Was wondering about LED ballasts

[Theolderthegolder]

I was wondering if anybody would know if LED ballasts would be better off being sold for scrap if they're used or selling for what they are because they were pulled from my working environment but most of them are visible used and I'm not sure how much scraps in them and they're pretty heavy this ship so... I'm including a couple pictures would I be better off just taking him to the scrap yard breaking them down or what thanks in advance

 

[campbellj46]

That's going to depend on your scrap yard and their pricing. I do better selling them whole, as scrap than taking them apart. My scrap yard pays per ballast based on size, not weight. It's similar to pricing for batteries.

 

[yellowfoil]

Those black heavy ones look like old fluorescent tube ballasts. Those contain copper winding encased in tar and unrecoverable by amateur. Accepted as ballasts in scrapyard.

Those white ones look like electronic ballasts and containing very little value for gold recovery. Accepted as electronic waste in scrapyard. If heavy as black ones, those are fluorescent tube ballasts as well.

LED ballasts are always electronic ballasts and not very heavy.

You have to compare pricing at scrapyard or possibility to resale yourself.

 

[Dirty White Boy]

I bust them open with a hammer and continue with said hammer until the copper winding is out and there is also a low grade board in most of them! The copper gets me motor winding price and I save the boards with my other e scrap until I have a ton to take to the coast!

 

[Darkthirty]

I was wondering if anybody would know if LED ballasts would be better off being sold for scrap if they're used or selling for what they are because they were pulled from my working environment but most of them are visible used and I'm not sure how much scraps in them and they're pretty heavy this ship so... I'm including a couple pictures would I be better off just taking him to the scrap yard breaking them down or what thanks in advanceView attachment 49137View attachment 49138View attachment 49139

The heavy fluorescent ballasts have #2 copper in them. I save them up until winter when it's below freezing, if you don't get a cold winter the freezer works. Lay out a tarp for easy clean up, peel the tin case off with diagonal cutters, then beat them with a hammer. The tar comes off in chunks and is easy to deal with. Haven't messed with the electronic ones...yet. FWIW Elm wood is the same, splits easy below 0 and has good BTU's.

 

[eaglekeeper]

Snip off the wires and sell as #1 and/or #2 insulated wire.... as far as the ballasts, I just take them to the yard as is. Yes, there is copper in them, but you'll find some are a pain in the butt to get apart. Just my thoughts.

 

[galenrog]

Snip off the wires and sell as #1 and/or #2 insulated wire.... as far as the ballasts, I just take them to the yard as is. Yes, there is copper in them, but you'll find some are a pain in the butt to get apart. Just my thoughts.

Agreed.

 

[Darkthirty]

Snip off the wires and sell as #1 and/or #2 insulated wire.... as far as the ballasts, I just take them to the yard as is. Yes, there is copper in them, but you'll find some are a pain in the butt to get apart. Just my thoughts.

Do you throw out Au because Pd is worth more and it's a pain in the butt?

 

[eaglekeeper]

I was only giving my opinion.....It's totally okay if someone wants to take the time to process them.

I save them up until winter when it's below freezing, if you don't get a cold winter the freezer works.

Florida doesn't get that cold and my wife would be pissed if I used the food freezer for this...


On a side note: there's no guaranty that any of them contain Pd...could be...maybe...who knows for sure.

 

[Darkthirty]

I was only giving my opinion.....It's totally okay if someone wants to take the time to process them.


Florida doesn't get that cold and my wife would be pissed if I used the food freezer for this...


On a side note: there's no guaranty that any of them contain Pd...could be...maybe...who knows for sure.

Polychlorinated Biphenyls is the concern with all ballasts, but pretty much inert in a solid state.

 

[zito]

Polychlorinated Biphenyls is the concern with all ballasts, but pretty much inert in a solid state.

PCBs are in the capacitor, the large, aluminum can stuck in the tar. It’s in the cooling oil inside. Don’t break the can open and it’s not an issue, and then drop said capacitors off at the proper place for recycling or disposal. Ballasts haven’t been produced with PCBs for decades now, so it’s rather rare to even run in to them now anymore, at least in my experience. Also, ballasts produced after the PCB ban are marked as such, either “PCB free”, or “no PCBs” seem to be the most common, so if the label on the ballast is still legible, that will tell you either way.

Edit to ad; PCBs aren’t a concern with LED ballasts, only the older fluorescent ones

 

[Darkthirty]

PCBs are in the capacitor, the large, aluminum can stuck in the tar. It’s in the cooling oil inside. Don’t break the can open and it’s not an issue, and then drop said capacitors off at the proper place for recycling or disposal. Ballasts haven’t been produced with PCBs for decades now, so it’s rather rare to even run in to them now anymore, at least in my experience. Also, ballasts produced after the PCB ban are marked as such, either “PCB free”, or “no PCBs” seem to be the most common, so if the label on the ballast is still legible, that will tell you either way.

Edit to ad; PCBs aren’t a concern with LED ballasts, only the older fluorescent ones

What metals are in HID bulbs? The high temps have me curious. One of my salvage sites is loaded with broken bulbs and bases as they're switching over to LEDs.

 

[zito]

What metals are in HID bulbs? The high temps have me curious. One of my salvage sites is loaded with broken bulbs and bases as they're switching over to LEDs

What metals are in HID bulbs? The high temps have me curious. One of my salvage sites is loaded with broken bulbs and bases as they're switching over to LEDs.

I always understood there was mercury in them, in that very small tube right at the base of the bulb, similar to a tiny fluorescent tube bulb. Any intact bulbs I got when recycling the lights, went to Home Depot where they got put in to their fluorescent bulb drop-off program.

 

[tgs772002]

What metals are in HID bulbs? The high temps have me curious. One of my salvage sites is loaded with broken bulbs and bases as they're switching over to LEDs.

The HID bulbs depend on what they are intended to be operated at and when produced. Unless they are marked as no mercury you can guarantee they have mercury in them. Other than that they'll have miniscule amounts of metal salts to alter the resulting color temperature of the arc, and some tungsten alloy electrodes. The bigger industrial size ones that are the older very yellow sodium vapor I'm not too sure about though.

 

[Darkthirty]

The HID bulbs depend on what they are intended to be operated at and when produced. Unless they are marked as no mercury you can guarantee they have mercury in them. Other than that they'll have miniscule amounts of metal salts to alter the resulting color temperature of the arc, and some tungsten alloy electrodes. The bigger industrial size ones that are the older very yellow sodium vapor I'm not too sure about though.

There is a sealed glass rectangle inside the bulb that I've been told has the hazardous metals inside. the igniter electrodes are about 1/8" thick. Not sure of the metal, but I'll spark test some and see if that helps with the identification.