Discussion on industrial metering electronics and circuit boards found in heavy duty switch gear.

[Forgeweld]

Hello all, recently I gained access to a bunch of electrical switch gear components as a part of a demo job on a paper machine. I was originally in it for the cadmium silver contact points which has been very lucrative, but I noticed there is a large number of electronics associated with this switch gear that is being demolished that I started collecting as well. Things like electronic relays, solid state relays, air and vibration metering equipment a bunch of other stuff.

With the amount of stuff being thrown away I feel like it's worth my time to educate myself on these components and potentially what's in them.
So I'd like to discuss these questions with the board:
In your experience what is the general quality and yield of industrial circuit boards and components compared to commercial consumer products?
.
What are some potential high value parts I need to keep my eyes peeled for? My first thought was PGM in parts that sense current or vibration, but I'm not really sure what to look for.

Help identifying components pictured below

Thanks

 

[Ohiogoldfever]

You have some nice material there. Fairly easy to identify most of those bits and bobs. Lots of reading material on here that will help you identify everything on those boards.

 

[Twirlwind]

I have allot of high end telecom boards like this one from your 4th picture and the only things i get off them are the yellow blocks( tantalum capacitors) and the MLCC’s among with the IC chips and gold plated pins. I wouldnt even know what the rest is except for the resistors marked with an R before the numbers wich are not really worth the effort for as far as i know.

 

[macfixer01]

There are several items throughout your pictures so I really can’t point out everything. In photo 1 there is a transformer which will contain copper wire, there are a couple black relays on the left side which will have copper coils in them and usually silver or gold-plated silver contacts. There are 13 or so small blue molded MLCC capacitors around on the board, which may contain silver and palladium. Right above those relays are two small D-shaped plastic transistors and there are a couple more above near the top edge of the board. Those may contain some gold plating inside or gold bond wires. Right above the transformer attached to a heatsink there is a transistor (voltage regulator) which has a thick copper tab, and it may also contain some gold inside. Right next to that you’ve got a couple little yellow tantalum capacitors and two more of them further over toward the right. The black plastic chips all have the potential of containing gold bonding wires inside.

The board in photo 2 has a metal-can type IC with gold plated leads and will have more gold inside. Of course there are a couple transistors there also and the gold-plated edge fingers.

The board in photo 4 contains 5 yellowish or amber surface-mount type tantalum capacitors. Note the ones that look very similar but have an Lxx number on the board are inductors not capacitors, and those have no value. There are some little surface mounted MLCC capacitors on the board marked Cxx. Also there are 4 more of the Aromat relays and more of the black plastic chips. Warning- Those chips marked Dallas contain internal lithium batteries, so don’t short them or cut them open.

The board in photo 5 has some larger 16-pin amber colored devices with an RNxx type number. Those are resistor networks and some types may have the potential for some silver and palladium content. There are some more MLCC’s on that board also labeled Cxx. The Rxx parts are surface mounted resistors and may contain some ruthenium.