Power on 24/7?

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  • This topic has 5 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 9 months ago by Profile photo of Anonymous.
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  • #119949
    Profile photo of trickettstricketts
    Participant

    Hello everyone!

    First off, I would like to say well done on this fantastic mixer from Allen & Heath! I’ve recently picked up a CQ-12T and have been more than impressed with it!

    I actually picked this mixer up more for an interface and summing a mix to stream with on my PC. It won’t see much of the road as it’s found a permanent spot here in my home studio. I know most of this could be more preference than anything, however, is there a reason to not leave this mixer on 24/7? With previous interfaces (powered by AC), they just stayed on with my studio monitors and all.

    I just wanted to get some of the community thoughts on something like this.

    #119951
    Profile photo of beezer215beezer215
    Participant

    I can’t imagine there being any positives at all leaving it on all the time and probably only negatives. One being screen life and burn in.

    #119968
    Profile photo of ChienmortChienmort
    Participant

    If the screen is LCD, screen burn should not be a problem. Electronic equipment tends to fail at switch on (and to a lesser degree switch off) rather than while working, so it may be better to leave it powered on with respect to reliability.

    I have the CQ20 not the 12 do it has the mains power supply built in. I believe the CQ12 has a separate “brick” power supply and of course the switch on reliability is more applicable to that than the main unit.

    One caveat is the ambient temperature, if that is likely to rise unduly while you are away from the studio, it may be best to power off. Of course leaving the unit powered on will use more energy.

    #119978
    Profile photo of KeithJ A&HKeithJ A&H
    Moderator

    Another consideration with the CQ is that it’s fan cooled, so leaving it powered on will mean it’s constantly pulling in air/dust/particles.

    Whilst we don’t recommend leaving mixers on permanently, it also shouldn’t be a problem (other than the things listed in this thread) and we often hear of mixers being left on for years at a time!

    Thanks,
    Keith.

    #120013
    Profile photo of Lee7Lee7
    Participant

    You need to think of it as like leaving your PC/Mac permanently on, it won’t be a problem until like, @KeithJA&H points out, the fan will be pulling in dust particles. If you were to open up a traditional desktop system (tower) all the components would be covered in dust. A quick blow out with compressed air and everything is good again. That isn’t as easy with a digital mixer, regardless of model.

    Just something to be mindful of if leaving permanently powered on, dust could be the potential downfall of your CQ.

    🙂

    #120015
    Profile photo of Anonymous
    Inactive

    Open question to Keith, does the FPGA chip have any kind of heatsink ?

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