is footswitch for ac wall socket power supply ok ?

[209 first class]

hi, i have 2 astron powersupplies, run in parallel, plugged into the wall. works great, no problems. sometimes, they are on all day, maybe from 8am to 10pm. and there are dead days when i only key a few times thru the day. the power supplies get warm thru the day, even with only less than an ampere being drawn by the fan on da box. i guess i am too lazy to jump up and flip the 3 switches everytime i want to key. so, i was thinking of putting a footswitch between the powercords from the astrons and the wall socket, thru a 4 way box with a 20 amp foot switch. its a 15 amp wall socket. that way, one step and the whole thing fires up, saving the powersupplies from years of heat and use, making them last longer. when its cranked up, im drawing 12 or 13 amps from the wall. normal use is about 9 amps from the wall.(i have a 'kill a watt' meter, tells the the amp/volt/watts usage from the wall socket. usefull cheap gadget.)does anyone foresee any problems with doing it with a switch?? thanks, 2zero9

[TX_Dj]

I'd say it'd be no factor on a solid state box, but if it's a tube box that arrangement would cause you to have to hold your foot down while it warmed up before you could make use of it.

If you want to go that route, I'd suggest using the foot switch to control a relay, where the relay is doing the power handling... rather than bringing all that current thru the foot switch.

[721HACKSAW]

I would not recommend turning those Astrons on and off, the inrush of current upon startup is when components fail. They are great power supplies, and are designed to be continuous use. The amount of power being used when you are not transmitting is very minimal.

[TX_Dj]

That's a good point, hacksaw.

When I was a young whipper, my boss always told me he preferred things to remain on because it was less wear and tear than turning them on and off. I thought he was crazy back then, nearly 20 yrs ago, but now I see his point.

Like MythBusters recently proved - not all things are created alike, and in the point of "turn off the lights if you're leaving the room", if you're using tube fluorescents, you'll need to be out of the room at least 30 seconds to break even against the inrush current required to "strike" the bulb when turning the switch on.

Most times when people put a foot pedal on an amp, it's to control whether it keys or not... not to turn the power on/off.

[209 first class]

yes i understand what pedals are normally used for. i forgot to state it was a solid state box. i guess the question is will it wear the supplies out more from being switched on and off repeatedly, or from staying on all day and the components heating up. 2zero9

[TwentyTwo-Zero]

IMO you would be better off leaving the supplies run full time. The initial power surge you experience every time you turn the supply on is what does the most damage to the components. If you're that concerned with heat, install a fan on the supply...