Old components - worth anything?

You should post this one rec.antiques.radio+phono....

jak

Bits and pieces of it may well be worth something, other bits are junk. Your best bet is to talk to people who restore old radios, they're the ones most likely to benefit from it. In a pinch you could just sort it into boxes of similar looking stuff and post it on ebay.

Those are selenium rectifiers. No longer used except as replacements in very old equipment. Smell like rotten eggs when they fail. I still have a battery charger that uses selenium...

Might well be so in the case of the capacitors, but one would have to be really dedicated to authenticity, I would think, unless a modern component doesn't fit the bill.

Definitely not a good thing to breathe in.

I still have a

If you use it often, replace with silicon. A series resistor is required to simulate the original voltage drop. As CJT notes, it's NOT a good thing to breathe...poisonous, I've heard.

The old rectifier 'will' go out...not if, but when.

Often, restorers will use the shell of the old component to hide the new--for authenticity. OTOH, some of those old wax caps bring high prices on Ebay, due to a misguided quest for an 'authentic' sound.....

jak

Yes, rec.antiques.radio+phone IS the correct group for this posting.

The cloth covered wire is used by some restorers of 1930s; 1940s radios (authentic, look for restorations).

The transistors may be of value - especially if they are no longer available (1950s and 1960s transistor radio restorers).

In any event do NOT chuck to the garbage. Find a bright young mind (high school) that is interested in electronics -- and needs his first "junk box of components -- there is at least one in every neighborhood

gb

I don't think anyone uses them. The standard routine when they need replacing (or for that matter you just want them out of the house) is to use a silicon power diode with a series resistor to compensate for the differences.

Getting replacement parts is not the issue here, people just don't want to put selenium rectifiers back in a piece of equipment.

Michael

really? I think I have a big box of them out in the garage someplace!

The first time you have one fail and smell it, it'll be abundantly clear why people don't use them anymore.

Not anymore. You can't recover usable components from modern electronics so there are no kids scrounging it.

The values of comp> In any event do NOT chuck to the garbage. Find a bright young mind (high

Sure you can, I'm not a kid anymore but I still scrounge plenty of usable components. The most useful stuff usually lies in power supplies and CRT displays, lots of nice juicy power semiconductors and inductors, lots of capacitors, diodes, fuse holders, connectors, etc. Digital devices often have eeproms, various logic devices, LEDs, all sorts of stuff. If anything there's more cool stuff to salvage than there was 20 years ago.

Probably like gold dust to repairers and old radio enthusiasts who like to keep equipment authentic at all cost.

I believe the rectifiers you are describing use selenium. I think anything containing selenium classes as toxic waste, and must be disposed of properly.

The capacitors will probably fail a leakage test if you do one.

The other components are probably usable.

Aidan Grey

There was a movie made in the early 90"s starring the late John Ritter, where he poisons his wife with old radio parts, and he is shown scraping away at the deadly selenium rectifier. Marg Toggenberg (not) of CSI fame plays the detective. I recommend a Google search of groups for that one.

John K

You mean like Selsun Blue?

Ok so it's Marg Helgenberger and a TV show in the late 90's. Here's the link.