Hi I was wondering do tubes (modern) degrade or anything if they aren't used for a long period of time, say several months? Thx.

The tube shouldn`t degrade but I have had sitations where owners of units that have not been run for several months. Have had units that either have not fired up of have run at less than half strength. In the later case my advise was to put the unit in a box in a cupboard turned on and run it for 24 hours. in both cases it fixed the issue. In the case of the tube not firing up it was sent back and found to be DOA with no explenation. Tubes can be tricky little buggers.

I normally advise to give the unit a run every month or so for a couple of imnuteds if noy being used reguarly.

Ok thanks for the info.

Remove any batteries during storage.  Last thing you need is a leaky battery, royal PITA to clean up sometimes as the contacts can be hard to get to.

The biggest decay in NV tubes is the potting compound. If it develops cracks you can have major issues. This takes MANY years, The tube seals can leak (go to air) over time. As has been said, use your gear and get your moneys worth out of it. I hate to see a tube die of old age well before it has been used up. Sadly, old age is often the cause of failure. Use that scope and don't look back !!

Don't most electronic devices have potting compound? How does this potting compound develop cracks just spitting?

I kept the batteries in my pvs-14 for the whole duration of my deployment, as many other have done. Never had any issues, and that's with those panasonic alkaline AA batteries. The only time we took the batteries out was to change them for fresh ones.

It degrades over long periods of time which will cause flickering, delay in tube power up due to voltage bleeding or flat out failure. Nobody can predict when this will happen. Many tubes are still going strong 25+ years later. Like CJ7 said use your tube. A gen 3 tube is far more likely to die from old age decay before you actually use up the photocathode. The seals in the tube also decay over long periods letting air in which cause shading and eventual tube failure (going to air).

Tubes are very well made and durable. Like anything else old age causes components to naturally degrade. My hairline has naturally degraded and I don't have much left.

That answered my question. Thanks Dino!