First post, by Swiego
I have a bunch of old hardware and some of it gets stored for long period of time. On the spectrum of “run it a few hours every day” to “indefinite storage results in the least wear and tear” is there a sweet spot for how often and for how long I should energize hardware components in order to maximize their longevity? I am thinking about topics like capacitor health, motor lubrication and bearings, and thermal strain due to power cycling., etc.
I have a lot of vintage AV gear that I tried to let run for at least a couple of hours every month. This habit seems to have served me well. I am less certain what the right rule of thumb is around computer hardware, be it a PCBA, CRT or hard drive. What trends or behaviors have people seen over time? Better yet, is there a recommendation based on a clear technical understanding of the failure modes and wear mechanisms of these components?