• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Power cords have any use?

Joined
Nov 18, 2011
Messages
124 (0.03/day)
Location
Toronto, Canada
Processor Intel Atom 270
Cooling Passive
Memory 2GB DDR3-1333
Storage 160GB WD 2.5"
Case Custom
Power Supply Seasonic-Passive
So there is a box of maybe more than 50 120volt computer power cords in my living room collecting dust...
What should I do with them? Seems a shame to put them in the trash, who would have any use for them? Any ideas?
 

sneekypeet

Retired Super Moderator
Joined
Apr 12, 2006
Messages
29,407 (4.48/day)
System Name EVA-01
Processor Intel i7 13700K
Motherboard Asus ROG Maximus Z690 HERO EVA Edition
Cooling ASUS ROG Ryujin III 360 with Noctua Industrial Fans
Memory PAtriot Viper Elite RGB 96GB @ 6000MHz.
Video Card(s) Asus ROG Strix GeForce RTX 3090 24GB OC EVA Edition
Storage Addlink S95 M.2 PCIe GEN 4x4 2TB
Display(s) Asus ROG SWIFT OLED PG42UQ
Case Thermaltake Core P3 TG
Audio Device(s) Realtek on board > Sony Receiver > Cerwin Vegas
Power Supply be quiet DARK POWER PRO 12 1500W
Mouse ROG STRIX Impact Electro Punk
Keyboard ROG STRIX Scope TKL Electro Punk
Software Windows 11
Strip the plastic/rubber off them and scrap the copper?
 
Joined
Jan 29, 2012
Messages
6,401 (1.44/day)
Location
Florida
System Name natr0n-PC
Processor Ryzen 5950x/5600x
Motherboard B450 AORUS M
Cooling EK AIO - 6 fan action
Memory Patriot - Viper Steel DDR4 (B-Die)(4x8GB)
Video Card(s) EVGA 3070ti FTW
Storage Various
Display(s) PIXIO IPS 240Hz 1080P
Case Thermaltake Level 20 VT
Audio Device(s) LOXJIE D10 + Kinter Amp + 6 Bookshelf Speakers Sony+JVC+Sony
Power Supply Super Flower Leadex III ARGB 80+ Gold 650W
Software XP/7/8.1/10
Benchmark Scores http://valid.x86.fr/79kuh6
They are good for gardening, tying bushes and branches together.
 
Joined
Apr 4, 2008
Messages
4,686 (0.80/day)
System Name Obelisc
Processor i7 3770k @ 4.8 GHz
Motherboard Asus P8Z77-V
Cooling H110
Memory 16GB(4x4) @ 2400 MHz 9-11-11-31
Video Card(s) GTX 780 Ti
Storage 850 EVO 1TB, 2x 5TB Toshiba
Case T81
Audio Device(s) X-Fi Titanium HD
Power Supply EVGA 850 T2 80+ TITANIUM
Software Win10 64bit
Put 50 of them up for sale? Somebody would want that stash. Keep the excess in case you ever need some.
 
Joined
Nov 9, 2010
Messages
5,648 (1.16/day)
System Name Space Station
Processor Intel 13700K
Motherboard ASRock Z790 PG Riptide
Cooling Arctic Liquid Freezer II 420
Memory Corsair Vengeance 6400 2x16GB @ CL34
Video Card(s) PNY RTX 4080
Storage SSDs - Nextorage 4TB, Samsung EVO 970 500GB, Plextor M5Pro 128GB, HDDs - WD Black 6TB, 2x 1TB
Display(s) LG C3 OLED 42"
Case Corsair 7000D Airflow
Audio Device(s) Yamaha RX-V371
Power Supply SeaSonic Vertex 1200w Gold
Mouse Razer Basilisk V3
Keyboard Bloody B840-LK
Software Windows 11 Pro 23H2
Save all the grounded (3 prong) ones and try selling them for $1 apiece on eBay.
 
