Turning your arcade machines ON and OFF

CyberDude

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Was just wondering if it hurts the machines to turn them ON and OFF multiple times a day. The machines I have are TEMPEST , DIG DUG and T2 ARCADE machine. Sorry if this has been asked before. Im fairly new to owning these machines and am learning everytime I log in here. Thanks in advance.
 
I don't feel it does, basically you're 'hurting' them more if you just let them on all day, because heat builds up more and it stresses all the components. So no, turn them on if you're going to play them or be around them then turn them off if you're not going to be using them. Just my opinion!
 
Never hurts to turn them off and on when needed. like me with 40+ games, i cannot afford to leave them on. lol
 
I use a "remote switcher" for most of my games. I generally don't leave them on for long stretches, unless I'm going to be playing them during that time. When I'm done, they go off.
 
Thanks fellas for the input. Like I said Im not new playing arcade machines just new to owning them. My humble collection is small but growing. This place is awesome with helpful people and Im glad to have found it. Cheers.
 
It puts more wear and tear on electronics to keep cycling them on and off.
If you are gonna turn them all on, 2 things....

Make sure you can stick around while they are on if they are old.
And leave them on until you are done for the day.
 
It puts more wear and tear on electronics to keep cycling them on and off.
If you are gonna turn them all on, 2 things....

Make sure you can stick around while they are on if they are old.
And leave them on until you are done for the day.

Yeah, this. The cold to hot and then back to cold cycling stresses components just as much as leaving them on with constant heat. Over time you'll likely get cold solder joints (little cracks in the solder that makes for a bad connection) on game PCBs and monitor chassis and power boards from the temperature cycling, and you'll have to fire up your soldering iron to reflow the solder joints. It can also stress capacitors; using quality caps when rebuilding parts will reduce that problem, and at some point you won't be power cycling your games everyday anyway. Also, temperature cycling can make socketed chips walk out of their sockets over time, which is easy to fix but annoying when a game goes down and you have to figure out why.

You're kinda damned if you do and damned if you don't.
 
You're kinda damned if you do and damned if you don't.

...which is why you should just go ahead and turn them off. It will at least save your displays from etching and cut down on your electric bill. :p You can find a lot of components all day long, but nice tubes are getting scarce!
 
It puts more wear and tear on electronics to keep cycling them on and off.
If you are gonna turn them all on, 2 things....

Make sure you can stick around while they are on if they are old.
And leave them on until you are done for the day.

On that last point, you need to be careful. I used to leave them on if I thought I was going to be back in the gameroom that day. I left everything on for 2 weeks one time that way, so now I turn them off on my way out of the gameroom every time.
 
On that last point, you need to be careful. I used to leave them on if I thought I was going to be back in the gameroom that day. I left everything on for 2 weeks one time that way, so now I turn them off on my way out of the gameroom every time.

I would have been sick if that happened to me! Was everything fine when you got back Paul?
 
On that last point, you need to be careful. I used to leave them on if I thought I was going to be back in the gameroom that day. I left everything on for 2 weeks one time that way, so now I turn them off on my way out of the gameroom every time.

oh no, i know,, i left for 15 mins and suffered a loss.
 
Always power strips (or outlets on a switch, wired properly), too. Who knows what shape the wiring is inside of the machine and even then inside the insulation. I never ever ever leave power running to a game at night with it switched off. Not worth the risk. This very strictly goes for all 30 in my collection regardless of age or condition. Thankfully whenever I have slipped up (games switched off by their switch though, of course) things have been fine. Most machines even when switched off run power to the service outlet (so you can plug in your light/soldering iron with the machine still turned off) which runs through a fuse block, etc., etc.. There's still a lot of power in these things even when you think they are totally off.

But yeah, on and off probably adds some stress but we all do it anyways. Maybe leave it on if you're going to grab a drink in the next room over and then come back with it, but don't feel obligated to leave it on from 12 PM to 10 PM just because you're going to play twice a day. Waste of energy, and waste of running a machine. As for leaving them on TOO LONG, I have friends who run arcades and these things are on 11 hours a day all day with no gaps. It's what they were built for. Just watch over for screen burn (and your electric bill), and on pinball machines hot bulbs left on for a long time will destroy backglasses, plastics, and inserts over time. Again, not worth it "just to do it", but if you're having a party or something don't feel bad about it, it's what they were made for and I do it regularly when walking through my arcade or even just sitting and looking, they're all on at once. (Of course!)

Probably would take a long time to damage a game from turning it on and off with normal hobbyist use, even if more frequent than back in the regular arcades.
 
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Its all off if I'm not playing which is once or twice a week lol. You stress out parts when you leave the games on too long but you shouldn't feel like its a baby I just don't like leaving them on.
 
my games are furniture. they never get turned on. I solved that problem. :p

+1 to the fellow that mentioned stress. the "chip creep" symptom is caused by the repeated heating and cool down.
 
On that last point, you need to be careful. I used to leave them on if I thought I was going to be back in the gameroom that day. I left everything on for 2 weeks one time that way, so now I turn them off on my way out of the gameroom every time.

You left the games on for 2 weeks straight, 24 hours a day?
 
I tend to turn mine on and off as I feel like. In my experience as long as you're not flipping them on and off like a spastic kid playing with a light switch, you should be fine. Mine tend to be on for anywhere from 1 - 5 hours before being turned off. Sometimes sorter if I'm trying to diagnose an issue.
 
I have several games in my garage in South Carolina. Most of them, I turn on when I want to play.

My Crazy Climber stays on all the time.
It has been up except for power outages for several years.

The monitor probably needs a cap kit. If I turn it off, it takes several minutes to reach full brightness again. It has some screen burn, but it doesn't bother me during play.

I figure it costs about $10/month to run it.
That's the primary reason I don't have three or four of them on out there.
 
You left the games on for 2 weeks straight, 24 hours a day?

I actually did that........ on purpose......... because I'd set a high score on Super Pac-Man that I was very proud of. A score, that would live in infamy!!

*that was broken about a month later, I might add.......
 
I actually did that........ on purpose......... because I'd set a high score on Super Pac-Man that I was very proud of. A score, that would live in infamy!!

*that was broken about a month later, I might add.......

Who needs a high score save kit when you can just burn them in?
 
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