General duty cycle of Flex radios?

Mike W1BFA in Maine

One thing I sometimes struggle with is whether it's better to run the radio for long periods and come back to it as I want to or shut it down, then start it up when I get a chance to get on during the day.  As the 6K really becomes a "radio server" it almost seems it might have been designed with long runs in mind.  The same question with the 5K, which I had resolved to sell till KE9NS came out with his "trick" PSDR and messed me up!  :-)     thanks Mike W1BFA

thoughts, experiences and technical expertise?

WA2SQQ

I've often thought about the same issue, but I decided that when I'm not on the air, it's OFF. Why? Summer season is here, which means lighting storms. My 6500 is too expensive to risk any damage. When I leave the shack, it gets disconnected.

Bill -VA3WTB

Yes, storms are a good reason not to leave it on and connected when your not around. But other than that no known harm will come by leaving them on 24/7.

Jim Gilliam

I leave mine on 24/7 as it is always remoted 100 miles away and several people in our group share it. It's been on for two years now with no sign of wear. Guess the only thing that might eventually go out are the fans.

Jim, K6QE

Mike va3mw

Mine has been on for almost a  year with some key shutdowns due to power, etc.  It is no different than a computer server.   I run mine at a remote base, and I can drop everything offline if I need to, but there are many times I have forgotten or missed the warnings.

Yes, it could be damaged by a strike, but my homeowners insurance covers that.

Mike va3mw

Bill W2PKY

Gerald said a major computer manufacture told him the best longevity for electronics is obtained by turning it off when not in use.

Bill -VA3WTB

From Tim
Official Response

John - the answer is absolutely.  We designed it that way.  I have one of the very first pre-production 6700s ever built (November 2012).  With the rare exception of traveling to a hamfest, or back to Austin for an expedited ECO or when there is a lightning event, the radio has stayed powered on 7x24x365.

The only moving parts are the fans and the relays.  The only consideration would be the fans.  They will wear out, but they have a high MTBF so I would not concern yourself with that too much, and they are easy and not expensive to replace if a sealed bearing fails.

One other concern might be dust.  If the radio is operated in a dusty environment, then you may need to clean it out occasionally.  If using compressed air to clean any type of cooling fan, make sure the stream of air does not spin the fan when cleaning.  That can damage the fan.

Steve W6SDM

I think I am probably in the majority when I say that I leave my Flex on all the time.  Exceptions are when I am away from home for more than a day or when there is a chance of storms.  This is also true of my computers.  The desktop unit that hosts my APRS I-gate and digipeater was on for almost a year until a power outage dashed my hopes of getting into any books or world record.

KY6LA_Howard

My prior 5000 and current 6700 run 24/7/365 for years now. Since I operate remote much of the time too much PIA and time wasted turning things on and off.

Bill -VA3WTB

Maybe the only downside, is running the power supply all the time.

Mike W1BFA in Maine

Thanks all for the input..  I now have much less guilt for letting them run all day sometimes.  A downside of running SDR is sometimes the amount of time it takes to light up a pc and the radio for a quick look around the bands.  With conventional radios it was a quick push the button and spin the knobs.  Not nearly as rewarding in two dimension as compared to Flex SDR 3D radio though!  :-)

Also I am with you folks on disconnecting if possible for storms.  After a major strike to the station and half the stuff in the house years ago plus 25 years in telecom I take no chances.   Anything that can jump across half a mile of sky and **** a tree clean out of the ground is tough to stop in half an inch of "protection" and a ground tease to go in another direction.  cya   Mike W1BFA

Mike Smoot

I had not realized, until recently ordering filter caps from Mouser, that modern electrolytic filter caps have a power-on lifetime rating of a few thousand hours for popular types.  Others are rated to go longer depending on their construction type, but of course at higher cost.  Knowing this, I don't needlessly leave my equipment powered up anymore.

Mike  KB1MH

DH2ID

All my equipment - from my washing machine to my TV is taken off the net if I don't need them.
And so is my whole measuring equipment and my amateur radio station. That means I switch everything on once or twice every day and I never had and problems with my equipment.

The startup time is very short as I run a batch file and my notebook rapidly starts up on it's TB SSD.

Saving on electrical power and not leaving anything like the TV on standby might be a typical European problem, of course, as we pay quite a lot for our power here...

We even have most of the light in our housing project running on LED bulbs, and the electrical cars are charging at night when the cost is lower.

Alex - DH2ID

KY6LA_Howard

One of the few advantages of living in California is that we have sunshine at least 320 days a year plus all sorts of incentives to go solar... I have a 20.5KW Solar system on my house so even charging the electric cars I have no power cost issues with running all my equipment 24/7/365,,,

Part of my reason for being on all the time is that in the bad old days powering things on and off caused thermal shocks that broke electronic things quicker... not sure if that still applies today.

Further, the only reason to be off the net is to keep the CIA from watching what goes on in my house, but since nothing much goes on anyways, I just leave everything on...

wb7ond

I just added my 6500 to my ARRL insurance package.  Replacement value against a variety of loss.