Is it harmful or completely safe to leave phantom powered microphone turned on all day?

Are you plugging directly into the Quad Capture? If so it looks like that interface is USB powered so when you shut down the computer the phantom power should be turning off anyway thus cutting power from the mic. But I wouldn't leave a phantom power mic on if I wasn't using it. I don't know if it will hurt anything but why take the chance?

Thanks, Beepster and batsbrew.

Yes, it is plugged to the Quad Capture. It's not plug in most of the time, just on a few occasion of long recording and editing.

I'll make sure it's plug out after use. Thanks again.

If you are just talking about phantom power on the Quad Capture, then all that is is a switch that leaves the phantom power on. Don't want to mix up mics and plug in a mic that does not need phantom power. I suppose you can turn on and off the phantom power each time on the Quad Capture, but I doubt if it will harm the unit to leave it on. Thus it is ready anytime the Quad Capture is on. If leaving the mic plugged in to the phantom power, what that does is make the mic work in the first place and the mic will need it anyway. I doubt if most mics take 48volts anyway, as newer ones (and I have one) only take a fraction of that power anyway - like very small in my Sennheiser mic use. So if you likely to not screw it up by plugging in a different mic it may make no difference, once you unplug the mic from the Quad Capture at the end and plug it in at the beginning. I would have the phantom power switch on before plugging in the mic and not turn it on after the mic is plugged in on the Quad Capture.

Well, I really do not know which way is better, except that the mic will not work until phantom power is switched on. I just equate it to having an instrument plugged in to an amp when they state to turn the volume down and everything else before turning it up or really turning it on. In case there is a surge perhaps or something like that. Not that equipment usually goes bad by why take a chance?

Yes plug it all in first, then power up. Main thing I do is turn the phantom switch off when not using the mike. It takes a second.

Slight threadjack but kind of along the same lines. My new interface takes power from a wall wart adapter. There is no on/off switch so when I want to power it down I have to unplug it. I close Sonar then turn down the input trims, monitor and headphone outs and disconnect any instrument/mic cable but I'm not sure whether I should unplug it BEFORE or AFTER I shut down the computer. My old interface drew power through PCI so it would shut down when the computer did however if I accidentally left my monitors on I could hear a loud nasty "BBBZZZZZZOOOOooooppppPOP" when the power left the unit. I was told that noise is a capacitor or something losing it's charge. Because of that I've been disconnecting power to my new interface (the one with the wall wart) BEFORE I shut down. However when I disconnect the adapter I see the input/clip meters on the front display a quick spike. Not sure if that is harmful and whether I should shut down the computer first to avoid it (I don't actually know if it will avoid it). It connects to the computer VIA USB 2.0. The manual doesn't say anything about this. The only thing that comes close to referencing powering the unit is they say when installing the drivers to leave the device unplugged until they finish installing then plug the unit in so I assumed that it's safe and proper to plug in the interface AFTER booting the computer and have been doing so ever since. Any thoughts? Nothing has blown up on me yet but I'd obviously like to keep it that way. Cheers.

Beepster.

1. ALWAYS power down your monitors before anything else
2. I then power down the computer
3. Finally I power down everything else (all on one switch)

@beagle and Bristol Jonesey... Thanks. Yeah, I'm painfully aware of the monitor thing. Back in the day I learned after a few times of accidentally shutting down without powering down my "monitors" (which back then was just my stereo system... as shameful as that is). Spend too many hours in front of the DAW and maybe have a few too many barley pops and I forgot my procedure a couple times. That noise at high volume will wake you up real quick. When I first built this new rig I hadn't touched any DAW related stuff for a few years and sure enough I forgot. Fortunately I hadn't bought my fancy Mackies yet so it was just my cruddy Logitechs that took the brunt. Got my head back in the game now. Anyway I think I'll just keep doing things the way I am if it's not gonna cause any damage. I figure the computer shutting down might send wayward electrical signals to the interface which might cause problems. hmm... maybe I'll email Focusrite and see what they say. Cheers!