• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Leaving a 5150 powered on.

offensive_Jerk

offensive_Jerk

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2009
Messages
1,226
Location
Wisconsin
Just wondering if it would be a bad thing to leave a 5150 or 5160 powered up for long periods of time. I am not talking about the mono monitor, as that would surely get some burn in.

Would keeping them powered on be any better/worse than keeping it powered off?

My main computer I keep on almost 24/7. I don't really have a need to keep a 5150 on at all times, but would like to know if doing so would hurt it in anyway.
 
Depends on a few factors, but if you have the heat situation taken care of inside the case, you should have most of the battle won.

If you're using a old MFM hard drive, there's a possibility that the spindle bearings could dry out with 24/7 use.
 
Isn't there something to be said about the potential fire risk of nearly 30-year old electronics being left unsupervised?

I'd rather play it safe than sorry...I don't even leave power leads attached to stuff I'm not using, especially computer hardware after I've nearly been killed by faulty power supplies. The ones that nearly killed me were quite modern, but the operating principles are the same when they're turned on.

According to that, my recommendation would be don't leave it on when you're not in the house as a simple safety precaution. The same goes for the one you leave on 24/7 though...
 
With the steel PS enclosure and fuse the likelihood of a fire seems a bit remote to me. But I see absolutely no advantage in leaving it running.
 
I believe that most vintage computers that are functional should be powered up and run for a few hours every so many months, or at least once per year to keep them fresh. Three hours should be enough. I don't leave vintage computers running unsupervised for very long.
Bill
 
I'm with Chuck(G) and billdeg on this one. You should run it once in a while, but you don't want to wear out an antique hard drive.

From personal experience: I've got a lot of old electronics which I currently use, and I've used old/outdated electronics since the 60s. My old tube equipment still works and is as safe as the first time it was turned on. I can't imagine there being any safety problems like a fire hazard. Old computers shouldn't be likened to other hobby activities like metal casting or welding where there are real hazards. Yes, I've seen sparks fly and integrated circuits go bang - so what? I don't pile papers on electronics and my solvents and cans of gasoline aren't close either. I am aware that a few people are prone to "bad luck" and I certainly recommend that those people conduct themselves accordingly, but in my opinion electronics is safe as houses. :)
 
Well okay, let's look at this a couple of ways.

First, did any 5150/5160s get left on 24/7? Sure--they were used on BBS, control, data acquisition, etc.

In fact, before minis and PCs, it wasn't unusual for big iron to be left on all of the time--it could take better than a day to bring a system up after a power failure.

Second, what could happen? Bearings could seize, capacitors could pop. I doubt that the PSU will catch on fire--remember that there's an overcurrent trip as well as a fuse.

I've left systems of the 386 period powered up for many months on end. I still have a couple of them and they still work fine.

Running a system like a 5160 for a week or two doesn't bother me. The hard disk spindle bearings may dry out, but I'll probably hear that before they seize up. Capacitors may pop, but a bad one will probably trip the power supply overload.

Keep the system clean and cool, and you'll probably be okay. Will your system last longer than if you cycle the power frequently? Probably not.
 
Chuck(G) said:
. Will your system last longer than if you cycle the power frequently? Probably not.
Click to expand...

That's kinda what I was wondering.
Do you mean that it won't make a difference, or that it will cause a shorter lifespan if it is constantly on? HDD out of the picture.

Is the HDD always spinning even when not accessing data?
 
Yes, its a Miniscribe 10MB.

normal_CIMG0648.JPG
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it the IDE drives that brought us sleep mode? From what Chuck(G) is saying, it sounds like the electronics don't care much (and that's what I think) so if you have put an IDE in the 5150 you'll be OK. An MFM will run all night and eventually wear itself out. I would treat an MFM like the vintage mechanics it is. :)
 
Yes, if I were to leave one on it would probably be the 5150 due to the absence of an HDD, they are fragile enough.

I'm actually surprised this 25 year old drive even functions considering the numerous drives I had fail that were under 5-10 years old.

I was more curious than anything.
 
I keep my old gear with a real power switch plugged in, the soft power models have a surge strip that I use to kill power to them.

The only machine I leave on 24/7 is my 10 year old server, all the rest get run for quite a while but only when I am around.

As stated by others heat is the real killer of electronics, along with never powering them up.

For safety reasons I would make sure all power supplies are not full of dust bunnies (especially dust bunnies with smoke residue) as a simple capacitor smoking can set the whole machine on fire. There are plenty of plastic parts even in old machines that will burn like mad and release deadly smoke in a closed environment.

I keep a working smoke detector directly over my lab and workbench so if anything smokes there will be plenty of noise. I also keep a dry electronics grade fire extinguisher around incase something does happen. Also know where the breaker is to cut power to the whole lab if you need to in a hurry.

For the most part the machines are safe, but why risk burning the house down use common sense.
 
offensive_Jerk said:
Are the IBM cases known for bad ventilation?
Click to expand...

The 5150/5160 is no shining example of good heat management, particularly when you have a boatload of long cards installed in the expansion slots. The 5170 is better. Industrial rack-mount cases generally are pretty good. On the flip side, unless you have a PGC or some other über-card inserted, most old cards don't dissipate much heat anyway.

Ole Juul said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it the IDE drives that brought us sleep mode?
Click to expand...

I believe that control of the spindle motor started with (at least for 5.25" drives) SCSI (Command 1BH; start/stop unit).
 
The 5160 I have was acquired from the school I work at. It was originally installed as a terminal to control a campus wide energy managment system. (American Auto Matrix - AI2100 PC) Despite the fact that the system could run independently, my technologically terrified supervisor insisted that the 5160 should NEVER be turned off.

Anyway, the thing ran 24/7 for about 12 years until a nearby lightening strike apparently just took out the ST-225, but somehow managed to leave the computer itself still operational. At least this was the prevailing theory at the time.

Contrary to what I am reading here, I had sort of always thought that the long live of that drive could have perhaps been attributed to the fact that it was hardly ever cycled on/off. Up to that point it had been a great drive, quiet, very rarely showing any errors.

A couple of other factors. The computer was never moved from it's original location and was in a nice consistent office environment. Maybe that helped also.

It would have been interesting to see how just long that drive would have actually lasted.
 
Well, although the platter surfaces of those older drives prefer less start/stop cycles but I don't think the ball bearings give a stuff, rather are more concerned with the total running time and having suitable lubrication.
 
billdeg said:
I believe that most vintage computers that are functional should be powered up and run for a few hours every so many months, or at least once per year to keep them fresh. Three hours should be enough. I don't leave vintage computers running unsupervised for very long.
Bill
Click to expand...

Yes, this is what I try to do. Run them for a few hours now and again but when I'm around. I just don't like to leave old computers unsupervised for long periods of time.

The risk of damage or fire may be low but...well, I just wanna be there if anything happens.

Tez
 
This goes for all fourth-generation computers, even they are vintage or modern:

When powered on, all of the components will generate some degree of heat, especially the CPU. IIRC, Over time this heat will cause some of the tiny silicon-tracks within the dice of the ICs to move a little, and that can cause malfunctioning after a while. This may be why you shorten the lifetime of a CPU by overclocking it.

However, it may take a very long time before this happens, and even longer for old equipment running at 5MHz (then we're talking about leaving the computer on for some milions of hours, in other words several hundred of years).
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top