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I'm breaking down some light fixtures that I got from a supermarket remodel and I found these long rectangular boxes in them connected to the wires, the boxes are marked "electronic ballast". Would these be considered motors? Should I break them open for copper or try to sell them whole? Should I leave wires connected to them? Thanks for any advice in advance. Sorry I don't have a photograph.
Shred.
They won't take them any other way.
There does appear to be a market for them if you can find a buyer and have the quantity. Appears to be about half the price of small copper transformers.
Scrap Times: Copper Ballasts
Alibaba.com
Theres about 100 gms (2/9ths of a Lb?) Copper wire in each one.
If you want to get dirty you can get better money from them by stripping them.
What sort? Old, encased in tar.
Or Modern, covered in white paint?
From the mess all over me, I'd say tar. I'm so glad I did laundry today. It's all so covered with hard and soft black stuff that it's hard to see what things are in it.
Thanks for the info, I'm not sure I want to open up a batch of these.
do they have tantalum or whatever that stuff is in them, do you know?
Thanks for the links and the other information. I have around sixteen now, but can possible get more, but not a huge number.Quote:
Originally Posted by Midnight
Is the copper the wire wrapped around a spool inside a metal frame? How do you get to it? Hammer time?Quote:
Originally Posted by eesakiwi
The modern ones I pull the backing plate off & use a cold chisle down thru the groove, & then lever the 'C's off with a flat screwdriver, then punch out the squares inside the coil.http://www.okokchina.com/Files/uppic...ballast894.jpg
The coils covered in paint so I bash it & most of the paint falls off & they sell as domestic copper.
The older ones, tar filled, http://www.lighting-gallery.net/gall...l_DSCN4303.JPG
I bash the outer case off or heat it in a fire so the tar softens. Then heat the tar off, then pull the iron core - a long legged 'U' shape out of the coil, the coils covered in tar but cleans up easy like.
Theres other sorts, I have found 3 sorts, but they seem to be just variations of the two.
About 100gms per ballast, the last tar filled ones had a wooden block in one end to fill up space.
And a very thin tar soaked ricepaper inside the coil, when I unravelled the wire the ricepaper fell off, made a huge mess of the place & there wasn't much ricepaper, in volume, after all.
If you think its worth doing, just pull one apart & learn from it & do the rest 'production style'.
Its a dirty job, but I like to get every little bit possible.
I have found the wire in the newer ones is a solid single strand, I don't see that very often.
Hmmm. I would be careful here. I don't have much experience with them but I thought they were considered hazardous. Here's a little clip from this web site on them. Just make sure you aren't poisoning yourself and your family for a few bucks.
"PCB-containing wet ballasts must be handled as hazardous waste. PCBs were banned from use in fluorescent light ballasts in 1978, but many of these older units may still exist and be in use today since their useful life span is typically 10 to 30 years. Ballasts manufactured after 1978 will be labeled “non-PCB” or “contains no PCBs.” If it doesn’t have either of these labels, it should be assumed to contain PCBs and be handled as hazardous waste."
http://earth911.com/news/2007/06/16/...lamp-ballasts/
there is a sign at my yard saying the things they dont take. ballast is marked on there clear as day....
BUT, when i asked the guy who grades my material as i dump it, he told me they take it no problem and that it goes in the shred. whats a guy supposed to think of that? i'm not sure either, but i have about 5 of them in the trunk of my car and they dont really need to move, as i have my hands full with plenty of other scrap right now.
Thanks for that information, eesakiwi. Since the only yard around here that takes steel won't take them,I may eventually break them down. These have a board in them.Quote:
Originally Posted by eesakiwi
Thanks for for that information, wdaddy, these are marked that they don't contain pcbs. Of course, they could have other nasty stuff in them and they have a lot of tar !Quote:
Originally Posted by wdaddy
My yard won't take them and mine are marked as having no pcbs. They have boards in them so I may break them down eventually after I figure out a way to do it that doesn't make such a mess. Thanks for the post.Quote:
Originally Posted by Filthy
The old ones with tar are major carcinogens (cancer-causing). Not sure about the new ones though. I wouldn't even handle them extensively, much less break them down
Find a buyer and let them deal with them is what I say. Some things are just best left to the professionals.
Thanks for that information. These are from 1995 0r 1997.Quote:
Originally Posted by Scrap man
I dotn know about anyone else, but they go in my motor bucket. I get 15c per lb for them./:>
I set the tar ones on a slanted computer side piece with a pan at the bottom set a propain torch under it, the tar runs into the pan. when finnished I throw them in a bucket of Gasoline, they come out as bright and shiney transformers @ .30 per lb. or ready for break down.
My thanks button isn't working, so I wanted to thank you, olddude for giving me some ideas.Quote:
Originally Posted by olddude
oops forgot make sure they are cool before throwing them in the gasolne. :)
Just curious, how much propane do you burn to get the little bit of copper out of them?Quote:
Originally Posted by olddude
not much the tar starts to run almost instantly. other fuels may also be used, like FREE wood.
Interesting side note there. Don't forget about em! I set 4 or 5 on an old pit grill the other day under a wood fire and started to work on some old compressors and plumb forgot about the ballasts. Wasn't no more than 20 feet away. Well, that lil bit of copper was completely burned. Just crumbled away as I touched it. But your right olddude. A wood fire does work great. Just don't get sidetracked yall.Quote:
Originally Posted by olddude
Be Aware that although they are marked NO-PCB, They still have EXTREME VOC, especially if you apply heat.
? VOC please translate.Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenTruckR
Danger of some VOC's is very real but then you have places like California that think that everything is a VOC.
In califonia CO2 is a voc so dont breath.
No just to exhale.
A friend of mine told me to pour the tar after it is melted into any crack in my shop floor. I have about 4 tons of the ballasts right now. A couple more tons and i can pave my gravel lot with the tar...lol
I get .20 per lbs for mine, I wish I had 4 tons that would be 1600 dollars.
I get them all the time from the schools. For me they are one of those things I will set aside and play with this winter when it is cold outside. They stack easy and do not take up much room. You sure do not have to have a lot to get weight.
Last time I checked my yard was paying $0.15 per pound for ballasts.
I do the opposite of olddude. I put them in the freezer over night so the tar gets real solid and brittle. Then I clamp it in my vice bottom side up and peel the bottom off. From there the tar brick will almost fall out of the rest of the cover. Set the tar brick on the cement and a few taps from a 20oz hammer and the tar breaks almost cleanly off of the transformer and the rest of the mess is really easy to sweep up. No soft tar to deal with!
And of course I then go to work on the transformer for that nice #2 copper. :)
theres a place in my area that pays .10-.15 cents a pound for old ballasts(Any).....I do electrical work on the side for a friend he lets me have and haul off the old fixtures I scrap the metal fixture, wiring, and electronic ballast.