Joined
Nov 18, 2011
Messages
124 (0.03/day)
Location
Toronto, Canada
Processor Intel Atom 270
Cooling Passive
Memory 2GB DDR3-1333
Storage 160GB WD 2.5"
Case Custom
Power Supply Seasonic-Passive
Wouldn't shipping be to expensive?
 
Joined
Jan 17, 2010
Messages
12,280 (2.37/day)
Location
Oregon
System Name Juliette // HTPC
Processor Intel i7 9700K // AMD Ryzen 5 5600G
Motherboard ASUS Prime Z390X-A // ASRock B550 ITX-AC
Cooling Noctua NH-U12 Black // Stock
Memory Corsair DDR4 3600 32gb //G.SKILL Trident Z Royal Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 3600
Video Card(s) ASUS RTX4070 OC// GTX 1650
Storage Samsung 970 EVO NVMe 1Tb, Intel 665p Series M.2 2280 1TB // Samsung 1Tb SSD
Display(s) ASUS VP348QGL 34" Quad HD 3440 x 1440 // 55" LG 4K SK8000 Series
Case Seasonic SYNCRO Q7// Silverstone Granada GD05
Audio Device(s) Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 // HDMI to Samsung HW-R650 sound bar
Power Supply Seasonic SYNCRO 750 W // CORSAIR Vengeance 650M
Mouse Cooler Master MM710 53G
Keyboard Logitech 920-009300 G512 SE
Software Windows 10 Pro // Windows 10 Pro
Put them on craigs list. The whole box. But keep a couple because guarantee you will need one as soon as there gone
 
Joined
Jul 6, 2006
Messages
473 (0.07/day)
Location
ireland, galway
Processor q6600 G0 @ 2.8Ghz
Motherboard ex38 DS4
Cooling air
Memory 4 *1gig tracer ballistic
Video Card(s) sapphire dual bios 6950
Storage ssd- sandisk 120gb, sata- 2 500gb samsung in raid 1 & 1 samsung 400gb
Display(s) LG w2452tx
Case nzxt
Audio Device(s) na
Power Supply hiper 730
Mouse g9
Keyboard bt microsoft arch
Software win7
no use for me I use 240v :) but I have loads of 120v cables from buying tellys, monitors etc as well, and theres not much use for them in the uk, ebay maybe?
 

Bo$$

Lab Extraordinaire
Joined
May 7, 2009
Messages
5,656 (1.04/day)
Location
London, UK
System Name Desktop | Server
Processor Intel i7 2700k @ 4.6GHZ | AMD 5350 @ 2500MHZ
Motherboard Asus P7Z77-V Pro | Asus AM1I-A
Cooling Corsair H60v2 | Stock Air
Memory Crucial Ballistix 2x8GB CL8 1600MHZ | Corsair Vengence 2x4GB CL9 1600MHZ
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 1060 6GB | PNY GTX 750Ti
Storage Samsung 840 EVO 250GB + 4TB WD Red | 2x Seagate Barracuda 2TB
Display(s) Samsung S27D390H + Asus VE276Q | Headless
Case Fractal Design R5 | CM Elite 110
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar D1 w/Otone Stilo 5.1 and Creative Fatal1ty headset
Power Supply EVGA Supernova 850 G2| Corsair CX430M
Mouse Razer Imperator 2012
Keyboard Corsair K90
Software Windows 7 SP1 X64 | Ubuntu 16.04LTS
ebay is your best bet bro!
 
