You win some, you lose some.

**Ritalin** · 02-09-2011, 04:31 PM

Re: You win some, you lose some.

Originally posted by Th3_uN1Qu3

If you've been following my recent activity you would have noticed that i kinda got burned on a laptop deal (i bought it to fix it but it appears that water has been spilled inside and the board is beyond repair), but like i said, you win some, you lose some.

The 19" Nec LCD i bought for $40 and was an easy fix (bad soldering on inverter transformers), then took it apart to clean the dust from the inside and was very happy with the result, is leaving tomorrow for $80. Yup, i need a monitor again. And i'll be picking this up for $32. Failure report: "Had it for an year, a few days ago it wouldn't turn on anymore." Read: Classic bad caps symptoms. And with my experience with LGs, it is probably yet another case of Samxon GF. It seems i'm continuing my trend of "sell fixed monitor buy another broken one the same day". And the monitors are getting cheaper!

But that's the fun part of fixing stuff, it's that challenge and the 'unknowing' of if you're going to get it repaired. And it's nice to have a mix of just a few easy blown caps, to tracing problems. The one rule of thumb that I have for getting broken stuff, is that it has to be under $20 (preferably) so that way I can turn around and sell it for parts on ebay and break even. My other problem is I'm turning into a electronics horder

(see pic below)

Attached Files

**Th3_uN1Qu3** · 02-09-2011, 04:47 PM

Re: You win some, you lose some.

Given the state of the economy here, i'm more like under $50. Also i tend to work "undercover" ie i pick broken stuff up on one site, fix it and sell it elsewhere - while others have flat out topics "buying broken stuff". I do keep a sharp lookout and that's enough for me.

The reason i do this is because i know most of the other service men, and have had unpleasant experiences with them barging in my topics and saying that i lie (for example, i once advertised that i sold cheap power supplies but guaranteed not to take your computer out if they blow, and someone quickly came in to mess up my deal, and that's for $10 a power supply. seriously).

As far as the laptop goes, it'll be offset soon as well. I have another broken laptop coming in FOR FREE, it's mine to keep. I don't have any idea what it is though - could even be something crazy like a 486. Actually i'd like something from the 486/P1 era, good ol' DOS games AND in a portable package!

Oh and on topic - i'll be picking up a pair of 7.2Ah UPS batteries for $4. They are advertised as "working but cut off under high load". Probably just a little sulfation. But i don't need them for a high current application anyway - two 12v batteries in series with a current limiter will make a really nice bench supply.

I already have an application for them, i just fixed our old turntable and mom has LOTS of vinyl that she'd like ripped to PC... and the turntable requires a very low noise preamp. Just the kind of thing you'd power from a battery, and +/-12v will allow me to use any opamps i wish. With UPS batteries, no matter how flat they are, i'll probably never have to recharge the thing.

**Scenic** · 02-09-2011, 04:58 PM

Re: You win some, you lose some.

heh.. i do this all the time

buy defective monitors and stuff on ebay, fix it and sell it on a different account with some time in between.. and not in buying-order..

i mostly do 17"-22" LCD monitors. and i avoid dell's and benq's..
buy samsungs and acers and you're almost guaranteed to only see cap problems (plus a couple shorted bridge rectifiers on acers.. seems to be common for some reason)

@ ritalin: well.. nice start. multiply by 3 and you get my LCD monitor collection atm

(not to mention all the other crap like mainboards, graphics cards, blah ....)

**Th3_uN1Qu3** · 02-09-2011, 05:07 PM

Re: You win some, you lose some.

I don't touch any screen smaller than 19". Since the prices (and resolutions) are basically the same, few people buy 17" monitors.

**Ritalin** · 02-09-2011, 05:12 PM

Re: You win some, you lose some.

