leaving my boxs powered on 24/7 Nov 28-New years.

[Scotter]

So I am trying to simplify my show and its just about impossible to set all my timers to come on at the exact time. I was wondereing if I could leave my boxes powreed on and when the show controller isnt doing anything they just "idle" but when the controller turns on from my house timer the boxes are ready to go.  Last year I had the misfortune of half a show becasue one timer didnt turn on. I could buy a fancy outdoor timer but as I said I am trying to go simple. 

[Don]

I've left mine on during the entire display season since (a long time ago.) It's nothing to worry about.

[kzaas]

I leave my Christmas show PC and all of my controllers on 24/7 from at least Thanksgiving to New Years. They draw very little current while idle and run very, very cool. It is actually better for electronics to be left on ran than power cycling them every day. If you are using a PC as your controller ensure that Automatic updates are turned off otherwise your PC may reboot and won't be in the ready state at show time.

[rwertz]

I leave mine powered all season. It's a great way to find those pesky blown triacs when you look outside at 1AM and see your strobes firing

[scubado]

Mine are ON 24/7/365.

[plasmadrive]

Once I turn em on, I never shut em off till New Years Day

[George Simmons]

Same here - they're powered up during setup and unplugged on New Year's Day. No problems at all.

[Santas Helper]

I leave mine on 24/7 as well. The only exception is if we get thunderstorms with lightning or ice storms. Both can cause power surge issues from power outages.

Nobody needs to be out in those weather conditions anyway.

[Dave Batzdorf]

Same here.  24x7.

[bob_moody]

Same here .. I FINALLY got enough controlelrs a couple of years ago so that I didnt have to be around for the entire display to launch.

Like everyone else... 24/7 from the Thanksgiving Night to New Years .. Never miss..

 

Bob

[Scotter]

Thanks guys.....

[Orville]

24/7/365 with mine as well.  366 in leap years.   

[HiTechLights]

So I am trying to simplify my show and its just about impossible to set all my timers to come on at the exact time. I was wondereing if I could leave my boxes powreed on and when the show controller isnt doing anything they just "idle" but when the controller turns on from my house timer the boxes are ready to go.  Last year I had the misfortune of half a show becasue one timer didnt turn on. I could buy a fancy outdoor timer but as I said I am trying to go simple. 

 

We have left ours powered for months... no issues.  You should have no problems with leaving them on for the December/Christmas season.

 

---Michael

[scubado]

24/7/365 with mine as well.  366 in leap years.   

I didn't count that extra time, I figured that's about how much time it's down for changes to the system.  

[morte615]

As an amusement park that utilized Light-O-Rama boxes we leave the boxes powered up from April through September with no problems. The shows start automatically and run just fine with minimal issues.

The biggest issue we have is when lightning strikes the boxes and fried our boards! But that has only happened once during the last 5 seasons.

[Memphis]

My first post.  Do you also leave your FM transmitter on?

[Santas Helper]

My first post.  Do you also leave your FM transmitter on?

 

Welcome aboard this crazy hobby/forumMemphis!!!

 

I usually leave mine on unless thunderstorms come thru.

[WhitePlainsNY]

I leave mine on, it's just one less thing to remember or trust a timer to turn on.

My Kill-O-Watt tells me a single CTB16PCG2 uses 1.4 Watts, .03 Amps while sitting idle between shows. Connected and powering a ELL, it uses 1.4 Watts, .04 Amps.

 

[Orville]

My first post.  Do you also leave your FM transmitter on?

I use outdoor speakers connected to an FM Radio picking up my FM Transmitters signal, so my transmitter is on 24/7 as well.  However, because I use outdoor speakers connected to a radio, I don't use animation files for off-hours, I use an musical file with an MP3 file that has no sound in it. 

 

Created one for about 2 minutes 30 seconds that cycles my overnight lighting effects, the silent MP3 keeps the speakers on the radio from spewing out hisses, pops, or bleed over from local or a fae away station that may fade in and out overnight.  

 

This way, it's just dead silence until the daytime music starts up and runs from 7am - 5:25pm during Christmas Season, then show light display starts at 5:30pm and runs 'til 10pm Sun-Thur, 11pm on Fri/Sat.   

 

That way my neighbors don't have to hear static or random bleedover, noise all night long utilizing this method.   

 

I also use an DC-MP3 Showtime Director that runs everything automagickally for me, so I never even have to be home to start anything or turn off everything.   Would never run my shows without one!   Best investment I ever made, since it has a real time clock with backup built in.   Hasn't failed to start or stop my shows in the 3 years I've been using it for Halloween and Christmas, as well as my off-season Garden lighting!

[Memphis]

Thank you everyone for the help.