Why you should strip Power Supplies

Foobar..Glad I'm not the only who uses the hammer to smash an remove copper method. LOL.

Channel locks an a hammer, my two favorite ways to remove items from boards. Probably two of my most used tools. Use the channel locks all the time in regards to low grade, to remove the good stuff, before it goes in the shred pile. Hammer I use every chance I get. Rusted an stripped screws on a cable box? SMASH it. The metal is thin, so will break with a good swing or three. ;) Yes more work but it is fun. I save those kind of things for stress relief. Ha ha! Plastic on front of computers? Whack with a hammer, no more plastic! Falls right off in one hit for me. There's a sweet spot. heh.

Sirscrapalot - Hammering away on things.

My findings: When I did the math, I got about the same return as CTscrapman when I broke them down, so it made no sense to put in the labor. ( Of course, I did chop off the wire)
I have been breaking down telecom power supplies, since they have some HUGE heatsinks.
The best way to get them off: Use an air chisel. It makes short work of it

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Originally Posted by shendog

I'm wondering about your success rate with the power supplies on eBay. Looking at the completed listings for 400w units and the RED (unsold) items outmatch the GREEN (sold) listings 5-1, and the ones that did sell appear to be for specialty items mainly (Apple or Cisco). Just wondering how it has been working for you as I contemplate listing them but don't want to take up a lot of shelf space for months. Thanks in advance for your input.

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I sold 13 in February. I would say 75% of the ones i list sell. Some do take longer than others. If they dont sell after a month I scrap the lower end ones and relist the better ones.

direct-recycle | eBay

directrecycle: Nice eBay postings!!

Good thread everyone! You all process a lot more PSU's than me, I do maybe 10 to 15 a year. I have three that I'm going to break down later today and will see how I do. The good thing for me is I don't pay for anything, but probably not making as much! Looks like there is opportunity to make a little more if you resell the good ones, if you test them. I hope to start selling on Ebay in future so I find this all to be good info. I'll let you know how todays breakdown goes.

I want to add a few things here. The EPROMS, turns out there was only two, the other 8 or 9 were ceramic ICs. They were the big 68 leg chips and I am still not exactly sure what they are for except MAYBE to manage the transistor switching as line voltage goes up and down...I have no real idea.

Anyways. My tools.

I use a
Bosch 12V lithium ion 1/4 bit driver with a magnetic 3 inch extension and #2 phillips bit.
WISS Center (Yellow Handle) Tin Snips
Large (8" shank rubberized handle) flat head screwdriver
mechanix gloves (I've cut myself so many times I wont do it without gloves anymore)
3/4" wood chisel

Step 1: Deconstruct the case, remove board.
Step 2: Snip all wires.
Step 3: Use screwdriver to pry up the biggest Transformer and choke, use snips to free them from board.
Step 4: Break board in half so you can unscrew FETs from heatsink, push a finger on the nut to keep them from spinning.
Step 5: Break off heatsink feet from board, use snips to pull steel tabs from heatsink
Step 6: Depop board of Transistors (FETs) with snips, then with the 2-3 ICs, place board vertical and shove (without fingers or hands in the way) wood chisel underneath the ICs, finish by using snips to pull up the rest of the chokes and transistors.
Step 7: Fan and Brass 110V plug are seperated from tin with the screwgun and that completes the job.

After getting the hang of it on a bench steps 1-7 shouldn't take but a minute, from an employer perspective. I have done 400 of them in a day with beer breaks. I hate to think of doing them every day...but then every day is somethign new to break down it seems.

Step8: Only after completing all PSU depops do you smash all the ferrite chokes and transistors with a sledgehammer in a 55 gallon drum...or concrete..or simply smash them between cinder blocks...they don't take much. The more you smash the easier it is to separate.