Ya, I think I start looking into repairing other stuff like motherboards/video cards/power supplies/etc... But don't quite know what to look for besides 'broken'. As far as LCDs I think I might have to high jack that 19" or bigger rule and avoid Dells. Dells are a b*tch to get open and require quite a bit of disassembling. Not to mention the non-widescreens are selling for $40-60, so not that much profit compared to a 19"+ widescreen if it's a simple cap replacement.

**Th3_uN1Qu3** · 02-09-2011, 05:29 PM

Re: You win some, you lose some.

You know many people less knowledgeable than i am but perhaps more skilled in the repair work itself (ie the actual replacing of parts) run businesses. Invariably they end up with more work than they can handle so they do crap quality repairs. Which ends up in stuff coming back in and fees having to be lowered which brings more work for less money... I was interested in a job at a computer repair store. It turns out that "work" had less tools than i have at home, and when i asked where i get capacitors he pointed me to a bin of dead motherboards. Not to say i don't do that myself, but i only strip mobos if they have Rubycon or Nichicon. That bin was full of resounding names like Chhsi and OST. Plus pay was shit. So i just went home.

I was always in for the thrill. There's NOTHING like bodging something together and having it actually work. Actually the job i did on the DC-DC board of that Samsung laptop was fantastic, and it would have worked great IF everything else on that darn mobo would have been fine. I didn't have a particular dual MOSFET so i made a breakout board for one i did have, AND managed to fit it in the available space! That's quite a feat.

On topic: PSUs aren't worth it unless they are 500W+ and quality brands. Which is kinda hard as quality brands don't really fail.

**Scenic** · 02-09-2011, 05:41 PM

Re: You win some, you lose some.

it's kinda getting out of hand here..
and i gotta get rid of some of the old stuff.. lol

HDDs and crap
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/stuff/chaos/chaos01.jpg

random graphics cards
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/stuff/chaos/chaos02.jpg

laptop drives
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/stuff/chaos/chaos03.jpg

couple boards
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/stuff/chaos/chaos04.jpg

some more crap (yes that's an iMac hiding behind those mainboard boxes)
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/stuff/chaos/chaos05.jpg

laptop and psu junk
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/stuff/chaos/chaos06.jpg

optical drives (i really need to get rid of the crappy old ones lol)
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/stuff/chaos/chaos07.jpg

DVD players, mini PCs/Thinclients
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/stuff/chaos/chaos08.jpg

routers, switches and other connectivity crap
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/stuff/chaos/chaos09.jpg

and that's just the stuff that i don't have to dig around for lol

**Th3_uN1Qu3** · 02-09-2011, 05:47 PM

Re: You win some, you lose some.

And i thought *i* had a ton of opticals. Good thing i kept 'em though, they are a great source of ribbon cable.

**Ritalin** · 02-09-2011, 06:06 PM

Re: You win some, you lose some.

Originally posted by Scenic

it's kinda getting out of hand here..
and i gotta get rid of some of the old stuff.. lol

HDDs and crap
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/stuff/chaos/chaos01.jpg

random graphics cards
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/stuff/chaos/chaos02.jpg

laptop drives
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/stuff/chaos/chaos03.jpg

couple boards
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/stuff/chaos/chaos04.jpg

some more crap (yes that's an iMac hiding behind those mainboard boxes)
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/stuff/chaos/chaos05.jpg

laptop and psu junk
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/stuff/chaos/chaos06.jpg

optical drives (i really need to get rid of the crappy old ones lol)
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/stuff/chaos/chaos07.jpg

DVD players, mini PCs/Thinclients
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/stuff/chaos/chaos08.jpg

routers, switches and other connectivity crap
http://bambooz.pytalhost.net/stuff/chaos/chaos09.jpg

and that's just the stuff that i don't have to dig around for lol

Holy crap! Is it all working stuff? or not working? or mixed?

**Scenic** · 02-09-2011, 06:31 PM

Re: You win some, you lose some.

pretty much all working. most of it fixed by me.
except most gfx cards, the HDDs and ODDs.. those were mostly just pulled or left over from upgrading..

**Ritalin** · 02-09-2011, 06:50 PM

Re: You win some, you lose some.

