Not actually a dumpster, but around here some people believe in allowing natural forces to reclaim discarded materials. In other words, they drive into the woods on old logging roads and dump stuff because they don't want to pay the fees at the garbage dump.
I rescued a Sony SA-WG99 powered subwoofer that was sitting beside a power line trail yesterday. It had been there long enough for a few beetles and a slug to move in, but the 8" woofer is intact, and the particle board cabinet hasn't turned into porridge. I found a service manual online; the amp module is a Sanyo STK404-130S on +/- 51.6V rails. In this application it's rated 150W/6 ohms/10% THD. (Replacement modules (if I need one) are less than $10 at Pacific Semiconductor; there's a pin-compatible -140S with a higher wattage rating.) While the power supply isn't impressive, the protection circuits control an output relay and a cooling fan, which is more sophistication than I expected.
Once it has dried out, I'll smoke test. If working, I'll see if it's good enough for a "better than nothing" surround system. Maybe I'll add a way to bypass the input bandpass filter to allow full range or at least a lower cutoff, and a jack or binding posts to allow using a separate sub cabinet, replace the 1N5402 rectifiers with a '2502 bridge, and add more filter caps. I could end up with a complete, if not matching, 5.1 set of speakers for under $40. ($25 Mission fronts, $6 Energy rears, $5 Energy center, and a free sub.)
There were a couple of soggy 3-way Sears speakers there too, with intact rubber surrounds. I'll go back with a knife and save those.
Just about every bike ride I've done in the woods around here, I find something "useful".
I rescued a Sony SA-WG99 powered subwoofer that was sitting beside a power line trail yesterday. It had been there long enough for a few beetles and a slug to move in, but the 8" woofer is intact, and the particle board cabinet hasn't turned into porridge. I found a service manual online; the amp module is a Sanyo STK404-130S on +/- 51.6V rails. In this application it's rated 150W/6 ohms/10% THD. (Replacement modules (if I need one) are less than $10 at Pacific Semiconductor; there's a pin-compatible -140S with a higher wattage rating.) While the power supply isn't impressive, the protection circuits control an output relay and a cooling fan, which is more sophistication than I expected.
Once it has dried out, I'll smoke test. If working, I'll see if it's good enough for a "better than nothing" surround system. Maybe I'll add a way to bypass the input bandpass filter to allow full range or at least a lower cutoff, and a jack or binding posts to allow using a separate sub cabinet, replace the 1N5402 rectifiers with a '2502 bridge, and add more filter caps. I could end up with a complete, if not matching, 5.1 set of speakers for under $40. ($25 Mission fronts, $6 Energy rears, $5 Energy center, and a free sub.)
There were a couple of soggy 3-way Sears speakers there too, with intact rubber surrounds. I'll go back with a knife and save those.
Just about every bike ride I've done in the woods around here, I find something "useful".
Found a Telequipment scope in a dumpster the other day, I cleaned it out and fired it up with some apprehension. No reason to worry. It works fine!
About 2 years ago, over the course of about 2 weeks, I "recovered" from my local recycling centre:
- a fully working Rogers Cadet II integrated tube amplifier (ECL86 tubes)
- a Rega Planar 2 & 3 turntable (with glass platter)
- Three fully working Samson 550 watt solid state power amplifiers
Haven't paid a visit to them since - It gives me a queasy feeling to think of all the good equipment which is going to a dump or scrappage 🙂. The staff in the recycling centre were not very pleased with me but I consider this "purist" recycling 🙂 so they weren't going to try wrenching these items from my grasp.
Since then I have been given
- a number of (3 or 4) working oscilloscopes (10Mhz - 20MHz)
- and working pro audio & video equipment
- a couple of large UPS units
from the media department & electrical dept of the college I work in (like the thread starter). Most of these I have distributed to the 3 fellow DIYers in Ireland (that I know of)
- a fully working Rogers Cadet II integrated tube amplifier (ECL86 tubes)
- a Rega Planar 2 & 3 turntable (with glass platter)
- Three fully working Samson 550 watt solid state power amplifiers
Haven't paid a visit to them since - It gives me a queasy feeling to think of all the good equipment which is going to a dump or scrappage 🙂. The staff in the recycling centre were not very pleased with me but I consider this "purist" recycling 🙂 so they weren't going to try wrenching these items from my grasp.