Joined
Sep 25, 2011
Messages
1,770 (0.39/day)
Location
Cussing desert
System Name Torquey Vulture
Processor Ryzen 5 2600
Motherboard Gigabyte B450 MiniITX
Cooling DDC water loop, EK block
Memory 16GB Patriot Viper RGB
Video Card(s) EVGA 1070
Storage 500gb NVME; some Phat HDDs
Display(s) Achieva Shimian 27" 2560x1440
Case Thermaltake V1 MiniITX
Power Supply EVGA supernova 850 G2
Mouse Corsair Harpoon
Keyboard Possibly the cheapest you can buy. Shift key broke recently. Space sounds like I'm kicking a ham
Software Windows 10
Just a thought; copper is at $3.56/pound, theres probably around 10 pounds of copper in that. Would be a huge pain to strip it out by hand, but its like free far cry 3!

Yeah, ebay or craigslist would probably be an easier quicker option
 
Joined
Jul 6, 2006
Messages
473 (0.07/day)
Location
ireland, galway
Processor q6600 G0 @ 2.8Ghz
Motherboard ex38 DS4
Cooling air
Memory 4 *1gig tracer ballistic
Video Card(s) sapphire dual bios 6950
Storage ssd- sandisk 120gb, sata- 2 500gb samsung in raid 1 & 1 samsung 400gb
Display(s) LG w2452tx
Case nzxt
Audio Device(s) na
Power Supply hiper 730
Mouse g9
Keyboard bt microsoft arch
Software win7
Just a thought; copper is at $3.56/pound, theres probably around 10 pounds of copper in that. Would be a huge pain to strip it out by hand, but its like free far cry 3!

lol wheres my pliers
 

Kreij

Senior Monkey Moderator
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Messages
13,817 (2.21/day)
Location
Cheeseland (Wisconsin, USA)
The recycler near us will take any cables, circuit boards, RAM, UPS batteries, etc. etc.
They remove the crap, in furnaces, and pay you for the raw materials like copper, silver and gold.
They pay for batteries by the pound.
The last time I sent in a few boxes I got about $100.
 
Joined
Apr 21, 2011
Messages
494 (0.10/day)
Location
Hesperus IV
System Name Salvaged
Processor AMD Phenom II X6, 1055T
Motherboard MSI (cant remember model..)
Cooling Antec Kühler + extra fans (Antec, Zalman, Coolermaster, Generic brand)
Memory 8Gb (2 x 4Gb)
Video Card(s) ATI Radeon HD6870
Storage Samsung 1TB, 320 Seagate, 250 Samsung
Display(s) LG Electronics
Case ANTEC Sonata III 500 (found/salvaged + modified)
Audio Device(s) 8Ch + Harman Kardon 2.1 (modified, electronics in JVC wood speakers)
Power Supply It's made in Denmark, never seen a PSU made there..
Software Win7 X64 Ultimate
I always collect copper from electric cables/cords. Even have some solid copper heatsinks from some 1U servers that stopped working. I sell copper when I have the right amount.
 
Joined
Sep 25, 2011
Messages
1,770 (0.39/day)
Location
Cussing desert
System Name Torquey Vulture
Processor Ryzen 5 2600
Motherboard Gigabyte B450 MiniITX
Cooling DDC water loop, EK block
Memory 16GB Patriot Viper RGB
Video Card(s) EVGA 1070
Storage 500gb NVME; some Phat HDDs
Display(s) Achieva Shimian 27" 2560x1440
Case Thermaltake V1 MiniITX
Power Supply EVGA supernova 850 G2
Mouse Corsair Harpoon
Keyboard Possibly the cheapest you can buy. Shift key broke recently. Space sounds like I'm kicking a ham
Software Windows 10
The recycler near us will take any cables, circuit boards, RAM, UPS batteries, etc. etc.
They remove the crap, in furnaces, and pay you for the raw materials like copper, silver and gold.
They pay for batteries by the pound.
The last time I sent in a few boxes I got about $100.

They pay like a third the money tho for unprepared copper. Also depends on the scrapyard, theres one near me that only pays like $10/ton, they really really dont want wire. Others will still pay a couple bucks a pound for it.

Lol, I have some experience in this area cuz a friend of mine started a copper recycling business recently.
 
Last edited:
Top