Where can you find out about reusing electronic parts?

Other Hardware General Electronics
1

I have access to a stack of 600W dimmable electronic ballasts and I don't have any idea what they could be used for other than lighting.

I can't find any Reddit or other forum that discusses this, so I thought I'd try here. I've torn apart microwaves, printers, appliances and other things and I get large transformers, motors, etc...

So I see this stack of transformers (600W dimmable, electronic w/fixtures) and I open them and they are covered with some hardened goo stuff.

I have no idea what voltage/amp they put out or if they have other uses other than high pressure sodium lights.

Is there any site that discusses what you can get from things like these, old clocks, printers, etc...

2

I generally get the model number and go to the manufacturer's web site. No guarantee if any of the parts you salvage are good or bad, the best is to test them. The reason you are tearing it apart is because it probably failed. That hardened goo stuff is a potting compound or a conformal coating. This protects the electronics from the environment. As far as finding about parts look at the distributor's catalogs online they generally will describe the part or you can search for the part directly. You may also want to read some tutorials on basic electronics.

3

Thanks! In this case, all of these have been tested and they all work. What I'm wondering is can they be used for anything else. Example: from the microwave oven, I got a motorized turntable and MOT that I'm going to make a power supply from for a 12V motor.

Without knowing what voltage or amps, these put out, it's hard to know what else they can be used for. @600 watts, I guess I could convert it to a power supply, but I don't even know what the output is AC or DC or what voltage the output is. I don't want to hook a regular voltmeter to it because I already fried one that way testing a bug zapper.

All I know so far is that they are 110V AC in and 600Watts and used as a HPS light.

Basically, they are like this:

4

Ballasts for discharge tubes have an output designed to match the characteristics of the tube they are designed to drive. Typically there has to be a high voltage to strike an arc then a current source to maintain the arc. For HPS have a look at The Sodium Lamp - How it works and history , which describes what a high pressure sodium lamp requires to drive it.

I can't imagine that a ballast designed for any kind of discharge lamp is much use for anything else.