Large lot of flatscreens

Hi all, I'm new to the forum and have read many of the threads about tvs, but have a question and would love any input. I have acces to about 400 broken flatscreen tvs. I myself have been depopulating circuit boards for gold plating, and other precious metals in hopes to recover it one day down the line. Would you guys who scrap for a living even mess with the lot, or would the boards untouched have any real value? The large majority of the tvs work by my understanding, but none have screens. What do you think would be the best course of action, or would most not even touch the job to begin with?

if they work, i would think the best thing to do is offer them to guys who do TV repairs. if that fails then only do u scrap them

I second msmoorad's suggestion. As scrap the boards inside tvs do absolutely have value. There should be at least two mid-grade boards inside and one power board. On older flatscreens more, on newer sometimes the power board is combined with the logic board. The mounting chassis inside is often cast aluminum and the frame holding the screen sometimes is aluminum as well.

Also Hello! Welcome to the forum from Las Vegas!

Thanks for the thoughts everyone. I will have to look into my local laws, and regulations about tvs. This amount of material could very well keep me busy for awhile, as I do depopulate boards as a hobby, but I understand thats a lot of leftover bits that would need discarded.

Do whatever you can to re-use, re-sell, repurpose. If you are solely taking the TVs to recycle for money, you are wasting your time. TIME IS VALUABLE.

I would run away from them as quickly as possibly. I'm not saying that's what you should do though.

Personally ... i wouldn't touch them but to each their own.

Some of the flatscreens i've seen coming in were simply damaged in transit. The do need to be handled carefully. It's very easy to break the screen. The circuit boards are perfectly good since they've never been used.

There's a market for those circuit boards. They seem to list for around thirty dollars or so when you're looking for them on ebay. Figure three boards per unit and that's a potential of 90.00$ each.

That's quite a bit more than the few dollars in scrap value that you would get out of them.

here in South Africa theres lots of guys advertising on Facebook Marketplace that they buy boards from flatscreen TVs. it doesnt matter if the screen is cracked bcos they use the boards to repair other TVs with good screens but bad boards.

Originally Posted by msmoorad

here in South Africa theres lots of guys advertising on Facebook Marketplace that they buy boards from flatscreen TVs. it doesnt matter if the screen is cracked bcos they use the boards to repair other TVs with good screens but bad boards.

With the USA and our "throw away" culture, I feel like people dont really repair things like TVs any more. TVs are so cheap now that you'd probably spend just as much in repairs as to just get a new TV.

on walmarts website, you can get a brand new 32" TV shipped to your house for $100, a 43" TV for $200.

And since nowhere TAKES tvs by me for free, there is always a bunch of them listed for free by me in perfect working condition just cause people may get new ones and not know what to do with the old ones.... and even then they dont always get taken. Literally cant give TVs or computer monitors away by me.

BUT there is definitely still a market for the boards on eBay and such, especially if they are name brand. Still, does not work out for me though with all the left overs, but worth a try if you've got a disposal method.

I've had fairly good luck repairing quality wide screen tv's for my own personal use. The power boards tend to blow capacitors around here because the electricity frequently tricks in and out during storms.

Anyhow ... thirty bucks spent for a TV that retails for over 600.00$ works for me. A penny saved is a penny earned.

Originally Posted by kss

With the USA and our "throw away" culture, I feel like people dont really repair things like TVs any more. TVs are so cheap now that you'd probably spend just as much in repairs as to just get a new TV.

on walmarts website, you can get a brand new 32" TV shipped to your house for $100, a 43" TV for $200.

And since nowhere TAKES tvs by me for free, there is always a bunch of them listed for free by me in perfect working condition just cause people may get new ones and not know what to do with the old ones.... and even then they dont always get taken. Literally cant give TVs or computer monitors away by me.

BUT there is definitely still a market for the boards on eBay and such, especially if they are name brand. Still, does not work out for me though with all the left overs, but worth a try if you've got a disposal method.

I've been wondering what the deal is with the screens themselves. They just seem to be individual sheets of plastic layered over one another. Is there anything about the sheets that is a hazard ?

Have to ask .... because i honestly don't know K.

Originally Posted by hills

I've been wondering what the deal is with the screens themselves. They just seem to be individual sheets of plastic layered over one another. Is there anything about the sheets that is a hazard ?

Have to ask .... because i honestly don't know K.

I also do not know. I have take fully apart a couple too and yea it literally just looks like a sheet of plastic, with a crunchy plasticy LCD/glass type thing behind it. Not sure if there is actually any hazards in it or not... by dont mess with them too much anyways so not too concerned.... I know older TVs contain mercury, so there was an environmental thing with not wanting to put them in the landfill, but I think newer TVs it more just the bulk of them... but theres probably something bad in them... seems to be something bad in almost everything.

While selling on ebay, Should I just lot all the boards from the working tvs together or do you guys sell each set individually to someone hoping to fix the same tv? Because honestly, that seems like a ton of work.