Only if you didn't live in Germany, could use some of that stuff!

**Mad_Professor** · 02-09-2011, 07:04 PM

Re: You win some, you lose some.

Damn scenic! Do you have a working gtx 260 somewhere? preferably 216 cores, I want one to put my gtx260 in SLI and also do you have a dvd-rw laptop drive. I need to replace mine in my laptop, the lens for the burner in mine is out of tolerance or damaged, basically any dvd I made from that drive, reads fine in that drive but fails checksum media checks in other drives.

EDIT: SHAZBOT! you live germany. I work for ups, shipping it from germany requires a minimum of 2-day service and it'll probably be stuck in customs for 2 weeks.

**smason** · 02-09-2011, 09:20 PM

Re: You win some, you lose some.

Originally posted by Th3_uN1Qu3

I don't touch any screen smaller than 19". Since the prices (and resolutions) are basically the same, few people buy 17" monitors.

I do 17s, but I don't sell them, I donate them to non-profits or less-fortunate people, and they usually really appreciate them, even though used 19s go for $50 or less working. They cost me nothing, 'cept about $5.00 worth of caps.

I just did a 15 last week, and I bet it'll be gone in a day if I post it for free.

**c_hegge** · 02-09-2011, 11:07 PM

Re: You win some, you lose some.

I just did a 22" I got for free from work. I'm gonna keep it and sell my old 19" (either at work or on fleabay)

**Ritalin** · 02-09-2011, 11:46 PM

Re: You win some, you lose some.

IF you guys were to buy broken LCDs how much would you buy them for... ie...

17-19"
20"-21" Widescreens
22"+ Widescreens

**mockingbird** · 02-10-2011, 02:09 AM

Re: You win some, you lose some.

German guy...

That looks like a TP-Link WR-640GD in there... Good router for OpenWRT.

**Th3_uN1Qu3** · 02-10-2011, 06:43 AM

Re: You win some, you lose some.

I just picked up the UPS batteries. They look like they've been in a 24v UPS with poor charging circuitry, as one is healthy, and the other is finished - it has a short circuit current of 5A and doesn't charge worth a damn.

**Scenic** · 02-10-2011, 09:01 AM

Re: You win some, you lose some.

Originally posted by mockingbird

German guy...

That looks like a TP-Link WR-640GD in there... Good router for OpenWRT.

unfortunately, that's just a 5port gigabit switch (SD1005D) :/

Originally posted by Ritalin

IF you guys were to buy broken LCDs how much would you buy them for... ie...

17-19"
20"-21" Widescreens
22"+ Widescreens

17-19" non wide -> 20-30€
17-19" wide -> 20€
20"-22" Wide -> 30-45€
22"+ Wide -> 40-50€

usually more if it has a PVA/MVA or IPS panel (that cheap TN crap is worthless)

i also buy ones with cracked panels really cheap and to fix them, noname junkers with an intact panel, but the rest f*cked up..
cheapest way to get LCD panels. if you wanted to buy the panel alone you would end up spending the same for the panel as you would for a whole monitor..

recently bought a noname (Fukato?) 22" LCD that wouldn't turn on anymore for about 23euro incl. shipping. PSU board fried.
i didn't even try to fix it because it had the switcher blown apart.. no part numbers..

instead, i put the panel in a Samsung Syncmaster 2233BW which i bought with a cracked panel for 11euro incl. shipping

that Samsung was recapped, resoldered and ..err.. "re-paneled".. and sold for 84euro on ebay...

**smason** · 02-10-2011, 09:27 AM

Re: You win some, you lose some.

Originally posted by Ritalin

IF you guys were to buy broken LCDs how much would you buy them for... ie...

17-19"
20"-21" Widescreens
22"+ Widescreens

17-19 $0.00 these I can get free regularly
20-21 wide maybe $20.00 if it's a decent brand
22+ $30.00ish

You win some, you lose some.

You win some, you lose some.

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