Do you leave your arcade cab(s) on 24/7 ?

[kemical]

This is something I've been wondering about, do many of you who have arcade cabinets tend to keep them turned on for several days at a time, or longer?
Would power consumption be similar to a TV the same size as the screen?
Are there any possible risks to leaving them on, unattended? That might sound a bit paranoid, since I leave other things turned on unattended all month, like computers etc..

[superhitachi4]

I can't speak from personal experience, as I do not own a cabinet myself, but from an electronics point of view: Yes, power consumption would be similar (probably slightly more) to a CRT based TV comparable in size. As for leaving things on 24 / 7 this is NEVER good for anything electronic (mainly things like TVs), as it's unnecessary wear, and tear. I'm not saying it would kill your cabinet right off the bat, but I'm just saying if you'd like it to last longer, don't leave it on for a week or so at a time. That creates unnecessary heat, and stress on various components, and will ultimately lead to early breakdown. There is no perfect electronic design. There are only those that are less flawed.

[undamned]

As for leaving things on 24 / 7 this is NEVER good for anything electronic (mainly things like TVs), as it's unnecessary wear, and tear.

Nor necessarily true. Some systems have a pretty involved boot/startup process, which is more rigorous than just leaving the thing running.

As far as 'cades go. Yeah, don't run them all the time, unless $ is not an issue.
-ud

[Vexorg]

Mine only gets turned on when I use it. It has a convenient on/off switch, so there's no point in leaving it on when not in use.

[superhitachi4]

As for leaving things on 24 / 7 this is NEVER good for anything electronic (mainly things like TVs), as it's unnecessary wear, and tear.

Nor necessarily true. Some systems have a pretty involved boot/startup process, which is more rigorous than just leaving the thing running.

As far as 'cades go. Yeah, don't run them all the time, unless $ is not an issue.
-ud

Yeah, I mainly meant things like arcade cabinets, and it's obviously not good to turn something on/off/on/off/on/off every 2 seconds either heh.

[sven666]

i turn mine on when i use it only, altho sometimes i play a little, watch som TV, then play some more maybe eat something etc etc.. so sometimes the cab can be on all day.

[Dave_K.]

I could see someone thinking a cab may stay on all day if you have it out in a livingroom or something (would look better than a cab being off). But mine are in the garage, so no need to keep them on if nobody even see's them.

Even if they were out in high traffic area's, I wouldn't keep them on because I don't want any further screen burn-in happening.

[Valgar]

When I am going to play I turn my cabinets on. They will usually just stay on the rest of the day so I can walk by and get a quick round in when I feel like it (that is the best part of arcade gaming!). When I go to bed or know I won't be playing any longer I always turn them off.

[MJR]

It's safe enough if you turn them off when you leave the house; same applies for all electronics. And if I'm away for more than a day, I will also unplug every device.

Besides that I sometimes keep my cab open all day.

[elvis]

I've got one cocktail cab in the lounge, and one upright downstairs in the games room.

The gamesroom cab only gets turned on during weekends, and usually stays on all weekend until Sunday night. The lounge cab gets turned on only when I play it, which is typically of a midweek evening (and depending on the mood of my missus ).