Off-season Best Practices for Control Equipment

When your sports season is nearing its end and you’re tidying up your production equipment for a few months away, it’s also a good time to think about how this time off may affect your control system. What are best practices for storing equipment? Here are some things to consider before leaving your control room for the year.

Storage Recommendations

Electronic components can degrade more quickly over time if they are not stored properly, and both improper temperature and humidity conditions can have an impact on your system’s performance. We recommend the following guidelines for storage:

• For standard control racks (typically found in high school sports), storage temperature should be between -10 and 105 degrees Fahrenheit (-23 to 41 degrees Celsius)
• For custom control racks (typically found in colleges and professional sports), recommended storage temperatures are between 40 degrees to 90 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees to 32 degrees Celsius)
• Storage humidity should be less than 95% non-condensing.
• We also recommend to keep computers and monitors out of direct sunlight during storage to avoid harmful effects from UV degradation.

When the Season Starts Again

Rapid temperature changes can affect the performance of your equipment. Allow control equipment taken out of storage to return to operating temperature range prior to turning it on.

• For standard control racks (typically found in high school sports), operating temperature should be between 40 and 105 degrees Fahrenheit (4 to 32 degrees Celsius)
• For custom control racks (typically found in colleges and professional sports), recommended operating temperatures are between 65 degrees to 75 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees to 23 degrees Celsius).
• Operating humidity should be less than 80% non-condensing.
• We recommend 24 hours duration to wait for control equipment to return to the suggested temperature range.

We hope these tips will help you get the most of your control room, during and between seasons! For further information on routine maintenance for your display system, check out our product maintenance guide.