulb life if they are on all day with minimal play.
 
One of my old arcade tech friends used to say "its not 'on' or 'off', its the time in between."

That being said, I don't turn my on and off if I can avoid it. I will usually turn on only the game or games that I intend to play. If I think I (or the kids) will play them in the next several hours, I will leave them on. I love the ambience that a game running in attract mode gives. So, even if the games are not being played, the fact that they are on counts for something. This will especially true if I ever get my dream gameroom and pool table.
 
onnoff

if you leave one game on 24/7
at 18c per kwh,
most games are about 250-350 watts
so lets say 300 watts average
it costs 5.4c per hr. per game
or 1.30 per 24 hr per ea game
thats 39.00 per mo. per ea game
if you have 4 games that would be 156.00 to leave 4 on 24/7
not to mention its bad for the electronics of the game to be on 24/7
 
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