Opinions on three PSS SLT600 Solar light towers for free

[The Dish Doc]

Good evening. I’m looking for opinions. I recently came across the opportunity to acquire 3 2011 PSS SLT600 Solar light towers for free. They are located about 100 miles from my location. The tires are Meh… and they have no tags so I would have to trailer them to my location. Unless I can find a buddy with a trailer I can borrow, I’ll have to rent one. From the picture the guy sent me, it looks like the units have 4 solar panels on each side. They also have 12 AGM batteries each. The guy said one of them lit up when he hit the switch, one was missing bulbs and he didn’t mess with the other one. From the pics they look like they have some usable parts (MPPT controllers, 12V timers, Eaton breakers, wiring and other bits I can use if they work). They guy said he bought them at auction for $1500 apiece to light a parking lot but the city came in and put up light poles so they have been sitting since Sept. Now he just wants them gone. Since The price is free except my gas, time and trailer rental cost (haven’t checked on prices yet) does it look like it would be worth the 200 mile round trip to go get these? That’s assuming I can haul them all three at once which is doubtful. The trailer specs are 174”L X 54W” X 84”H. 55” wheelbase. 2200lbs. 2” ball. Tongue weight 120 lbs. I figure I could sell the trailers and any non-working batteries for scrap to help offset expenses. Question is do you think it’s worth the time and effort to go get this? I’m attaching some pics of what they are for review. The pic marked PSS 2 are the actual units. The other pics are from the web. Apparently, these things get auctioned off quite a bit. Any opinions would be welcomed.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

You had me at free.

 

[crossy]

"Free" works for me too.

 

[Bugwubber]

let me tell you about the free hot tub I acquired. But had to rent a truck to pick it up. And had to build out electrical to support it. And rebuild the cabinet. And was going to have to replace the entire elec pack to get it working…well I sold my house, had to drag it off to the dump since it wasn’t working yet and have since bought a new inflatable hot tub for less than what I had in the free one, and I have enjoyed much more ;-)

That said, only 2 of my 15 solar panels were bought new from a company lol

Good luck!

 

[crossy]

let me tell you about the free hot tub I acquired

Madam was given 30 or so koi by our postman (he wanted the ponds to grow something he could eat). Of course Muggins here had to build a 30,000 litre concrete pool for the beasts to live in with associated air and filter and UV etc. etc (at least the solar provides the energy). The ruddy things are now the size of Great-Whites and shift a couple of kg of (not cheap) koi food every week! They are very relaxing to watch sitting in our sala with a beer mind

Back on topic.
It depends upon what friends/contacts you have. All three would likely go on a flatbed truck, if you know "a man" who would shift them for a nominal fee. Maybe get them on someone returning empty. Any idea how he got them delivered in the first place?

Three trailer chassis in reasonable condition should be saleable items. Parting out the towers (know any radio hams?) and light clusters should also be at least reasonably profitable.

But like the hot tub, it's all a bit of a lottery.

EDIT Alternatively, go over with a trailer and collect the usable bits off them and get the local scrap-chap to remove the remains.

 

[chrisski]

I could not make it worth it for me unless its a favor.

I don’t scrap, but the value to me would be $600 for the panels. Used 250 watt panels may sell on craigslist local for $100 a piece. Even if they are not 250 watts, $100 is around what I could advertise for big panels, but I may need to sell at $50. Other than that, nothing else has value to me. I estimate $80 in gas To haul and pick up. The scrap yard from me is about probably another $40 in gas. I think three days of work for me Between pick up, loading, tear down, and posting an ad and waiting.

Since only the panels have value for me, I’d be better off getting a set off craigslist.

If you‘re interested, I have a free 25 ah lithium cell I’ll give you. Just has a single dent. May even work. All I ask is you pay $15 for the cost of shipping for Me.

 

[JoeHam]

If you scrap/harvest what you want then the trailer, with crank up light tower, would make a decent trailer tower for supporting ham radio antennas.

I might be interested in one depending on price and location.

 

[The Dish Doc]

Update: I went and picked up the 2 remaining trailers yesterday. A buddy went with me and pulled one back since he wants to make a little farm trailer out of one. Gas round trip was $25. I made two trips so I have $50 invested.

I called the scrap yard (6 miles from me) and he will give me .18/pound for batteries and .08/lb for the trailers. The 4 12 volt batteries weigh 130# apiece. So selling the 4 12volt batteries yields $96.30. I'm already profitable. I'll sell the trailers when I finish pulling what I want off them. I estimate stripped weight around 1500 lbs and that's conservative. Selling the two I have left yields $240. Now I'm getting paid to haul this away. I'll keep both sets of tires (they are brand new) and put them on my utility trailer. Also keeping the tongue jacks, LED lights and winches. I gave my buddy 5 of the LED lights for his round pen. Here's some of the stuff I've salvaged.

4-295 watt panels

12-100 watt panels

4-Sunsaver Trackstar MPPT charger controllers

6-Timerco timers

2-Tristar remote meters

2-hobbs meters

8-linear actuators

16-6 volt batteries (I’ll keep the best and sell the rest) They were replaced 10/18

4-12 batteries (may keep the best one)

4-Midnite battery state of charge meters

Lots of Eaton circuit breakers

Lots of nice battery cables and wire.

I haven’t even looked at what batteries are in the 12 panel trailer. I’m really hoping they are the AGM batteries that are supposed to be in these units. I’m pretty happy with the outcome since I am making money taking all this stuff off his hands. I’m good with how it worked out. Those that said it wouldn't be worth it must have alot more money than I do.

 

[The Dish Doc]

More of my free goodies. I'll have $300 in my pocket and all this stuff.

 

[KellyDood]

Sounds like a score!

 

[timselectric]

It really depends on how bad you want them.
200 miles would make me think twice about it.
100 miles, I would probably go for it.

 

[The Dish Doc]

I was able to pull them home with my pickup. The LED trailer lights worked fine after I wired a plug on two them. The other one was good to go as is. The tires were fine. One trailer even had a tag I was glad I didn't have to rent a trailer and hassle with that, but even then the parts I pulled would have paid for themselves with the scraps.

 

[timselectric]

Awesome score

 

[The Dish Doc]

It really depends on how bad you want them.
200 miles would make me think twice about it.
100 miles, I would probably go for it.

I already went for it. This is all sitting in my yard. It took me $50 in gas and a few hours of my time to go get it. I don't charge myself for that time any more than I charge myself for my time spent in a solar build. I'm good with it

 

[The Dish Doc]

Sounds like a score!

I kinnda lucked up on that one.

 

[timselectric]

Very nice

 

[The Dish Doc]

Awesome score

Thank you. I'm very pleased with the outcome.

 

[The Dish Doc]

If you scrap/harvest what you want then the trailer, with crank up light tower, would make a decent trailer tower for supporting ham radio antennas.

I might be interested in one depending on price and location.

Where are you located? I'm in the Florida panhandle.

 

[JoeHam]

Where are you located? I'm in the Florida panhandle.

Ohio unfortunately

 

[The Dish Doc]

Ohio unfortunately

Thats a shame