# computer power supplies? scrap value?



## Exibar (May 11, 2008)

Hi guys!
Has anyone sold any computer powersupplies to salvage yards? ow much per pound did you get for them? Did you have to strip them compeltely first?

thanks!
Mike B


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## donald236 (May 11, 2008)

are you talking about the power supply box inside the tower ? if you are then you'll need to strip them first there good for several things . first being aluminium , some copper (not much at all ) then the steel oh and of course the coated wire . now for the aluminium you'll get around $0.75 per pound, copper will bring $2.50 per pound , coated wire will bring around $0.50 per pound and lastly the steel will bring around $8.00 per hundred pounds 
i hope this helps you out 
Donald


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## silversaddle1 (May 11, 2008)

Last load of them I hauled in they gave me .30 cents per pound, as-is. Now you can tear them apart and separate out the different metals, but it's harly worth your time unless the power supplys are from huge racks.


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## Exibar (May 11, 2008)

Thank you both for the replys!

.30 a pound isn't too bad at all... as is without having to strip everything out.
when you guys strip the PSs, do you just go in with clippers and clip away? and throw the cases into one pile, the wire in another and the rest in a third? 

Coated wire, is that insulated wire or epoxy coated?

Steel over here in Mass is getting $200/ton, and I have a crapload of equipment I just picked up from someone's house. A whole roomfull  Took me two full loaded trips in my Avalanche to haul it home, you guys should have seen the look on my wife's face too... I'm sure y'all have seen it before though!

thanks guys!
Mike B


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## donald236 (May 12, 2008)

just clip , clip away till your hearts content . just make sure that the aluminium is clean and by clean i mean that theres no steel or any thing on it other wise they will conceder it arny . meaning its goy steel on it . 
coated wire is just how it sounds coated . in other words its just like any thing that you wold plug in to a wall and you cut the cord and sold the cord as is thats coated wire.    
i hope this helps 
donald
p.s. pm sent


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## tyoon21 (May 13, 2008)

Exibar you may want to check out this website. It talks about the componets on a power supply from a computer tower.

http://www.c-realevents.demon.co.uk/comprecyc/comprec.htm

Basically, here is what I do with power supplies:

1. Clip the wires (copper) 
2. Save the connector (not sure what to do with these yet)
3. Discharge and remove all capacitors.
4. Remove the transformer and save. Some scrap yards will pay 0.30 per pound for these alone.
5. Remove the filters and check for copper wiring. If there is some on there i'll remove it and save. Otherwise they go into a large pile in which I don't know what to do with just yet
6. Remove the aluminum heat sink if there is one and sell as extruded aluminum (make sure it's clean)
7. Save the case and screws for steel

I don't know what to do with the capacitors and the remaining board just yet. I heard the capacitors have aluminum in them but it's not confirmed. 

Hope this helps, cheers!
Tom


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## Exibar (May 13, 2008)

excellent stuff all! Thank you very much.

That's pretty much what I figured, but just wanted to check in with y'all to make sure I'm not missing something in them 

right now I have two 55 gallon drums full of PSs from that huge pickup I did this saturday.

My son and I are having an absolute blast going through it all 

thanks everyone!
Mike B


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## Rag and Bone (May 22, 2008)

Got paid 25 cents a lb. for a load of power supplies. Anybody else doing any better?


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## donald236 (May 22, 2008)

yes you'll get a lot better if you seperate all the stuff like wires , steel etc.


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## Exibar (May 22, 2008)

I've started to separate out all the parts from the power supplies. I'll take pictures tonight of what I get out of one supply and ask for comments from the experts.

One question, what about the large capacitors? Are they worth any scrap value?

What are ppl getting per pound for the transformers too?

thanks guys!
Mike B


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## Rag and Bone (May 22, 2008)

donald236 said:


> yes you'll get a lot better if you seperate all the stuff like wires , steel etc.



I see that method as doing alot worse, once you factor in the time it takes to dismantle everything. It was 800 pounds of power supplies.


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## Exibar (May 22, 2008)

Here are the pics of a typical powersupply teardown for me. If the experts here could chime in and comment on what I've done and if I can improve please let me know.
Is there any further breaking down that I have to do for anything in thelast pic? 
Anything else that I should save? 

not counting the time it takes me to break the stuff down, is it really worth the effort in money gained at the scrap yard?

Thanks all!
Mike B


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## Platdigger (May 22, 2008)

Well, if your time is worth nothing, then I supose it would be worth it.
But 30 cents a pound whole sounds pretty good to me.
Randy


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## Exibar (May 22, 2008)

It's not that my time has no value, its just that I look at this as a hobby. The time I spend pulling these things apart is all relaxation time, and time I spend with my son, so it's quite enjoyable time 

But, I also want to make sure I'm doing the right thing. If I'm going to go through the trouble of pulling these things apart, I want to make sure that I maximize my gain at the end and not hurt my gain at the end.

