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Hi everyone, cross-posting for better audience here, sorry for the double post.
N00b here, but thought this was a question for this forum rather than the adult beginners one. I have a Yamaha Arius 164 digital piano - very happy with it for my level, although with every day of improvement I find myself looking at a Clavinova... But that's for a different discussion. Anyway, for a lot of my electronics, particularly where a sound amplifier is involved, I have been taught to leave them on rather than turn them on and off, as it's likely to prolong their life. Does this apply here? This piano comes with a default auto-power-off, but has an easy way to turn that off right at the beginning of the manual. How do you handle yours? Keep it on, at least for an entire day if you might pop over to play for a few minutes here and there, or turn it off and back on every time?
Thanks

I once heard advice here to leave electronics "on" or "at idle" when not in use. The theory was that by keeping the internals slightly warm, you reduce the opportunity for moisture to settle in and do its damage.

So, when I was in less humidity controlled living quarters, I left my equipment "on". Right now, I have very good humidity control so I turn everything off after use.

I have no evidence, one way or the other, about whether these practices have helped prolong the life of my equipment.

The days of vacuum tubes are long gone. These days equipment will often last longer than I want it or need it. So I don't worry over "leaving it on", or surge protectors, or avoiding direct sunlight, or humidity.

I like to keep it simple. I buy it. I use it. I enjoy it. That's all.

Perhaps it's a generational thing, however I was raised by my parents to turn things off after I have finished using them.

Kind regards,
James
x

+1

That is the most logical and succinct way to put it.

God bless,
David

I am with you. I see fully unnecessary to waste energy that way. And, trust me, as a 40+ years electronic tinkerer, some parts, as electrolytic capacitors, don't enjoy being powered 24/7. They have a lifetime so you are shortening it by having them powered all day. And power transients are better avoided, so with 24/7 you catch them all

Same. I originally didn't care to much whether left on or off, but for the optical components that are known to start failing after a decade or so--why shorten that life further leaving on all the time? Also, we were hit by brownouts a couple of years back and the piano speakers started screaming 😱 After that, I got a good line conditioner and made sure to turn it off when needed.

The "effort" required to turn a DP on or off seems so trivial as to not worth being mentioned, IMO.

Yes, it is pointless to keep things on longer than necessary. I don't think there is any measurable real benefit of doing so. Let's not waste energy.

Osho

Not so fast. When sitting down to practice or play the piano you'll probably be hitting the keys thousands of times. Why stress your fingers before and after playing by depressing that one extra button?

My experience with a Steinberg UR22 mostly powered (I didn’t want to wait my virtual piano loading), is that it stresses the DAC which sometimes produce more and more frequently silent instead of sound !

I have sent it and hope the warranty application, but the transportation seems to have repaired it ! (It was in a cold month).

Then, I avoid now using it too much, and know that the fridge could help me to repair it if needed.

Now I have a N1X with a 30 minutes auto-off, and I am sure I will not have the same issue for the same reason !

For anyone interested, below is the message from Yamaha. As I kind of expected, there is no actual benefit to leaving it on continuously and the reasons for doing so with large amplifiers don't translate here. I'll turn the auto-power-off function back on.

<<<
"Thank you for contacting Yamaha Support.

I have yet to hear of a Yamaha product failing because it was turned off and on too much. I have two Yamaha S90ES keyboards that I have used for 13 years on gigs and at home and they are always fully shut off. Before that I had another instrument I used for decades turning on and off and there wasn't a single failure because I turned it on and off too many times. It's better to turn it off when not using it.



If you have additional questions, please don't hesitate to let me know."
>>>

You might be right about the excess effort involved in turning on/off the piano.


The solution is to build Alexa into all new pianos:

“Alexa, turn piano off!”

The next step is « Alexa, play the Appassionata sonata ! »

Shall we just get tiny microchips in each of our 10 digits and let Alexa/Bezos control them remotely so we can all play like Horowitz?

This is how the laziness to turn piano on and off will transform us to virtuoso pianists!

Osho

Yes, to that!

(Assuming I can choose to play like Glenn Gould instead of Horowitz).

Well, there would be Buy 1, get 1 50% off deal. So, no worries!

Osho

Yamaha now defaults to a 30-minute Auto-Off. That should tell you everything you need to know in my opinion.

On or Off? I don’t think it matters with modern electronics - just make sure the electronics don’t overheat.

I use a power strip with an on/off switch. When I’m done, I flick the switch and everything powers off. I also set the auto-off 30 min setting on the keyboard.

For safety reasons, I turn off all electrical devices when I leave the house. I even un-plug them when I go on vacation. Several good power strips around the house make it simple to do.

With class D amps and op-amps, your keyboard electronics should be fully warmed up by the time your hands are warmed up. There is no need to leave a digital keyboard powered up.

Oh my ...

Such an important topic. Heat wears on the digital thingies we have all inherited in our pianos. It might be best to minimize that.

Oh, and in some Mfgr's of these thingies, a stress test can be used to see how well the thingies can be switched on and off. Maybe they do each cycle 1,000x? More? Not to worry of wearing anything out.

I still set back and wonder in awe of the level of piano we can purchase. The Touch, Feel, Speakers, Amplification, Sounds, and on and on ...

Kawai James

When is Kawai going to round out its offerings and keep up with Korg?

And then, as you have variations of a 'Toy Piano' voice, migrate that to ...

https://www.korg.com/us/products/digitalpianos/tinypiano/