HEY DONT THROW AWAY THOSE BROKEN PC's PSU TOO!

[dukie]

I've been reading the recycling of light bulbs in this forum and remembered that i already salvaged 2 of my broken PC's PSU!so i opened this thread to shared some of my experience in salvaging broken PC power supply unit. i didnt build any guitar effect completely out of it yet since im just salvaged it for spare parts. it is always nice to have some spare components to use when suddenly you need some resistor or caps in the midlle of a bulid at 3 AM   
i wonder why dont i just build a guitar effect straigth from it? i didnt realize it until i read the light bulb thread by dragonfly recently.
these are some parts in just one PSU..

- at least 3 medium/mini transformers(got this serials in the two mini trafo YX EE-16-A, YX EE-19-3B anybody can find a usefull project for this trafo's?using it for bass brass maybe?  )
- 3 medium toroid coil and 2 small toroids (how do you measure these thing because no marking on them?usable for wah pedals?)
- 5 to 8 102, 103, 104 ceramic and mylar caps
- LM339N chips
- 3 to 5 TL431 proggammable precission shunt regulator transistors
- 3 to 5 C1815 general purpose NPN transistor (low noise with minimum hFE 70 and max hFE 700.its a high gain and you can build sick metal fuzz out of it! )
- 5 1uF Electro Caps and a few high value elco caps (220 to 1000uF)
- 1 big red 105 mylar caps
- 6 power transistor with big heatsink on it!
- 1 PC817 photocoupler chip
- and whole lot of resistors range form 100 ohm to 1M!

these PSU are cheap here in indonesia, around $7.5 each and because of the cheap price they broke after 4-6 month!so i got my self 2 of them laying around while years ago i used to throw 'em away (what a waste!) 

I'll post some pic after i got my self a digital camera.
and now i just remember that i have a broken motorcycle CDI ignition unit and think to salvaging it too (if i can somehow remove the rubber epoxy that covers it  )

anyone have any idea to use those parts for other guitar pedals instead of fuzz?

so lets build a guitar effect from salvaged stuff!

Cheers!

[Scruffie]

Not bad... especially when like me you have about 3 old computers in the attic and countless spare PSU's (if you can't count to about 7)... I may investigate this.

[Electron Tornado]

A while back a defunct computer PSU provided a capacitor that helped me finish a pedal. In fact, most of the components on the board were extra parts or parts taken from broken electronics.

Defunct electronics are an excellent source of spare parts. Removing them also provides some experience with desoldering. I have an old computer monitor that I would like to salvage for parts, but I just don't know what to do with the tube. I don't want to just put it in the garbage, but I don't have any use for it.

[Paul Marossy]

I've also been known to cannibalize old computer PSUs.

[liddokun]

The parts are useful, but I find the old enclosures are useful for building small amps into as well.

[dukie]

Not bad... especially when like me you have about 3 old computers in the attic and countless spare PSU's (if you can't count to about 7)... I may investigate this.

well yeah i used to have 5 broken PSU in a year but i throw it all away   right now im calling a few friend of mine that had broken PC's to ask them for the PSU  
you may have different list of components in your PSU than mine though, but thats make it more interesting isnt it?and you got 7 of it!

go open your treasure chest man!

btw forgot to mention about so many diodes in it too like 1N4148, zener and some rectifier diode.

A while back a defunct computer PSU provided a capacitor that helped me finish a pedal. In fact, most of the components on the board were extra parts or parts taken from broken electronics.

Defunct electronics are an excellent source of spare parts. Removing them also provides some experience with desoldering. I have an old computer monitor that I would like to salvage for parts, but I just don't know what to do with the tube. I don't want to just put it in the garbage, but I don't have any use for it.

yes its true about the defunc electronic and im just realize that i also have a broken 14 inch monitor and some canon printer up in the attic!those broken electronic are my next treasure chest to open!thanks for mention it man!  

I've also been known to cannibalize old computer PSUs.

well lets hear your experience with it Paul, im sure it will be interesting!

cheers!

[Scruffie]

Lol I would open my treasure chest... but i'm actually quite drunk so climbing up a ladder into an enclosed space full of spiders does not sound like a good plan but when tommorow arrives.

5 Broken a year christ lol, I just have alot of PSUs from random old computers i've ended up with for one reason or another and stripped for parts for any of the computers in my house that may die in future.

I wonder what i'l get... knowing my luck nothing and they'll be surface mount (although when I harvested some old radios I came out very well mullard OC a plenty...)

My 90's found in an garage 28" TV's about to break aswell (pictures been squashed in, sound is muffled for no reason, turning purple and randomly resizing for about an year now, have to Fonz it to get it to work) so that'll hopefully have something good in it considering it's size... lemme know how your monitor goes

[edvard]

from the other thread:

The cases can be used to house small tube amps or other tube projects.
The toroids are excellent for building a Joule Thief or two:
http://www.evilmadscientist.com/article.php/joulethief
I made one and housed it in a small plastic case from Radio shack.
The circuit will easily power two white LED's from 1.5v

hi edvard,
if those toroid can be used to light a led until the battery completly dead, i wonder if they somehow used in a battery powered stompbox so the battery can be use until its really really dry?because some stompbox like my 4049 based distortion mod really power hungry its suck battery dry very fast, but when im using the used battery im my fuzz its still ok. well thats just my crazy idea after too much reading of evil mad scientist dot com articles

Hmm, never thought of that but my first reaction is 'probably not'.
First of all, the basic operation is as an oscillator, specifically some sort of multiplying square wave with at most 50% duty cycle.
What that means is that it is only using the battery 50% of the time at a frequency you can't see, and as long as the battery has juice enough to oscillate, it'll throw enough current into the LED's to light them up.
That's why it works for a flashlight, but not directly for an effects pedal; at 85Hz you can't see your monitor flicker, but you can sure hear it when you're practicing with the monitor on.
Why this might not work as a power supply? You'd need a very large filter to take out the AC component and even then it might not give you enough current to operate your 4049.
Who knows? Look up some articles on power supply filtering and see what you come up with.

