Hi! My Father recently passed and he was a little bit of a wannabe inventor and had accumulated a garage full of electronics goods over the years.
I just wondered if anyone could identify these boards he had. They look in absolute mint condition, though I have no idea what they are.
Would like to know if these are of any use to anyone, what kind of value they hold and if there is anywhere these could be sold? Would be a shame to just throw them away.
Thanks.

 

Those boards look very specific to some design. If they're "old" then chances are good technology has rendered these boards obsolete. To me it looks like some kind of switching control board. But that's the best I can GUESS. Back in the 80's I worked with something that looked similar. Video Switching Control panel. To operate you'd need a keyboard control panel as well. Then you'd need a keyboard and several monitors. It COULD be from a banking trade system computer, the likes of which are highly dependent upon several racks of computers. IF I'm right - they are at least 30 plus years old. Approaching 40 years. And technology would have moved on long ago.

Back in the 90's I worked for a company based in Houston Texas. Worked for them close to 12 years. This year I did an assignment at a local company (in Idaho - that's considered local to me) and learned that the company I worked for way back then was no longer building their own boards but outsourcing them. Naturally I wanted to have a look at the product. I could barely recognize one board. Several other boards and their functionings have been combined onto a single board and looks nothing like I remember.

Do your boards have any value? Yes. Very little. Mostly as a possible source of materials. Chips, resistors, a few caps and possibly some diodes, maybe a MOSFET and some potentiometers. But you'd need to identify each part and determine if you have a use for it. I have several boards sitting in my boards drawer for if I should ever have a need for a certain size and value resistor. However, finding the right one would take several minutes to possibly an hour or more looking to see if I can find one. For my money and time it's quicker to just order the parts needed. But you never know when you're going to come across the one thing you need and you happen to have one right there in front of you.

Good luck. I don't think there's much value on those boards.

 

The layout shows an advanced level of skill and experience. And, the text looks like the native font in PADS (now Mentor Graphics). Did he work somewhere where they had pro-level CAD tools, or did he acquire the boards from somewhere else?

The board has gone through UL safety certification and is a double-sided surface-mount assembly , so this is in no way an amateur or one-off design.

Separate from that, it will be very difficult to reverse-engineer the intent of the design without the schematic, or at least the BOM. The connector arrangements do not conform to any industry-standard interface systems (PC-104, PCI or cPCI, etc.), so maybe it is an input and/or output interface board controlled by something else.

ak

 

Separate from that, it will be very difficult to reverse-engineer the intent of the design without the schematic, or at least the BOM. The connector arrangements do not conform to any industry-standard interface systems (PC-104, PCI or cPCI, etc.), so maybe it is an input and/or output interface board controlled by something else.

ak

Very difficult but not impossible ak if impossible then what you learned from Markus drug?

ka

sorry moderators : not necessary comment but 'sufficient'

 

Welcome to AAC!

Would like to know if these are of any use to anyone

Pictures with better focus would help. Did he have any schematics?

Would be a shame to just throw them away.

Even if they're nonfunctional, you could salvage some components.

 

Certainly the boards must have schematics and if you can locate any information then a determination of what they are for should be possible. The components are surface mount so they are not ancient, and they look well enough made that they are not current. They are of no value to the unknowing, but those folks do not matter anyway. Since they do have names and numbers you may be able to search out what they were for. And if you can list the type numbers of the IC devices and transistors some of the folks who visit this forum may be able to help, while others will make random guesses.

 

Certainly the boards must have schematics and if you can locate any information then a determination of what they are for should be possible. The components are surface mount so they are not ancient, and they look well enough made that they are not current. They are of no value to the unknowing, but those folks do not matter anyway. Since they do have names and numbers you may be able to search out what they were for. And if you can list the type numbers of the IC devices and transistors some of the folks who visit this forum may be able to help, while others will make random guesses.

I'm not 100% but I think he may have been using them with cash counting machines?

There was a small sticker on this board too that read.

C/N: 1540044Q00

AAFBFIA000657

 

If they're "old" then chances are good technology has rendered these boards obsolete.

The components are surface mount so they are not ancient, and they look well enough made that they are not current.

Pretty sure that is the manufacture date listed on the board. 09/24/2013.

