[Jeffhs]

Another way the instant-on feature was often damaged: Lightning strikes near the power line often shorted the instant-on diode across the switch, locking the latter on; the only way to turn the TV off in this case would be to pull the plug. Many times set owners would actually remove the shorted diode from the switch if they knew what they were doing and where to look (or had a TV service person do it the next time the set was in the shop for repairs), but most of the time, if the set still worked with the diode shorted, most folks just left it alone and turned the TV on and off either by plugging it into an outlet controlled by a wall switch or else simply pulling the plug when the set was not in use.

I never cared for instant-on because of the very nature of the feature--it kept the tubes warm all the time, which actually was a waste of energy; a real irony considering that sets with instant-on were made in the 1970s, during the energy crisis when we were supposed to be saving energy every way we could, rather than wasting it. A point was also made in another post that these always-on tubes were also burning up the tubes' cathodes for no reason that made sense when they were not in use, which could (and almost certainly did) actually shorten the lives of the tubes in the long run. Today's solid-state TVs with remote control and electronic tuning, however, are not completely off when the switch is turned off, either. The CRT or the TV chassis itself are not drawing any current because they are off, of course, but the remote receiver, not to mention the backup supply for the channel memory, are still on and drawing current when the TV power switch is off. Not much (probably well under one watt), but nevertheless the set still draws power. I read an article on the Internet some time ago about so-called "phantom electronics" that are not really off when the switch is in the off position; it's the same thing--there's always a small amount of current going to such systems as memory backups and the like (when backup batteries are not used). Many if not most devices (such as TV sets) with volatile memory systems either have backup batteries or a keep-alive voltage constantly charging a capacitor; the latter is supposed to maintain channel settings and so forth for a certain amount of time after a power outage. Bear in mind, however, that this time frame is usually very small, on the order of a half-hour at most; it is usually much shorter, especially in battery-powered devices. if the capacitor holding the backup voltage is allowed to discharge, the system to which it is connected will immediately lose all its stored information. I have an All for One universal remote control with such an arrangement; if one waits too long before changing the batteries (I think the limit on mine is ten minutes), the backup voltage will disappear and the remote will revert to its default state, losing all information previously set by the user (channel scan lists, macro settings and the like).