Gold Tip Connector Ends

[rca987]

Just for clarification...

These aren't ONLY gold plated ends visibly, correct?



For instance....USB, printers, IDE cables are gold tipped ends as well?

What about Male or Female? Both gold tipped, or just one or the other?

[ComputerScrapper]

USB, printer and IDE cables are normally gold plated. I have found some IDE cables in the past that are not gold plated. I have never seen a USB end that is not gold plated but I am sure that they exist somewhere. When it comes to male or female it really depends on the kind of end you are talking about.

I usually check my IDE cables. I just bust them a little bit on the end to make sure that they are gold plated.

[parrothead]

We need to get some pictures of the types of ends that are good. If any buyers see this, please educate us a bit with some samples.

[PartTimeScrapper]

Im sure it doesnt matter maleor female ends as long as they are gold plated. I clip the wires of my ribbon cables too and throw the connectors in the bucket.

[ComputerScrapper]

We need to get some pictures of the types of ends that are good. If any buyers see this, please educate us a bit with some samples.

As a buyer myself it is rather difficult for a complete education course on this topic because it depends on who the buyer sells the material too. Some buyers do not want phone cord or ethernet cord ends but my buyer does take them.

We generally accept any kind of cable end that is gold plated and honestly it can be difficult to determine sometimes if something is gold plated or not, especially in the IDE cables like I mentioned above.

[easyrecycle]

As a buyer myself it is rather difficult for a complete education course on this topic because it depends on who the buyer sells the material too. Some buyers do not want phone cord or ethernet cord ends but my buyer does take them.

Its hard to explain...an not to easy to show...but rule of thumb...if it looks gold..it will pass as gold cord end...phone cord ends are no good but cat5 are good.

Some buyers will not buy the IDE ends. We will not buy them because we do not have the time to check them, so if we can see "yellow" its good. USB cable ends are good as 99% are all gold plated.

Take note to trim them GOOD tho...if you leave to much wire on it..the price of the ends will drop big time as the ends will need to be cleaned up at some point or time due to the fact that there will be more "trash" in the refining costs. Trim them as close to the end as you can.

[ComputerScrapper]

Out of all the elements of e-scrap I think gold ends are probably the most difficult to explain. We get multiple questions on them each day and many times there is no easy answer to the whole thing. I tell most people to avoid keyboard and mouse connections because they are rarely gold plated. Your older style printer cables are almost always gold and when you get into higher end computers, like for the gamers, you will even find gold plated ends on power supply cables but those are pretty rare.

I honestly do wish that there was an iron clad list that could be provided but there are so many factors that have to be considered.

P.S.- Power cords are not gold plated, they are brass....I usually add this to all communications when dealing with customer questions. The brass gets a little dull in color and can resemble gold in poor lighting situations. I can't count the number of times that I have received a package with hundreds of power cord ends just to tell the customer that they have sent the wrong stuff. I still buy them but for no where near the price of gold ends. Our local yard buys them as dirty brass so they are worth a little bit of money.

[easyrecycle]

I have had the power cord ends as well in my gold end box...but as he said....there really no list that can be posted...its something you have to check...it only take a sec or two to check them.

[newattitude]

but brass looks like gold and vice versa. To me anyways. The computer cable ends I've seen look the same color as where the memory sticks and cards plug into the motherboards and those are not gold as I've been told by e-waste folks so you can see where the confusion comes from. I just assumed the ends were brass like any other plug end. *shrugs*
rocket science to some maybe but not to others.

[PartTimeScrapper]

but brass looks like gold and vice versa. To me anyways. The computer cable ends I've seen look the same color as where the memory sticks and cards plug into the motherboards and those are not gold as I've been told by e-waste folks so you can see where the confusion comes from. I just assumed the ends were brass like any other plug end. *shrugs*
rocket science to some maybe but not to others.

Who told you that. I thaught all pci,isa,agp,ram,ide slots on motherboards where gold plated? I could be wrong but that was my understanding. Why bother gold plating the cards that go into that slot and not the slot itself?

[newattitude]

I don't recall who told me that and I was saving them because I thought they were too. You're right I would think, gold on the ends should plug into gold plated slots right? I dunno, some of this stuff is confusing.

[Mechanic688]

ata sockets,,
ata connector,,
printer cable ends,,
usb cable ends,,
ide flat ribbon cable,,
I hope this clears some of it up.

[rca987]

Thanks Mech.

[Mechanic688]

Just a little more, Round IDE Cable,,
Memory Board,,

[PartTimeScrapper]

Dont forget about the monitor cables too.

[mhlyons]

What about ribbons that are pulled from printers? What are they made of?

[newattitude]

THANK YOU Mechanic! So, if it looks yellow colored its gold coated/tipped and not brass then.

[Mechanic688]

It can be a little confusing but the gold ends seem to have a lighter color to them than the brass ends. Look at one of those cables and compare side by side to, say a phone cord end or a computer power cord. Here is another that I forgot to add,,, If your talking about the ribbon inside of a printer, I think that will be silver plated inside the ribbon, but I'm not 100% on that.
CAT 5 CABLE END

[trashmaster]

As a rule of thumb,,,--- Gold will conect to Gold ,,,,,On your flat ribbon cable ends 99.9% of them will only be spot plated only where the Gold connects to Gold ..

For your power supply cords and such ;;; I heat up around 5 gl. water on the ol turkey cooker , to less than boil and heat the ends (use safety here) using long tongs I reach in get a plug and use pliers to pull out the BRASS ends. Yuo don't have to use a turkey cooker you can do small amounts on you stove top....

hope this helps

[rca987]

For your power supply cords and such ;;; I heat up around 5 gl. water on the ol turkey cooker , to less than boil and heat the ends (use safety here) using long tongs I reach in get a plug and use pliers to pull out the BRASS ends. Yuo don't have to use a turkey cooker you can do small amounts on you stove top....

Good idea. I usually put a pair of channel locks on the rubber and use dikes to pull the brass out. Fairly easy.. I'll grip the brass, then sort of bend it over the side and it pulls the copper out with it.