[SpencerPedals]

I've taken apart 3 pc's and 2 tv's in the past year or so.  You'll get some decent input/output caps out of them and lots of wire.  And various other things sprinkled in.  TV's have a few very high voltage ~1.3uF film caps and almost always have carbon comps where the tube is, even if they're new.  I've made it a point to take apart anything broken and electronic lately and with a general transistor and electro cap order from Mouser, I have a library big enough to build a lot of pedals without special ordering.  It's also very convenient when the breadboard is out because you have a palette to work from.

[Scruffie]

I've taken apart 3 pc's and 2 tv's in the past year or so.  You'll get some decent input/output caps out of them and lots of wire.  And various other things sprinkled in.  TV's have a few very high voltage ~1.3uF film caps and almost always have carbon comps where the tube is, even if they're new.  I've made it a point to take apart anything broken and electronic lately and with a general transistor and electro cap order from Mouser, I have a library big enough to build a lot of pedals without special ordering.  It's also very convenient when the breadboard is out because you have a palette to work from.

I'm guessing seeing as my TV is @#$%ed the caps are dry... but the carbon comps is nice to know, aslong as they have decently long leads left.
If you get old Tv's there sound cards can have some nice germaniums too...

[JKowalski]

Man I just did this the other day, i could have taken pictures.

I got a similar stock from mine.

It's funny, because that same day I was looking for a pair of 220uF caps with 30V+ ratings, and a 1 ohm power resistor. Both happened to be in the PSU.

[km-r]

C1815 cant reach hfe of 700 right? might be defective/leaky?

i collect busted CPUs from friends. i like salvaging some power schottkies...
also, power highV caps.

its just a time-pain desoldering components.

[doitle]

This is what I've always done. I've got boxes of assorted random parts because I never throw away an electronic, only empty PCBs and plastic cases I go through tons and tons of solder braid and get all the parts I can off them. Most recently I just desoldered all the parts in a CB Radio. I got a ton of tuning caps from it and also two little transformers that I need to investigate. There are parts everywhere. I also grab any electronics I see tossed to the curb and desolder them. I've got a broken Magnavox 27" TV sitting on the back landing waiting for me to go through it. I bet I'll find a lot of fun parts in there.

[jakehop]

Most PSU's also have something like 200-400uF 200V+ caps in them. Two of those in series, and you've got yourself a 100-200uF+ 400V cap for your tube amp. Also the fans are important to get, as well as the wiring!

Kind regards, Jake

[SpencerPedals]

Scruffie, just don't grab the electro's and you're set.  The other caps should be solid state and work just fine.  I saved a few old electros for breadboarding but since they're not reliable, I just spent a few dollars with Mouser to order up the common sizes to have on hand.  Ceramics and film caps, etc. are all good to use. 

[earthtonesaudio]

Green is the new black.

http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=66298.0

[dukie]

C1815 cant reach hfe of 700 right? might be defective/leaky?

nope its not defect i checked the data sheets at http://www.datasheetcatalog.org/datasheets/228/282598_DS.pdf

btw edvard told me that the LM339N is a quad opamp and maybe can be use in a guitar effect. i checked the datasheets too and its a quad opamp voltage comparator indeed. i dont know if this quad op amp is useful in any guitar effect or not, so i googled it and stumbled upon this report http://groups.google.com/group/alt.guitar.effects/msg/29703fc44c039c8f?pli=1. basically the report is about an octave fuzz using TL082 dual opamp and LM324 quad opamp. i just wondering if the LM339 can be used on that schematic?hmmm...intersting isnt it?

mean while my broken 14inch monitor is waiting in the attic, but i have to wait until i got some free time to lay my hands on them!
so keep salvaging those PSU guys!

cheers!

[earthtonesaudio]

Op-amps and comparators have very different uses.  Some comparators can be made to work as op-amps at low frequencies, and many op-amps can be used as not-that-great comparators, but they are not simply interchangeable.

[edvard]

Op-amps and comparators have very different uses.  Some comparators can be made to work as op-amps at low frequencies, and many op-amps can be used as not-that-great comparators, but they are not simply interchangeable.

No harm in trying, right?

I've used a comparator chip in a pinch before when breadboarding and never had a problem.
Hell, maybe using comparators instead of op-amps will be the new 'mojo' mod!

[petemoore]

  Old video stuff works great for audio, greenies abound in some old CRT monitors, I have a 5-way X-over...plentiful various Greenie caps on there.
  Square yardage of boxed up salvaged-out boards made their way out of here..I have to be getting close to the 100 units processed mark.
  I have old ceramic magnets [from pulled speakers], I use them to hold the screws I pull. Packing tape replaces the monitor chassis screws for disposal.