Mike b


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## Platdigger (May 22, 2008)

Well, I am sure the "gain" is not a whole lot. But, you haven't hurt your gain either. You should be able to get a bit more for your transformers, and of course the wire and Al is now worth more per pound. Iron is way up, so, if you had thousands of these to do it could be way worth it.
The only thing I am not sure about is the boards with nothing more than capacitors and such left on them. But I will speculate that they will even give you something for these at the scrap yard. As long as you have enough of them. If nothing else they should just take them for nothing.
Randy


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## Scott2357 (May 22, 2008)

Some electronics folks on ebay might buy the ferrite donuts in img1655 to tinker with. They are made compressed iron powder.


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## Exibar (May 22, 2008)

should I take the copper wire off the ferrite donuts? they certainly are quite heavy


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## Scott2357 (May 22, 2008)

I would try to segregate iron, copper, aluminum, etc. and recycle as sufficient quantities accumulate. The ferrites can be used to filter line noise interference in electronic equipment. Just loop a power cord once or twice through the hole. Also used to make your own high frequency transformers.


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## Rag and Bone (May 22, 2008)

If somebody has the time...

You might dissasemble an average power supply and segregate all the components. Weigh each type and see what the actual value of the entire power supply would be at spot. It wouldn't be hard to create a spread sheet to know the value of a PS at any given time.


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## Exibar (May 23, 2008)

I'll hapily do the weighing, if someone else can put a price to the separated items weighed out.

I have the perfect scale for it too, 2kg max scale, with .1oz increments (or .1gram if desired).

I'll try to get this done tomorrow when I get home from the office.

Mike B


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## donald236 (May 23, 2008)

if you want to know more about this (PM) me and i'll explane it to you because i have done tons of these and i know what i'm talking about .


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## Exibar (May 24, 2008)

Here's the breakdown from a typical PS unit (250w):

Total weight before stripping: 37. 4 ounces

Leftover junk (caps, circuitboard, etc)----------5.1oz.........$0.00
Aluminum -----------------extrusions----------2.1oz.............$0.12 .91/lb
insulated copper wire: ----CU insulated?-------5.1oz.......$0.35 1.10/lb
Transformers: -----------motors?---------------3.7oz..........$0.05 .22/lb
Coils and ferrite core: -------iron?--------------2.0 oz.........$0.01 .10/lb???
leftover steel: --------------scrap steel---------15.9oz.........$0.10 200.00/ton
FAN-------------------------------------------------2.6oz
AC plugs and switch ------------------------------0.6

grand total of a PS separated into components is.................$0.63
grand total of a PS NOT separated is.................................$0.58 .25/lb


prices came from here, and was a best guess effort fo rthe type of metal, trying to error on the lower side: http://www.recycleinme.com/scrap_prices/scrap_metal_prices.aspx

Anyone have any more accurate pricing for the comonents? It's looking like it's not worth the extra nickle per powersupply to me..... although I really had no idea how to classify the ferrite core/copper wire coils.... that would make a difference for sure....

thanks all!
Mike B


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## Scott2357 (May 24, 2008)

As for the ferrite cores, with the copper wire intact, they are classified as toroid or toroidal transformers.


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## Exibar (May 24, 2008)

cool, thanks 

What about the Transformers? the closest thing I saw was Motors, and I know that can't be right


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## clwp (Jun 3, 2008)

couple whacks with a hammer and that ferrite core crumbles. Just pull each side of copper wires and it usually falls out with no effort. ferrite core can still be thrown in with scrap steel. same with the yellow wrapped transformers/motors just pound them and out comes copper. This job usually goes to my 12 yr old because he loves to destroy things.


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## Rag and Bone (Jun 3, 2008)

Exibar, Nice work on your breakdown stats.


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## tyoon21 (Jun 4, 2008)

Looks like people are selling the ferrite cores on Ebay. Not sure how anyone would be able to classify the ones you salvage from powersupplies. Maybe worth a shot.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Ferrite-Core-TDK-H5C2-10-pc_W0QQitemZ220240463068QQihZ012QQcategoryZ1502QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


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## tyoon21 (Jun 4, 2008)

Exibar said:


> cool, thanks
> 
> What about the Transformers? the closest thing I saw was Motors, and I know that can't be right



The transformers sell as a separate catagory. Around here we get around $0.30 per pound. 

Also, if you really want to get every ounce of scrap you can take apart the actual fan. When you separate the fan blade from the interior spindle you can find a small copper coil. Maybe this can go into the motor pile? I'll try to post a pic next time I tear into one.


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## istari9 (Jun 5, 2008)

I was taking apart the fans for a while, then tried to separate the copper strands. Way to much work for sure. If you can sell them as motors all the better. I do find the motors a bit easier to disassemble. Those I still do separating the copper from the steel and plastic.

Ray


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## fixinator (Jun 5, 2008)

Our local scrap yards here in SW Michigan class coils and transformers as electric motor scrap and buy at the current price for motors. Currently that is about .25/pound.

Fix


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