Salvage Reusable Parts From CFL and Reduce Carbon Footprint

I recently visited a dump yard and i was just wondering around and noticed that most of the waste was the electronic waste and when i inspected the world stats i noticed that the electronic components and items leave the 75% of the carbon footprint while still they can be easily reused . When i investigated i found out some broken and waste cfl and took them back home ....cut them out and salvaged some cool parts which can be easily used in my future projects .

Step 1: Cutting

Take your cfl and hold it with the help of a vice and then cut it through the groove on the plastic body with the help of a hacksaw

Step 2: Looking at the PCB

On the pcb you will find a lot of diodes, transformer, choke, capacitors most imp (smd resistors) etc which can still be used and are in very good condition

Step 3: Desoldering !!

Its the fun part, start desoldering the board with lots of flux and desoldering pump and then take out all the parts

Step 4: Cleaning!!

As you can see in the picture each and every component has flux all over it . And we cannot even read the smd resistor no. before cleaning .So its time for cleaning . For cleaning i used acetone and a cotton cloth.

Step 5: Save Energy and Reduce Carbon Footprint

By this method we can reduce the wastage of electronic components which can be reused . Ultimately this method of salvaging components from electronic appliances can reduce carbon footprint upto 45% . Energy is precious to us and it needs to be conserved so our notion should be SAVE ENERGY SAVE LIFE

Reuse Reduce Recycle


And please do vote for me!!

Comments

[sigshane]

Nice instructable. I just have one question though: can you tell me which component of the CFL is most often the failed one in burnt CFL lamps?

[sigshane]

Well, after a little more research, I have found that the electrolytic capacitor is regarded as the weakest link in CFLs, so they should be tested before reuse in any project. (source: When CFLs Fail: How to Keep Your Compact Fluorescent Glowing)

[amansinghaljpr]

Yes that's true .

[markovica]

as user Yorkshire Lass said, "CFL tubes contain mercury, so it's important that the tube

is properly recycled after harvesting the electronic components, and that you
don’t break it."

Should be added to the instructable as an important warning!!!!

[amansinghaljpr]

yup thanks for recommendation i'll update my instructable....

[opengreenenergy]

Thanks for this.There so many blown CFL lying around my dust bin.Now I can reuse the salvage components.

[tomatoskins]

I have boxes and boxes of old electronics that I've salvaged ever since I was a kid. It's definitely my go to source for electrical components. Anything I don't have, then I go and buy.

[amansinghaljpr]

bro then you're my brother i was small i used to do the same . My main source for electronics was old toys but sometimes new , after opening them understanding their mechanism i never used to closed them.....i hope you liked my instructable

[PavelT1]

Same here, I did the same with my brothers and my toys, some I put back together and some I just kept the parts. I still do it today.

[amansinghaljpr]

But don't forget to close those toys !!! ;)

[Jfieldcap]

Heh heh, I do this too. Always taking apart old toys/remote controlled stuff/singing birthday cards/McDonald's toys. Not sure what I can do a tiny chip with a recording of a frog singing happy birthday on it, but hey, at least it came with a speaker!

[amansinghaljpr]

you can contact me through skype my skype name amansinghal1999

[amansinghaljpr]

thanks for liking my instructable but the circuit you are talking about is already tried by me and it prooved to be lethal. Actually the parts of fused cfls should never be used with a joule theif it blasted out my capacitor!!

[MakerHackerBuilder]

Thanks for the inspiration. I am thinking of doing what you showed us here after trying
this project...

http://rimstar.org/science_electronics_projects/joule_thief_power_cfl_with_jeannas_light_circuit.htm

Rimstar shows how to take your “waste” bulbs and power them
from a couple of AA bulbs. Commonly known as Jeanna's light, it uses a joule
thief circuit to power the CFL, and they even made it variable.

[amansinghaljpr]

The cfl's you are talking about is a history ...now these cfl tube are sealed really well so no (gas) leaks out and if you cut through the gap your cfl is isolated from the pcb and as far as recycling is concerned it just put them in the glass recycling section

[Yorkshire Lass]

CFL tubes contain mercury, so it's important that the tube
is properly recycled after harvesting the electronic components, and that you
don’t break it.

[More Cowbell]

Be careful with those CFL's. Here are the EPA guidelines on dealing with broken ones.

http://www2.epa.gov/cfl/cleaning-broken-cfl

[amansinghaljpr]

You are write but if you will cut down through the notch or the gap of seperation as shown in picture you would not end up cutting the glass or the cfl filament so just try my way and be safe