Unplugging Game Consoles from power supply?

[slowslow325]

I read that you should unplug vintage consoles when they are not in use?
Why should you do this?
Could I just flip of a power strip instead of physically unplugging it?
Do I have to do it to preserve the life of the console?
Where do you place your AC plugs so you can easily unplug them?

[D.D.D.]

Yep, the manuals do say to unplug them but I've always just flipped the button on the power strip.

[loganm187]

I think all manuals to game consoles just have to say that for safety purposes. I mean come on that's just ridiculous. I have every "retro" console on earth and i never unplug them from my power strip. sega cd etc all still running almost 15 years strong in that power strip lol

[Ziggy]

Yeah, same here. Had my SNES since 1992 and its pretty much been plugged in ever since!

Where do you place your AC plugs so you can easily unplug them?

If you really want to, just unplug it from the back of the system, not the wall. Ten times easier that way.

[Hatta]

It's because of the big wall wart transformers that convert your household AC to the DC your consoles need. If you have one plugged in for a while, go feel it, it'll be warm. These things don't exactly shut off when they're not in use, so you want to unplug them or cut the power to the strip. I don't think it will affect your consoles either way, but it will save you a little on your power bill.

[Ziggy]

No, I didn't mean to save on the electric bill. The question was, to sum it up, does unplugging a console when not in use preserve the life? Since unplugging it at either end (console or the wall/powerstrip) will have the same effect on the console, I was just suggesting to unplug it from the console because it's usually easier then reaching behind furniture or whatever to unplug it from the wall/power strip.

[DaGamingMonkey]

Remember that whole thing with ps2 units causing fires?
They're probably just trying to cover their rears.

[Ziggy]

I thought that was the Xbox 1's power adapter that they recalled?

[DaGamingMonkey]

I recall it being the ps2 slims.
I may be wrong,
regardless there was a recall of some sort on some system due to fire

[vejita]

no, the PS2 had some fire hazard thing, but the Xbox dealt with it badly since... well, they dealt with their product badly at first