Started at 5 pm after working all day, did the breakdown outside (72 degrees), on a bench next to shop. The first two PSU's I removed metal top, fan guard, 115/230 switch, on/off switch, plug receptacle, wire guard shroud, and separated circuit board from case bottom. I then disconnected fan from circuit board. Using my angle grinder, on back of board and around outer portion of board removed 90% of wires. Then started removing remaining wires, transformers, chokes, and coils (anything that has copper). Next I removed brass sockets from the various connectors. I used three containers to put everything in as I worked and will sort later. Metal, wire, transformers, coils, and chokes went in 5 gallon bucket. Switches and socket contacts in 5 Lb. coffee container. Plastic (fluff) into a waste can that gets dumped into recycling can city picks up. I will separate and process the other two containers later, as I have like 20+ categories of scrap. This took less than 10 minutes for two PSU's. Next I did a third PSU a aftermarket 350 watt Allied AL-C350 ATX with SATA connector. Will give those details on a later post. Going to have Ice Cream and play with GF!!!

server power supply's also contain a lot of mmlc's.

My point is this:

I don't pay for scrap power supplies:
They are all free to me.
I simply compared how much I would NET for the supplies when I scrapped them to what I could sell them for whole.
The difference was only a few cents.
There was no advantage to stripping them.

It's the same with smaller gauge wire. If you weigh the insulation and the copper, you don't make any more for stripping the wire.
They simply are paying you for the percentage of copper in the wire.
I learned it from the web.
It is called Optimization.
Do the math & compare it to the price of the complete unit.
If someone can Show Me The Money with standard PC power supplies, please edgikate me!

I got paid .10 per lb. for power supplies last time I went. (I had 667 lbs. a big ole $66.70):o

So, for me, It is worth it to dig into them. If I had a buyer that paid .20 + per lb. I would sell them whole.

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Originally Posted by ParkerFlyer4

I got paid .10 per lb. for power supplies last time I went. (I had 667 lbs. a big ole $66.70):o

So, for me, It is worth it to dig into them. If I had a buyer that paid .20 + per lb. I would sell them whole.

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Sounds like you need to educate your scrap yard. I find that to be a common occurrence. It's not that they are trying to rip you off (or maybe they are), but typically they are just to lazy to think. I have never received less than .20 and as much as .35 in the past. Basically they are paying you shred price for an item that contains copper wire, transformer, extruded, etc. They must have a new classification..."dirty steel"....infected with copper and aluminum lol

The shredder costs money to run...you will not get dry transformer price for PSUs, if you do I've got a truckload to send your way.

I have never gotten more than .23/lb for PSUs, and that's because of those big caps inside it. In Wisconsin, they aren't even supposed to shred those. This doesn't have alot of logic to it since there's nothing toxic in an Electrolytic cap...not since like 197x. But the DNR manages the facility practices for that stuff.

Think about this, I'm all about maximizing scrap. With spare time I will maximize scrap in the order of highest turnover value. That means depop of low value boards is always first, as it can triple or even quadruple my take. Next is stripping hard drives, then opticals, then PSUs... anything not mentioned is already a mandatory strip. If you have employees who are occassionally idle these are the things they should be doing. There is a profit there that's all I'm really saying. In fact I'm going to start asking around for people with free weekends or days off who want to make ten bucks an hour breaking stuff.

I have no outlet to sell whole PSU's yet! I can drive distance but for $.20 Lb. not going to happen, for PSU's weigh 2 to 5 pounds on average with wire still attached. I could breakdown 8 to 10 per hour making $1.00+ per PSU. I plan to work on testing methods and selling better PSU's for $10 to $20 or more (much better). Yes you have to value your time, time is money!

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Originally Posted by bigburtchino

I have no outlet to sell whole PSU's yet! I can drive distance but for $.20 Lb. not going to happen, for PSU's weigh 2 to 5 pounds on average with wire still attached. I could breakdown 8 to 10 per hour making $1.00+ per PSU. I plan to work on testing methods and selling better PSU's for $10 to $20 or more (much better). Yes you have to value your time, time is money!

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I'm in the same boat. I'm just taking it apart for the board/copper/AL because it's easier for me to ship. Would cost a lot more if I did it whole.

