# how do I figure out what an electronic board is worth?



## ilyaz (Nov 3, 2010)

I have been collecting various boards from different pieces of electronics that I scrapped. Basically, I have four piles:
1. computer motherboards
2. boards pulled from CRT monitors
3. boards from old tube TVs -- some are probably 15-20-25 years old -- and other non-computer electronics like boomboxes etc
4. PCI boards of various types like wireless cards etc
So how do I figure out whether they are worth anything? PCI cards all have gold fingers, so I guess that's good. But what about all the other types? Also, if I do try to sell them on ebay in bulk, do I have to first remove large components like capacitors? Do I cut up the bigger boards into pieces that are more valuable, or do I keep them intact?

Thanks!


----------



## Barren Realms 007 (Nov 3, 2010)

ilyaz said:


> I have been collecting various boards from different pieces of electronics that I scrapped. Basically, I have four piles:
> 1. computer motherboards
> 2. boards pulled from CRT monitors
> 3. boards from old tube TVs -- some are probably 15-20-25 years old -- and other non-computer electronics like boomboxes etc
> ...



The CRT and TV boards you can pull the aluminum and other visable metals and toss the rest.

The mother boards, PCI boards and other slot cards you can pull the visable components you want to process off or save them for bulk and sell to a refiner or buyer.

If you are going to sell them it might be better to leave them whole so your buyer can identify them.


----------



## butcher (Nov 4, 2010)

Do not toss CRT tv tubes, find a recyler who will take them, help to keep the lead out of our enviroment, old tv's are not worth the trouble. maybe just donate tv to good will.


----------



## silversaddle1 (Nov 4, 2010)

I don't understand why you would say to toss anything that can be recycled. Your crt and tv/stereo boards will sell as low grade boards around here. Get you about 10 cents a pound. Not much, but it's better than the landfill.


----------



## Barren Realms 007 (Nov 4, 2010)

silversaddle1 said:


> I don't understand why you would say to toss anything that can be recycled. Your crt and tv/stereo boards will sell as low grade boards around here. Get you about 10 cents a pound. Not much, but it's better than the landfill.



Most people don't have an outlet that they can move material like this. Or salvage so little of the product that is cost prohibative to store. Remember most individuals on the forum are doing this just as a hobby. Anyone doing any volume will find an outlet for this type of material and will not pay attention to the comment. I personaly have not sent any boards to the landfill I keep them for recovery purposes.


----------



## ilyaz (Nov 4, 2010)

Barren Realms 007 said:


> silversaddle1 said:
> 
> 
> > Remember most individuals on the forum are doing this just as a hobby. .



I am one of those people. I am fairly new to this and still need to figure out what is the most profitable to scrap in terms of both $ and time, given that I have a day job and a family, a small yard that I do not want to turn into a junk yard and a station wagon that can only haul so much at a time. 

Our city has a very serious recycling program: my recycling bin on a trash day has more stuff in it than my trash bin. They do electronic pickups once a month if you request one, except I don't know what they will tell me if I start giving them dozens of tubes or piles of boards at a time.


----------



## Barren Realms 007 (Nov 4, 2010)

ilyaz said:


> Barren Realms 007 said:
> 
> 
> > silversaddle1 said:
> ...



They will possibly not take the tubes as they are possibly just set up to deal them off to another collector as whole TV's. When you take the TV's and monitors apart they become your resonsability, it would be better to take the back cove off and remove the copper yoke and possibly the circuit board if you want to deal with it and then put the cover back on nd deal it off to them.

If you try to just send in the boards they will possibly not take them becuase they don't have an outlet for them. This would be because they are set up to deal in the electronic scrap as a whole unit and will not be able to move the boards.


----------



## ilyaz (Nov 4, 2010)

Barren Realms 007 said:


> it would be better to take the back cove off and remove the copper yoke and possibly the circuit board if you want to deal with it and then put the cover back on nd deal it off to them.
> 
> If you try to just send in the boards they will possibly not take them becuase they don't have an outlet for them. This would be because they are set up to deal in the electronic scrap as a whole unit and will not be able to move the boards.



Yes, that what I was also thinking of doing. I'll call the city about the boards.

By the way, do you know if there is any possible value in individual components like capacitors etc? I was told a "fisherman's story" about a friend of a friend of a friend who picked up for free an ancient radio unit form some old geezer's garage then smashed it up to retrieve some tubes that were supposedly sought after by some people. My intuition tells me that I might spend way too much time figuring out whether these components are worth anything for any monetary return that I get, but perhaps I am wrong. What's your take on this?


----------



## Barren Realms 007 (Nov 4, 2010)

ilyaz said:


> Barren Realms 007 said:
> 
> 
> > it would be better to take the back cove off and remove the copper yoke and possibly the circuit board if you want to deal with it and then put the cover back on nd deal it off to them.
> ...



Some of the components like capacitors, trasformers, small motors can be used by hobbyist. There are quite a few components on boards that as far as I know that possibly contain gold in very small amount's.


----------