Since then I have been given
- a number of (3 or 4) working oscilloscopes (10Mhz - 20MHz)
- and working pro audio & video equipment
- a couple of large UPS units
from the media department & electrical dept of the college I work in (like the thread starter). Most of these I have distributed to the 3 fellow DIYers in Ireland (that I know of)
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There is always full support as long as the operative word is 'free'. 🙂
This is quite an impressive sounding receiver, it really is.
just listeing to some classic rock on the tuner, as I wash and wax the truck on this unusually nice November day here in crunchville......
Broadcast radio, they were stripped from a couple consoles headed to recycle. Couldn't give them away. It's the norm in the industry.
Picked this up on Wednesday afternoon -- power cord had been snipped, but all the tubes are there:
More pix here:
http://www.tech-diy.com/TubeDesigns/Pilot602/Pilot602.htm
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
More pix here:
http://www.tech-diy.com/TubeDesigns/Pilot602/Pilot602.htm
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Slightly OT
Dumpster diving is really "green" .. a real form of recycling!
Yesterday, I went for my swine-flu jab.
The doctor's has just undergone a computer system upgrade.
Outside, in a dumpster, was the old system .. 15-20 towers, printers, ups etc
in the rain and destined for the tip
criminal !!!!
Andy
Dumpster diving is really "green" .. a real form of recycling!
Yesterday, I went for my swine-flu jab.
The doctor's has just undergone a computer system upgrade.
Outside, in a dumpster, was the old system .. 15-20 towers, printers, ups etc
in the rain and destined for the tip
criminal !!!!
Andy
5 Disc changer -- works:
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
I've found that, if you ask the owner, they're generally happy to let you have what you want. In effect, the skip would be a storage place for something that would become a gift to any passer-by that liked the look of it.
I don't know about other countries but, technically, in the UK, removing items from a skip / dumpster, without the owners permission, is theft.
I have asked at my local dump if I could have some things only to be told, "No, we are not allowed to give or sell anything!"
Andy
I have asked at my local dump if I could have some things only to be told, "No, we are not allowed to give or sell anything!"
Andy
Fetch the chain cutters - we're going in.
I've known people that have said that to me, then done something very deliberately (like putting the thing in a skip), then gone away for a coffee to give me a chance to get it.
It's a bit of a daft rule - you find something in a skip. It's going to be recycled/sent to landfill. You're not allowed to save that spot of landfill by taking it, even though the owner has clearly shown they don't want it any more.
We should probably start a campaign on that one. 🙄
I've known people that have said that to me, then done something very deliberately (like putting the thing in a skip), then gone away for a coffee to give me a chance to get it.
It's a bit of a daft rule - you find something in a skip. It's going to be recycled/sent to landfill. You're not allowed to save that spot of landfill by taking it, even though the owner has clearly shown they don't want it any more.
We should probably start a campaign on that one. 🙄
The world is barking mad
That'll be the effect of that criminal pay rise they slipped through a year or so ago.
This stuff about removing stuff from a skip (dumpster in US) is mad. If I "recycle" something from a skip I will gain far more value and sort the remainder better than if it is shipped half way round the world for slave labour to recycle. If I take it, I do so at my own risk, yet the excuse usually given by the jobsworths who want to stop you is "Health & Safety". Health & Safety is the number one reason for nothing getting done or creating pointless jobs. Eee, when I were a lad, I used to rummage through the local TV repair shop's rubbish pile with my penknife. Now, of course, that sentence would contain lots of lawbreaking - not least blatantly using a penknife.
That'll be the effect of that criminal pay rise they slipped through a year or so ago.
This stuff about removing stuff from a skip (dumpster in US) is mad. If I "recycle" something from a skip I will gain far more value and sort the remainder better than if it is shipped half way round the world for slave labour to recycle. If I take it, I do so at my own risk, yet the excuse usually given by the jobsworths who want to stop you is "Health & Safety". Health & Safety is the number one reason for nothing getting done or creating pointless jobs. Eee, when I were a lad, I used to rummage through the local TV repair shop's rubbish pile with my penknife. Now, of course, that sentence would contain lots of lawbreaking - not least blatantly using a penknife.
