A good score and a quick question!

Well, a little background here. I work at a convenience store, which shall remain nameless for the time being. I was at work today, and a Camel rep came in and started working on their display, no big deal I thought.

Well I wasnt paying much attention, but I did notice a cut power cord in the trash can right next to me. So I pulled it out and sat it with my belongings (hey scrap is scrap) then I noticed what he was doing....He was pulling out the miniature refrigerators that we keep the Camel Snus in, and cutting the power cord off....I thought "well maybe hes replacing the cord or something"...a little time passed and I started cleaning the fridge off that was laying in the floor (it was reaaaaally dusty) and he goes "oh you dont need to do that, Im going to throw it in the dumpster in a minute" my eyes probably twinkled...literally twinkled.

I asked him if he could just set it on the ground near the dumpster area, and I would get it later, I brought up scrapping when I grabbed the power cord, and mentioned it again after he said he was throwing it away...he said he had to throw it in the dumpster or he would get in trouble blah blah blah. So basically as soon as he came back inside, I had a coworker cover my drawer and went outside and grabbed it.

Then, about 5 minutes later, I had an epiphany! He had already been to the other 2 stores by the same name which are no more than a mile from where I work in either direction...He had done the same thing there! I couldnt wait to get off!

A little late night flashlight dumpster diving later I found...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...ps558ab1fb.jpg

3 Mini fridges that functioned when they were thrown away....hopefully the trip to the dumpster didnt damage them.

I dont know if its because I mentioned keeping it or what, but the one from my store he actually cut the power cord completely off, so I have to tear it apart and splice in something different.

However, on the other two there is an adapter that fits the power cord that was in my trash can....and I need to come up with another, but I have no idea what it would be called? Can someone help me find out what its called? This is what the end coming out of the fridge looks like:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...ps03836329.jpg

Just a two prong cord, that had an end that fits in that hole. I have a similar cord on an old radio at my house, but it doesnt have the tab portion and was slightly larger and wouldnt fit.

I would like to find what actually goes in there, it will make it look better when I hopefully resell them for a nice little profit :)

I saw some had been selling on Ebay for 50 or so shipped. Figured Id ask around 30-40 locally and see what happens. They would hold a decent amount of your favorite beverage, great for a mancave, car or boat. Only uses 2.5amps at 110 so even a small DC inverter would run it just fine in a car or boat.

Just wanted to share with people that would be excited, my girlfriend wasnt nearly as excited when I told her I had literally just crawled out of a dumpster :)

It was really tempting to drive to the next town about 15 minutes away where theres another store of the same kind...but I was less certain I would find what I was looking for there.....very tempting though.

Nice score there Littlehoov. Can't help you on the plug part, but that thing would proabaly sell to a Camel collector, if it still has any product logo on it, which I can't see from the pic's. Collectors buy strange things, even the newer stuff.

Good idea on the man cave, beverage holder, etc!

Good luck on the resale!

Sirscrapalot - Camel's that wear shades are cool.

He was "de-commisioning" them. They're probably doing that at every store

Ahh yeah, that plug. It looks backwards to the ones I've been used to.

I'll bet you could make a toaster/coffee pot cord work with a little modification. The same basic thing is used with certain printers. You have the power pack that sets on the floor with a 18 ga wire with a round plug-in. The other end of the power pack has the main power wire that plugs in, and the end kinda looks like a figure 8.

https://discussions.apple.com/___sbs...18999553-1.jpg

Take the back off you may be able to hardwire a standard cord to it

Oh I know I can wire a regular cord to it, to me its a little strange that it appears the AC cord goes straight into a circuit board without passing through a transformer or anything, but hey, I didnt design it. I just wanted to find something that looked a little more like factory work than a homemade splice job.

I found a few cords similar to what mechanic688 posted, but like the one shown, none of them were polarized...whereas the one I did end up with from the trash can is polarized. I assume I should try to stick with a polarized replacement cord if I can. I think I do have some 3 prong cords that should work fine as well, it just wouldnt have a ground. I could always find something metal in the unit to ground to.

Kinda seems like its a non-standard cord the more I look around. Oh well, a minor setback.

To add to the story, I was speaking to another Camel (or RJ Reynolds I should say) rep today, one that I have a bit of rapport with you might say, and was telling him about the fridges and stuff. He was surprised at how the other rep had behaved and said he had freely offered the fridges from the stores he did to the employees, but no takers. Shame he didnt do our stores..BUT he did say he had a couple of those fridges in storage, and also had more stores to do, and that he would try to save some for me. So I was excited about that, but time will tell if he follows through.

Here is a question. If they were working properly, why does he have to make sure that they get thrown away.

Could it be that there was a recall on that model? Maybe it is a fire hazard? Maybe patching it together will make that fire hazard worse?

