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PostPosted: Fri Nov 06, 2020 9:05 am 

Joined: Mon Sep 02, 2019 12:00 am
Posts: 197
Recently bought 100 plus warehouse light fixture for scrap. Steel with aluminum reflectors and of course copper wire and ballasts. Discovered these had electronic ballasts, a circuit board with multiple transformers capacitors and other analog, and the back side is loaded with the tiny dog size components.
Each board with components weighs in at about 3/4 pound. Drawback? Each is covered with hardened "tar". Which will break off easily when cold but it will not be entirely clean. Will those as shown here be clean enough to sell?


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PostPosted: Fri Nov 06, 2020 11:07 am 

Joined: Fri Dec 20, 2019 3:16 am
Posts: 177
Location: Ohio
Just be careful none of those capacitors contain PCBs; if not on ballast label, it's easily looked up. You should be clear though being electronic.

I remove potting material, black stuff, by light hammer hits with the steel ballast cover on. Flat head for the majority small left over in spaces.

Cut excess wire and looks good to clear.


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PostPosted: Fri Nov 06, 2020 11:12 am 

Joined: Fri Dec 20, 2019 3:16 am
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Location: Ohio
Those AL shields or reflectors sell easy if not dented or bent. I resale the dome and square ones.


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PostPosted: Fri Nov 06, 2020 5:48 pm 
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Looks clean enough.

Leave them alone though, still covered, they tend to go as ballasts at larger steel yards. Which is fairly close in price. May want to look locally and see if it’s worth your time to break them free.

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PostPosted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 8:42 am 

Joined: Mon Sep 02, 2019 12:00 am
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Spence. These "reflectors are extremely thin sheet panels that weigh about two or three ounces each, with four panels per fixture or maybe a hundred pounds of aluminum for the lot of 100 fixtures., which translates into about $20. . They crinkle easily, but are quicly removed by tapping rather than unscrewing, and with the ridges, don't flat pack, so that a pickup truck load is only about three bucks or so.
Lost, I did check the prices at a local yard that gives me best prices on most materials, although as you know, some yards have categories they really don't want to deal with, and pay accordingly. They said the electronic ballasts go into the shred, currently at 5 cents per pound, or 10 to 15 cents per ballast (long and skinny, only 2x18 inches) which as you mentioned is a bit more than the board itself cleaned.. The regular ballasts, those with the large copper transformers go whole for 10 cents per pound, which makes selling them whole an attractive proposition. Those wound with aluminum wire coils go into shred with the appliances, etc.
No real market on ebay, which complicates the scheme, as on these couple pallet loads, there are some new in the box so I guess even if I put wheels under them, I couldn't ride them to riches.


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 10:36 am 

Joined: Thu Aug 01, 2019 6:55 pm
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You may be able to try Craigslist, someone in your area might want them.


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 07, 2020 1:47 pm 
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Too bad. I have 7č and 18č as the local rates when I posted that.

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PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2020 5:26 am 

Joined: Fri Dec 20, 2019 3:16 am
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Location: Ohio
I mean as in post or list the panels for resale,not scrap. However, I don't think they're the good ones I was talking about now that you described them


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2020 6:59 am 

Joined: Mon Sep 02, 2019 12:00 am
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Spence, I understood the type reflectors you mentioned, as I have had them before. These are as thin as aluminum baking foil, just a stifffer variety. After spending an hour kicking the ones off a dozen fixtures, I have decided to merely remove the cover, clip the wire and leave the electronic ballast onand the aluminum reflectors on the carcass and send them thru shred/tin The entire lot of 100 would have a little over twenty dollars scrap aluminum value, but the bulk involved would make delivery too expensiveWere I to buy another such quantity, I would haul them straight to the scrap yard, a distance of three miles or so, rather than twenty miles home, process, then twenty miles back.


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PostPosted: Thu Nov 12, 2020 6:06 pm 

Joined: Mon Sep 02, 2019 12:00 am
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Update on the losing proposition: Started stripping some of the light fixtures. Most are coated with black dust so that I look like I am in blackface within minutes. Wasn't making much weight with the copper wire, so I gave up,m loaded the whole units on the truck and off to the yard, where they refused them because they still had the ballast in the fixturee. This smaller yard sells to the bigger yard I had consulted earlier about the electronic ballast and they had said they throw them in shred, but small yard said the same place refuses a whole load if they see a single ballast in the mix. So, back home and beating them loose, saving the wire, and going to use the corrugated reflectors to make a raised panel metal wall covering in the old hay barn. Total weight of the 100 plus units was a bit over 2400 pounds, so in spite of the aggravation, there was a bit of return above cost, if I don't value my time too highly.


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