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PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 1:27 pm 

Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2016 9:51 pm
Posts: 6
Hello all,

I have a couple of hundreds of pounds of boards to classify. I've been looking at pictures that others have requested identification on. However, I'm still struggling to see patterns. I don't want to post dozens of times with hundreds of photos and hog the forum.

Classifying the mobo's, HD, CD and low grade boards are obvious.

Is there a post with a detailed explanation of classifying high/low telecom and high/mid/low peripheral. 99% of what I have will be in these 2 categories.

Any help before I dive into this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Aaron


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 9:24 pm 

Joined: Thu Feb 04, 2021 2:53 am
Posts: 385
Telecom is for very high grade boards, usually having a lot of IC chips, gold pin connectors, etc. and little junk weight from large capacitors, steel, unpopulated areas (or not populated with valuable materials). I’m not sure how to best describe low telecom, but I would say the gap between peripheral and high telecom (not including mobo and other specific boards), or like very high grade peripheral. https://boardsort.com/telecom.html

Peripheral is better than mid grade but not quite motherboard grade. High peripheral is close to low telecom but not quite. Low peripheral is a bit higher than mid grade but not as high as high peripheral. https://boardsort.com/peripheral.html

Below that is midgrade, which are boards with very few IC chips, junk weight from large connectors with few gold pins, lots of large capacitors, has metal and/or plastic parts that could be trimmed/removed, has heavy transformers or inductors, etc.

Low grade currently pays the same as mid grade, however, it is most brown or tan PCBs with the least value.

Gold cap chip board are boards with at least one gold cap chip on them.


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 10:18 pm 

Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2016 9:51 pm
Posts: 6
I think where I'm the most confused is the difference between Low telecom and High Peripheral.

Based on the images of the peripheral boards, would the board that looks like it came from a cable modem(far right) be considered High Peripheral?
https://boardsort.com/peripheral.html

Is the lower number of capacitors what differentiates low peripheral from mid-grade?

The board on the left of this pic: https://boardsort.com/images/codes/1031.jpg
vs.
The board here: https://boardsort.com/images/codes/1019.jpg


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 10:27 pm 

Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2014 9:44 pm
Posts: 1138
Location: I'm right here :D
Lostinlodos or ccussins or whoever could probably expand on this far better than I (probably correct a lot too). Also, as I'm writing this I see PickleJar already responded with good info.

It's all going to depend on what's in and on the board.

In the board, there are layers to the actual board that will contain copper, the more layers the more copper. I believe I've seen examples of certain boards using more costly material instead of copper but many boards will be plated with tin, nickel, silver or gold (probably other stuff too).

On the board, I won't pretend to know everything that can possibly be on a circuit board but it can be just about anything. At this point you just have to be familiar with the values of the stuff that is there. A large transformer is steel and copper and a lot of weight, this will bring the boards value down primarily because of the steel. A film capacitor is usually aluminum (sometimes not), probably won't have a major impact on a boards grade unless there are a lot or they're large or both. Integrated circuits (currently paying out $7.5/lb) add value to the board. Gold fingers ($40/lb for just the fingers) also add value to a board.

For instance, something like RAM has a bunch of fingers and ICs and usually multiple high quality layers. This is clear by the RAM prices ranging from blanks ($2/lb) to gold fingered RAM ($21.5/lb).

Like you said low grade boards are fairly obvious, but again, brown on one side with little population or population that does not add any value. Power supply boards are heavily populated but have a bunch of insulated wire and aluminum. Brown boards from old televisions are also fairly populated but usually have too much steel or aluminum to get graded up. Brown boards also usually don't have more than a single layer of copper (Lost, correct me if I'm wrong).

Midgrade usually won't be a brown board so basically anything green can at least start as midgrade. If there aren't any ICs or gold fingers or anything else of value then it will stay as midgrade. If the board is full of transformers and capacitors then it probably goes down to low grade. If there are ICs/etc. then the board may bump up to low/high peripheral (this category split is new to me so not sure where that line is). But it sounds like high peripheral still contains cable box board, dvr boards, printer boards and external modem boards so use that as a reference for what a peripheral board has on it. If it's questionable as going high peripheral then just drop it in low peripheral.

High telco is fairly straightforward, you want a board that's got a ton of ICs on it. Low telco gets me in trouble but probably you're looking at a board with a bunch of ICs and maybe a few other components or a bunch of ICs but not completely covering the board.

Backplanes are also fairly simple, and normally don't have much population aside from the gold fingers/pins.

Motherboards, server boards, HDD, CD, Gold fingered cards are again pretty straightforward but there are exceptions that I don't fully understand on these.

Don't be afraid to post a few photos and take a stab at what you think they are. As you get into it, hopefully you'll be right more and more and you won't have to post photos of every last board, just the ones you're not sure on.

_________________
Here to learn more so I can recycle more
My grades are my own opinion and not an official grade from Boardsort


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 10:32 pm 

Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2016 9:51 pm
Posts: 6
Thanks PickleJar and Marked141.

It looks like I'm just going to have to dive in and post a few pics w/ my best guess and learn as I go. Hopefully, it won't take too long to catch on so I don't flood the forum w/ endless posts!


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2021 10:34 pm 

Joined: Sat Nov 29, 2014 9:44 pm
Posts: 1138
Location: I'm right here :D
spaldingaaron wrote:
I think where I'm the most confused is the difference between Low telecom and High Peripheral.

Based on the images of the peripheral boards, would the board that looks like it came from a cable modem(far right) be considered High Peripheral?
https://boardsort.com/peripheral.html


Yes I believe so.

spaldingaaron wrote:
Is the lower number of capacitors what differentiates low peripheral from mid-grade?

The board on the left of this pic: https://boardsort.com/images/codes/1031.jpg
vs.
The board here: https://boardsort.com/images/codes/1019.jpg


Not so much the capacitors but yes. Also, the transformers (rectangular 4 and the copper coil on the steel ring) and the fuses to some degree are what dropped that board to midgrade.

_________________
Here to learn more so I can recycle more
My grades are my own opinion and not an official grade from Boardsort


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 13, 2021 3:33 pm 

Joined: Tue May 14, 2019 11:09 am
Posts: 483
I wanted to comment here so it's easier to search for in the future. Lot's of good info to help grade.


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