Well, they actually dont keep snus in the refrigerators anymore, I dont know if they changed the packaging or the marketing or what. But now the stores keep the product on the shelf at room temp just like chew and ciggarettes. Getting rid of the frig allows them to place a little more product in a given area.

He didnt mention anything about them having any problems other than some units had issues with leaking water. Though I suspect thats probably caused by them never being pulled and thoroughly cleaned. It has instructions on how to remove the back cover and clean the radiator out, etc. But I know we had never done it in the several years its been at my store, and it showed.

I dont know of any fire hazard, but I do know these 3 units have run 24hrs a day for the last several years with no issues. The reason he mentioned throwing them away was insurance/liability reasons....He gives it to me openly, Im stupid and electrocute myself, I might say "well I got it from Joe at RJ Reynolds! Im gonna sue!" or something of that nature.

Big Corporations do things like this all the time. The company I work for is a fairly large corporation, and then having contact with RJ Reynolds, Phillip Morris, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, etc....Ive seen all kinds of perfectly functional things thrown in the dumpster over the years. Only recently did I get a scrapper mindset and decide it wont happen on my watch again :)

Repaired the cord and have one plugged in on my counter running right now, trying to get an idea of how cold they get. The can of snus always felt cold when they came out, but a metal can even at 60 degrees feels cold when the room is 80. I had forgotten they have LED lights across front, unfortunately he cut the wiring on those also except for one. So I may or may not repair the LED functionality. It looks cool in the daylight, and would look even better in a dark mancave.

Well...some disappointing news. Turns out these little guys dont really work all that well. They are not a traditional compressor-driven unit. They use what is apparently called thermoelectric cooling...which in units similar to these is supposed to be good for about 30 degrees below ambient temperature, and thats it.

Thats the kind of results I saw, I keep my house air conditioned to around 80 degrees, and after several minutes of running, the unit registered 50 degrees on my thermometer I had stuck in it. That would be tolerable for drinks, but I hear they also take a long time to cool things like that down. I cant imagine them performing well out on someones boat, in the sun, on a 100 degree day.

Ill see if I can unload them fairly cheap, while being honest with buyers about their performance. If not they do have some scrap value: some wiring, a big slab of aluminum, few transformers on circuit boards, etc.

A little disappointed, but considering they were free, and Im fixing them with power cords I already had laying around. Its not a huge investment. So basically any money I make is profit.

Cig company's are supper rich so it must have originally been set up as a sales pitch to show how fresh snus was.
I think you have some thing good there as if they could fit , it might keep cigars fresh
at a low cost

Lots of places toss out their promo stuff. Reps would rather trash it then see it go to a collector. Lest in my experience with beer and cig reps. I'm telling ya some of that stuff collectors snap up. Whether it's the inflatable miller light bottle, corona lime holder crate, Camel stuff, Marlboro stuff, etc. Camel an Marlboro are huge for people that collect Cig. stuff. Obviously the older the better but the new stuff is good for them also, especially the cigarette collectors, it's becoming harder and harder to find as the rules get stricter on how you can an can't promote things.

I've gotten my hands on stuff like it before from the owner of businesses I always try the collectors first, or as Copper Head said, cigar smokers, etc. Worse case..you got free scrap. ;)

Sirscrapalot - Two six packs of Shiner,99 cent butane lighter,Lucky Strikes and a fifth of Cuervo,ice down that Igloo cooler,tank of gas that oughta do er,’I can feel a good one comin’on - Good One Coming On - Blackberry Smoke

PS - Just for auminer..Yes I changed the lyric from Patron to Cuervo..cause Patron sucks! :p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Copper Head

Cig company's are supper rich so it must have originally been set up as a sales pitch to show how fresh snus was.
I think you have some thing good there as if they could fit , it might keep cigars fresh
at a low cost

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Might be a good idea there, put the sell on them being a cheap humidor for cigars.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sirscrapalot

Sirscrapalot - Two six packs of Shiner,99 cent butane lighter,Lucky Strikes and a fifth of Cuervo,ice down that Igloo cooler,tank of gas that oughta do er,’I can feel a good one comin’on - Good One Coming On - Blackberry Smoke

PS - Just for auminer..Yes I changed the lyric from Patron to Cuervo..cause Patron sucks! :p

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Hey, It's still a song about drinking tequila & skinnydippin with three blondes. That's a good song in my book whatever the brand. ;)

Hey thanks for the ideas about the cigar storage. There are a couple mom and pop smoke shops around here that might be interested in them. Ill have to do some asking around. Im not sure what affect they have on humidity levels, if they dry the air out like a normal frig or what.

I should be able to move them for some price. I figure theres a dollar or two at best in scrap value in each one, so even if I sell them for 5 bucks it beats having to disassemble them.