Turn off or not?

Mike-N1VE

I turn off the FLEX-6400 and Maestro when I am not using it. Lately I have been using the radio both in the morning and evening. I wonder if it is best to leave it running during the day when I know that I will be using it in the evening. In other words does turning it off and on strain it more than leaving it on?

KD0RC

This has been asked many many times in this Community. There is no definitive answer. I would say do what you are most comfortable with.

My personal habit is to fire everything up in the morning and generally leave it on all day. I then shut it all down before I hit the rack in the evening. If I plan on being gone most of the day, then I usually shut it down when I leave. I turn it back on when I return if I still plan on operating.

When I am out of town, I usually leave it on so that I can operate remotely. Even though I can remotely turn the rig on and off, I normally just leave it on in this scenario.

Bill AB7AA

I think that dust can be a problem depending on what environment you live in. I live in Tucson where there is little ground cover and a lot of wind. Still I leave my two 6700's on all the time and have for years. They reside in the garage where they do get dust in them and require periodic cleaning. I have been through two fans in about 6 years.

Bill AB7AA

Craig Williams

I put foam AC filters on all my vents. I always run 25 Watts TX max with my KPA500 and see no unusual temp rise in the FLEX. I dust the filters about every 2 months and the inside of the radio once a year. Very little dust buildup in the radio.

Mike-VA3MW

If you have pets, you will need to deal with the dander.

Do the same for the radio as your computer. Open it up and vacuum out the dust, etc. Your device will run cooler and thank you for it.

Do not use compressed air as there is a risk at overspeeding the fans and ruining them. That is something you don't want to do.

Mike-N1VE

Ken,

Thanks for the information. I have no problem leaving it on, but my concern is that whenever it is running the fan will cause dust to get into the radio. Perhaps it's nothing to be concerned about.

I also wonder if turning it on and off twice a day would reduce its life expectancy

73

Mike.

WX7Y

My radio has been on since I bought the 6700 radio new way back when they first came out and have only changed my fans 1 time and it wasn't because of dust, fan's generally fail on a Power up and the older the fan is the lubricant dry's out and cause the bearings to fail.

I worked for 40 years in the RF communication industry and had hundreds of Amplifiers to maintain that had 3 to 5 high speed Fan's in them and the Fans hardly ever failed unless there was a power outage at the radio site and not dust.

Mike-N1VE

Thanks for the information. Unfortunately we have a cat that sheds like an old rug, so I am a bit leery about what might collect inside the radio. However, I will not hesitate to leave it running all day long, and perhaps longer. I seems reasonable not to keep "booting" up the radio time and time again.

I also wonder about the Maestro. No fan in it, but it still goes through quite a boot up procedure.

Mike-N1VE

I appreciate the comments and will periodically clean the inside of the Flex. I am now leaving it and the Maestro running all day long and turning them off when I finish for the evening.

I know there have been discussions about the length of time to boot up the Flex (and Maestro). Some feel it's no big deal and others want an instant-on radio. Before I bought my Flex, I had no idea how long it would take to boot up. I am not an overly impatient person, but there are times when I choose to use another radio rather than to take the time to boot up the Flex. The fact that it isn't instant-on radio would have been a reason for me not to buy the rig.