Before I forget I'm going to post the results for the Allied AL-C350 ATX 350 watt PSU with SATA connector. This is a complete breakdown of everything I know of and others may have better methods with better payout. The PSU weight was 2 Lbs. 15.34 oz. lets call it 3 Lbs. before breakdown. Tools I use every day at tear down bench, Cordless screw gun with magnetic apex holder with a 6 inch quick release extension, #1 & #2 apex phillips bits, angle grinder with 4-1/2" thin cut-off disc (I like to save my old disc for circuit board depopulating, I'm actually using a disc that's about 3" or less), wire cutters, needle nose vice grips (nuts on back of heat sink), 3 pound hammer, bolt cutters and socket removal tool (brass contacts on connectors). Break the case down first, everything that has a phillips head. Now for the angle grinder, I depopulate the circuit board (I do this outside with a fan blowing dust/fumes away from me - also gloves/safety glasses). From back side of board working from outer edge first, in a circular direction remove wire harness (90% is along board perimeter). I then remove all copper items (transformers, chokes, remaining wire), aluminum heatsinks (with transistors still attached) and power receptacle. What I want off the board is anything that is copper, aluminum or brass. I use Daniels removal tools for the contacts and then cut them off of wire. All the wire goes as #2 insulated, contacts were all brass except for the SATA was (OMG gold SIRS.) and all the plastic connectors go to city recycle bin. I then use needle nose vice grips (just quicker than sockets) and screw gun separating heat sinks from transistors. Aluminum was extrusion grade, transistors (6 total), and nut/screws all go to individual buckets. I then use bolt cutter to cut the tops off of ferrite chokes, ferrite light/tin steel and copper #2 buckets. I use hammer method on transformers (4 total), fast and feels good, copper #2, using a magnet pickup ferrite and sweep up remaining plastic. I also use bolt cutters on power receptacle and the two switches and a little more tin, copper and brass. Heres what it all weighed after sorting: #2 copper 3 1/3 oz. @ $2.80 Lb. = $.60 - #2 insulated wire 7 1/4 oz. @ $.95 Lb. = $.43 - Aluminum Extrusion 3 oz. @ $.65 = $.12 - Brass yellow 3/4 oz. @ $1.95 Lb. = $.09 - Light steel/tin 1 Lb. 5 1/3 oz. @ $.10 Lb. = $.12 Total $1.33 I did't count the low grade circuit board, IC chips (2), transistors (6) or the gold plated contacts. Only because I have not sold any yet! I did save them as I do plan on selling eventually. It took maybe 20 minutes to do all of this, not great use of time, nor good money. It is also not how I normally break things down, My usual PSU breakdown would be less than 5 minutes, with circuit board, wire and connectors going into a bucket for further break down later. I did this for myself, to see just what is there to be made in a PSU! What I learned from this thread and my break down. 1. $1.33+ breaking them down, it takes time and space 2. If I could sell whole minus the wire $.40 to $.60 + wire $.43 = $.83 to $1.03 3. Sell on EBay as tested/good for $15 to $25. Conclusion is breaking down PSU's is not best way to go, but will continue doing so. Only until I find source to sell whole minus wire for $.25 to $.30 a pound. Buy tester to test PSU's and try selling some on EBay. As five of these exact same models have sold in last six weeks. Bottom line you have options make the the best use of what's available to you.

^^ Very impressive! That's the most comprehensive breakdown write-up I've seen to date.

Thanks, Burt. I got one of those testers hoping some of my hundred or so PSUs I've got piled up are good. I'm starting to wonder if the tester is good. Broke one down the other day and kind of discouraged with that, too. So, there they sit.

wow bigburt, thats amazing!

I usually break power supplies down because at 10 cents a lb which is the same I get for boards, I might as well get all the wire, copper and aluminum I can off them which adds up at .25 - .55 cents a lb.

Plus, if I left them I wouldn't be able to sleep knowing I didn't break something down for as much money as I could lol.

I don't even look at reselling PSUs that aren't Sata AND 400 watts...there's a time investment in listing and shipping, which most don't actually consider. I figured it out once upon a time, if my take isn't 20/unit I'm not actually making any money. Just plan for that. Ebay and CL both take time. If I wanted to I suppose I could hire someone to do this for me at this stage but for what it is, I'm doing just fine organizing family events where we all break stuff down and go out to eat afterwards, etc.

How ever you make money at it is what you need to do. Scrap prices are very different from state to state and dealer to dealer. Just plain and simple its who has the better market and who is closer to china that's who will give you the best price on p/s