 

There are a large number of similar circuits with those 8 pin IC devices, If the numbers on the ICs are known then it is possible to come up with some conclusions. And while a circuit may possibly be Obsolete: because it is not what is used in the products sold in stores today, many industrial systems are intended to last for many years. The concept of the 180 day product life cycle before obsolescence is just plain evil. Not all products run that way.

 

Pretty sure that is the manufacture date listed on the board. 09/24/2013.

To be honest, 1) I didn't notice that. 2) I've never seen a date code like that. Let me reiterate that point - I have never seen a date code like that. 09/24/2013 would (under what I'm accustom to would) be 1339, that being the 13th year, the 39th week. But because I've never seen a date code like that before doesn't mean it's not the date of manufacture. There's the possibility it could be a serial number or some other number. But you're probably right, 2013.

 

To be honest, 1) I didn't notice that. 2) I've never seen a date code like that. Let me reiterate that point - I have never seen a date code like that. 09/24/2013 would (under what I'm accustom to would) be 1339, that being the 13th year, the 39th week. But because I've never seen a date code like that before doesn't mean it's not the date of manufacture. There's the possibility it could be a serial number or some other number. But you're probably right, 2013.

Pretty hard to miss if you click open the photo's... I did not mean it was printed as 09/24/2013 on the board, only that was the date. Sorry for any confusion.

 

Almost every IC has a date code of some kind, which dates the device, not the board, certainly. But that tells the oldest that the board could be, so it is useful for that. and the silk screen date code is probably thr board revision date, so if can not be older than that. Thus the boards are not that old. If they work they may have big cash value as repair parts.

 

Do a search for part no of board or part numbers of the ics. May give you a clue as to the function of the board. As to wether they are useful , if they are new and the item can be indentified, maybe saleable on ebay. Otherwise use for parts for some other project.

 

Very difficult but not impossible

That sounds like you have figured out what the board is designed to do. Please let us know.

ak

 

Do a search for part no of board or part numbers of the ics. May give you a clue as to the function of the board. As to wether they are useful , if they are new and the item can be indentified, maybe saleable on ebay. Otherwise use for parts for some other project.

Thanks for you help.

If I was to stick them on ebay (as seems a shame to just bin them as they are untouched) what should I list them as and at what price?

Thanks.

 

If somebody needs the boards to repair a machine then they will be worth a fairly decent price. For anybody else they could be a source of parts, not so valuable. A number that should work will be $100 for all three, not sold separately. You will need to list the part numbers and rev numbers clearly so that if somebody is searching for them they will be findable.

 

If somebody needs the boards to repair a machine then they will be worth a fairly decent price. For anybody else they could be a source of parts, not so valuable. A number that should work will be $100 for all three, not sold separately. You will need to list the part numbers and rev numbers clearly so that if somebody is searching for them they will be findable.

There's actually 22 in the box! All exactly the same.

 

I thought that I saw different kinds in that first post. But if they are all the same then just $100 each. That is cheap for a replacement but expensive for a parts board. You can always drop the price if you are in a hurry to unload them. Some folks are in a rush and dump valuables really cheap.

 

I thought that I saw different kinds in that first post. But if they are all the same then just $100 each. That is cheap for a replacement but expensive for a parts board. You can always drop the price if you are in a hurry to unload them. Some folks are in a rush and dump valuables really cheap.

Ok thank you for your help!

Still trying to sort through his stuff, it's crazy and unfortunately I'm not electronically minded enough to work out what most of it is.

There are laptops that look almost brand new. Untouched LCD touchscreens. Old touchscreens. Card readers. Memory cards. Boards. Then what looks like some kind of PC. DC motors.

20 years (since he retired) worth of gathering.

A lot of which I don't know where to start identifying. But am reluctant to throw away.

Is ebay the best place for electronics?

 

"Craig's List" is where a friend of mine has sold some of my stuff, with the advantage that it is cheaper and simpler and it can include free items in addition to things for sale. Computers, especially laptop computers, are far more valuable if they can be demonstrated to boot up and work. So you will need to keep their power supplies and power cords with them. Laptob and notebook computers can be very useful to a lot of folks who don't need the fastest ones around, and so there do exist folks who can use them.
It will be very useful to find somebody who can understand what the items are to help you. But if such a person tells you that they are just junk then they are the wrong one, since their understanding is obviously inadequate. There may be a few folks who participate in these discussions who may be able to help you.