SMF Breakdown Contest - NEC Phone System

This is an NEC phone system that was removed from a customer site in Jan 2014. It has 2 KSU’s (Key Service Units), 56 digital phones, 1 voice mail system and 1 call accounting system. I had installed a new phone system because the old one had lightning damage and needed to be replaced. The customer gave me the old system and it has been sitting in my garage since…..until now.

KSU's and phones



There were a total of 15 circuit boards. I was able to test them and see which ones are still good. I’ve already sold one 8 port analog station card for $150.00. I’m going to keep 7 to sell at a later date and the other 7 will be scrapped. If I remove all transformers and any large capacitors I can sell them as high grade telecom.



After breaking down 1 of the KSU’s I ended up with 2 backplane boards, 2 power cords, 2 lead acid batteries, 3 aluminum heat sinks and 1 low grade board. This system had 2 KSU’s but I’m only showing the breakdown of 1 because both are identical. The empty KSU will be set aside for now and any metal removed from the phones will be put in the KSU.



Starting at the top right and moving counter clockwise is the ABS and HIPS plastic from the phone, handset and display. Next are the handset and station cords and some smaller wire from inside the phone. There are 6 metal pieces that come out of the handset and a small speaker from inside the phone. There is a low grade and a mid-grade board inside the phone and then there’s the board from the display. It has a thin copper sheet that covers one side and the glass LCD that attaches to the other side. I have two display boards in the picture so you can see both sides. The display boards have a lot of gold plating on them. The last time I sold some they gave me the same price as gold finger boards.



No screws on the handset but a hammer opens them up quickly. Not a lot inside except a transmitter, receiver, two small wires, a modular connector and a metal weight.



Another view of the phone. 7 screws are all that holds this NEC phone together. Any wire inside is put in the #3 insulated bucket. Any gold plated RJ11 connectors are left attached to all of the wires. My yard does not require me to remove any plugs or gold pin connectors. I get paid about the same for them as I do #3 insulated so it’s not worth my time to remove them. The copper sheet from the display has a non-conductive back so it goes in my #2 copper bucket.



Cards from displays



Mid-grade boards



Low grade boards


This is what I have so far.
#3 insulated-20 lbs
#2 copper-2oz
Shred-40lbs
Low grade boards-10lbs
Mid grade boards-15lbs
Backplane boards-2.5lbs
Display boards-1.5lbs
Lead acid batteries-8.5lbs

I still have 2 PC's that came with the phone system. One is a voicemail system and the other is a call accounting system. I don't have them with me right now but hopefully will get them back this week. If time allows I will scrap them also and add the pics to this thread.

Well I was hoping to add to my thread with the Voice Mail and Call Accounting PC's but a friend who was trying to sell them still has them. Nothing really special but as old as they are I'm hoping they have large socket MB's with 486 processors.

I've torn one of those apart before, fun aren't they? When I was living in Iowa I had a contract with Coilcraft of Haywarden. Got the system home and hooked it up. When I turned the power on it sparked and almost caught fire so into the scrap pile it went. Thanks for sharing.

Great breakdown, but I sold one of those for around 300.00 on ebay, and that was without the phones. Always check phone systems for resale.

Edit: Never mind, I see you sold some of the cards already.

Originally Posted by AuburnEwaste

Great breakdown, but I sold one of those for around 300.00 on ebay, and that was without the phones. Always check phone systems for resale.

Edit: Never mind, I see you sold some of the cards already.

I get a lot of these older NEC systems and I keep a few for testing and for possible resale but I scrap a lot of them also. I keep quite a few circuit boards also.