Hi Maximize life = put it on the shelf and *never* power it up. It (may) last for a century that way. How you will *know* it’s still doing fine is very unclear.
Maximize utility = power it up and keep it on power all the time. If you can plan well, power it up 9 months before you need to use it. There is a lot of data suggesting that > 90 days of stabilization is a good idea on OCXO’s. That’s based on fairly basic parts. On something fancy, it’s a good bet that even longer is better. === Does it need to be on power at 24V +/- 0.00000001 V for 9 months ahead of time? Is a 1 hour power outage 3 months back a really big deal? Both are in the “that depends” category. Good bet is “don’t worry about it.” One practical approach is to mount a regulator external to (and thermally isolated from) the OCXO. Then apply whatever supply you happen to have. Net result is that the device does not see any crazy voltage spikes. A diode “voting” setup could also be integrated into the regulator board. Bob > On Sep 24, 2020, at 4:47 PM, Mark Spencer <m...@alignedsolutions.com> wrote: > > Hi All. I have a related question.. > > From a maximizing the life span of the BVA perspective if one only wants to > use it once a year or so and can wait for a month or so for it to stabilize, > does it make more sense to mostly leave it powered down or is leaving it > running all the time a better plan ? I realize this type of question may > not have an definitive answer but I am curious about the views of others. > > I have a couple of other OCXO's that I leave running all the time and have > never quite gotten around to putting together a guaranteed to never go down > DC supply for my BVA. My read on the voltage specs for my BVA discouraged > me from simply powering it from my 24 volt DC battery bank that is float > charged at a somewhat higher voltage when AC power is available. > > Given the typical price of a BVA, I don't have a spare BVA in my time lab and > would like to maximize its life. Over the years several other pieces of gear > have failed but I have spares for them (: > > Thanks in advance for any comments. > > Mark Spencer > m...@alignedsolutions.com > 604 762 4099 > >> On Sep 24, 2020, at 12:38 PM, Magnus Danielson <mag...@rubidium.se> wrote: >> >> Hi Tom, >> >> I second this, these oscillators you want to power up and just leave for >> them to settle and then keep powered. >> >> Next time I power down mine is to integrate a new supply and back-up >> batteries, which can be a recommended little exercise. Currently only >> the H-maser is on battery backup. >> >> Cheers, >> Magnus >> >>> On 2020-09-24 01:25, Tom Van Baak wrote: >>> James Robbins wrote: >>> >>>> Oscilloquartz BVA has been sold. >>> >>> To the time nut who ended up with this BVA -- do not worry if it looks >>> like it is broken when you power it up. These oscillators take their >>> time to warm up. Here is a test I did last year on a similar BVA >>> oscillator: >>> >>> "Oscilloquartz 8600-series OCXO warm-up" >>> http://leapsecond.com/pages/osa-warm/ >>> >>> /tvb >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com >>> To unsubscribe, go to >>> http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com >>> and follow the instructions there. >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com >> To unsubscribe, go to >> http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com >> and follow the instructions there. >> > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com > To unsubscribe, go to > http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com > and follow the instructions there. _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- time-nuts@lists.febo.com To unsubscribe, go to http://lists.febo.com/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts_lists.febo.com and follow the instructions there.
