Job lots of components

[stewmath]

hey guys

I came across a listing on ebay uk for approx 30k components inc lcds, surface mounts, lots of caps and resistors etc for around $100 (£65 - £70GBP). Does this sound like a good deal??

[Bored@Work]

It is a gamble. There could be lots of good and usable parts in it, or it could effectively be special waste only. Even if there are lots of good parts in it, are they sorted or is the whole lot unsorted?

But what about running some numbers? If you need 50 parts per project on average, and there will always be the right parts in the lot (of course there won't), then 30000 parts are enough for 600 projects. If you finish a project per month on average you will have enough parts to build projects for 50 years.

50 years to use up all parts, under the impossible condition that all are usable and exactly fit your project. Hmmm, this is the moment where you should start to get nervous.

Already after 1/5 of the time (10 years) once advanced parts will be hopelessly outdated - if they aren't already now. So plan that you will have to throw away most of the parts, either because they are already unusable our because you won't
be quick enough to use them all up before they are obsolete.

One alternative instead of throwing them away would be to sell them in small lots on eBay. But that is tedious work.

If you can identify $100 worth of good parts in the lot, if you can easily and legally get rid of the rest, and if you can make good use of the good parts before they are obsolete it is a deal. If you can't do that 30000 parts are more of a liability.

[Psi]

Watch out for any really old metal can RF transistors with a kind of powder on the casing.
I'm not sure what exactly the powder is but it's quite poisonous. 

Even just handling it gives you one big headache if you don't wash your hands after.
Took me two headaches to realise what was happening.

Looking at your description of the components it seems to be all new stuff so its probably fine.
As far as i know its only the really old metal can RF transistors that are like this.

[Zad]

You are thinking of beryllium oxide, mostly used in RF power transistors. Usually, but not always, internally.

[Psi]

You are thinking of beryllium oxide, mostly used in RF power transistors. Usually, but not always, internally.

Quite possibly.
I never found out what the stuff was.

[hacklordsniper]

I bought a whole inventory of a fallen electronic components store some time ago and still cant see how would i regret it. I got few thousands $ worth of various power mosfets, various IC-s and passive components for 150 $.

[metalphreak]

Does it list exactly what parts are there?

30,000 parts sounds like a lot, but when you consider there are 5000 resistors on a reel (~$10 worth) perhaps not.

[stewmath]

I can see from the pictures that there is a real of ic's. And 3 - 4 other reals of other capicitors. Plus 2 metal draws full of other components. Leds etc etc. And then loads of other stuff in bags and some liguid crystal displays and so on. It doesnt list exactly what there is, i guess u couldnt with that much.

[ejeffrey]

Passive components are great. Capacitors and resistors don't generally become obsolete.  Mechanical components, if high quality are an even better deal: good switches and pots are expensive.  Simple semiconductor devices -- LEDs, diodes, power transistors are not going out of style any time soon.

With ICs it is more of a gamble.  There are some jellybean parts like opamps and regulators that will probably be useful, but the shelf-life of a microcontroller is limited, and a special purpose IC like a graphic LCD driver even more so.  If you happen to work on a project where you have just the right specialized part, it will be great, but if the whole lot were spools of 500 each of a bunch of specialized ICs, I wouldn't take it for free.  Also keep in mind that for things like LCDs and LCD drivers you may not even be able to get the documentation for the part -- if you can even identify it.  There may also be required components missing that you can't get in quantities less than 1000.

In the end, as long as you have a cheap and legal way to dispose of parts you can't use (assume it all contains lead), it is probably worth the $100.  Of course, if sorting through a pile of 30,000 pieces of random electronics junk looking for the hidden jems is not your idea of a good time, just buy what you want from digikey or ebay.

[stewmath]

This is the info from the listing:

<sub>1 cabinet with 20 drawers full of electronic components, please note that 1 drawer is missing

The majority of parts are new ROHS compliant  and Old New Stock; some still in bags, there may be odd used ones as well.

I do not have the time to list detailed contents so please examine the pictures for contents. What you see is what you get.

Just short list of what is there

There are 28 reels of electronic components of assorted SMD Resistors, Ceramic, Electrolytic Capacitors and semiconductors.

Quite a few parts from old Tandy stock

 

Transistors - more than one thousand, of different types, including MOSFETs

Diodes, Zener diodes –around 7000

Logic IC's

Capacitors – electrolytic, ceramic and polyester types

Electrolytic capacitors- several thousands

Resistors of many types, several dozen thousands

IC Voltage regulators

Plugs and sockets

PCB mount Inductances

Power res

IC sockets

Fuses of several types

Brackets for mounting electrolytic capacitors

AC power transformer</sub>

[hacklordsniper]

Can you point us to the listing ?

[stewmath]

yes sure, this is one thats recently started but ive seen others from the same seller in the past go for around £70

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=20kg+components&_sacat=See-All-Categories

[hacklordsniper]

yes sure, this is one thats recently started but ive seen others from the same seller in the past go for around £70

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=20kg+components&_sacat=See-All-Categories

It seems there is alot of passive components (like resistors) but its worth 50 quid...