First One Ive Ever Seen at a Garage Sale

[billjustbill]

First One I've Ever Seen at a Garage Sale

I guess it goes to show you, you never know what you'll find at a Garage Sale....

This last Saturday morning, at 7:15 a.m., we went back to the same nearby community sale with the high hopes that more people would be setup.... At the same house I saw and passed on a 85w solar panel on Friday, there setting in the driveway were two more solar panels.... They were Kyocera 135w, 12v, panels, but they were attached to something else.....
.
I walked over to it and the fellow came over. He remembered I was looking at the small single panel, on Friday. Out of nothing but sheer curiosity, I asked him how much something like this would sell for.... He said after a rather long pause, "Well, Today?". By the long pause in his voice, I was ready for the brick wall.... He continued, " I'll take $300.00!"
.
That kind of answer just blindsided me; you know that amount wouldn't even buy and ship a single 135w Kyocera panel, even with lower panel costs today! In the next 5 minutes he explained the system was used as a mobile solar powered security system for companies doing work in rather remote areas. It has a Cisco router and a data uplink hooked to a motion detector and Infrared camera. All bolted on a hydraulic raised folding boom that extends upward 30 ft. high. You could see your security area via an Internet link. The batteries size, and the amp draw would allow 24hr security, even if there was no sun for "10 days".

I paid the fellow, and in a calm and rather sheepish way, I asked if he would write me a receipt. I needed some reassurance on two fronts: One, that it wasn't stolen.... and .... Two, it would be there when I came back. .
All the while of the remaining morning, I was so excited, I could hardly hold another thought in my head. I kept having a feeling of anxiousness as I found other items in the same neighborhood sale as well as back at local garage sale activity. At 11:30, when we went back, sure enough, it was still there!............

It has a "Mobotix 12" video camera and something else bolted to the masts. I found some info on it:
Amazon.com: Mobotix M12D-Sec-Night-N22N135 Outdoor Mega Dual Camera with Night Time 22mm Super Wide-Angle and 135mm Telephoto Lens, Power over Ethernet and Video Motion Detection: Camera & Photo

I'm considering keeping all the electronics, batteries, and solar panels and then selling the boom and trailer, maybe on Craigslist? By the pics, what would you say it would sell for?

Thanks,
Bill

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A History of Mining on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska - Grab it through Amazon!

[CladSpends2]

Bill, you might check and see if DR or Kubota or make this trailer. They both use the orange paint on everything they make that I have seen. If you find a price on their website, it might give you an idea to go by. Good luck with it, what a steal...................has to be a 2, maybe 3 bagger for you minimum and that is after you keep everything you want. Way to go!

T.

 

[MT_Joe]

That is a fine score!

 

[SnakemanBill]

WOW!! Great deal! The batteries alone would probably cost close to $300.

 

[GibH]

I would not part it out. I would start calling local construction companies.

 

[diggummup]

I would not part it out. I would start calling local construction companies.

That's what I was thinking. I mean, that things ready to go why part it out? That's a helluva score by the way! Congrats.

 

[Produce Guy]

For only $300!,you got a deal.

 

[Rodbuster209]

I would not part it out. I would start calling local construction companies.

Also I would call up the companies that rent out the mobile security camera's, they might be interested in buying it.

 

[jbc465]

Very good deal. Wow

 

[jamey]

now thats a neat find,id keep it myself

 

[vpnavy]

WOW Bill! Thanks for sharing...

 

[jerseyben]

Holy crap... That is one killer score!

 

[cheese]

Wow! Don't part it out, it's worth much more as a unit!

 

[cyberdan]

I had one of those FIRST TIME experiences a couple years ago.

I spotted a small fancy box at a church yard sale, picked it up and opened it up. I took out the one item inside and squeezed it trying to figure out what it was. It was about the size and shape of a grapefruit but firm and squishy. I was getting suspicious so I read what it said on the box.

It was a SILICONE BREAST IMPLANT

 

[GlenDronach]

Keep your receipt for when the police come knocking for the thousands of dollars worth of equipment sold for drug money

Just joking but I find it odd that such value was willingly sold by someone who was aware of it...

 

[billjustbill]

Keep your receipt for when the police come knocking for the thousands of dollars worth of equipment sold for drug money

Just joking but I find it odd that such value was willingly sold by someone who was aware of it...

The fellow's business card showed he works full time for a Metroplex company. He tried to start a side line business with the security side, but he said it may have been before its time.... (Two summers ago in a local upscale neighborhood, I went to a garage sale. A fellow was divorced and his new wife-to-be had divorced and they were selling "her things" and moving inside the Dallas/Ft. Worth, Tx., area. She had bundled a lot of her costume jewelry into doubled sandwich bags. As I listened to conversational comments between the two as they monitored their sale, I put all the above facts together. It turned out that 8 of the bags of jewelry, from her first marriage, were priced at $8.00 each, so I bought all of them. I found sterling silver, 1oz silver rounds marked "Christmas 1993", and mixed costume jewelry. All these things also held both good and bad memories one doesn't really want in a new start of a new life. In the lightest of the 8 bags I found less Sterling than the other baggies, but I also found a 10kt gold tennis bracelet. The local jeweler said there were 35 diamonds of 10 points each. He said, "You've got a 3-1/2 carat diamond tennis bracelet."
So, lots of circumstances cause lots of changes, gains, and losses.)

It's something I may very well keep all the electronics/solar equipment and sell the trailer. I've since understood that the other item also currently mounted on the collapsible mast is a "Ilumanar" IR illuminator for the night vision part of the camera..... When I install my ground solar array, these low voltage parts and video uplink to the internet can help watch the backyard and equipment.... I'm still on a learning curve with the electronics side. The trailer hitch has a weight rating of 600 lbs side thrust and 3,400 lbs. of tongue weight, so the wheels/tires and trailer chassis could make a good ATV or Jet Ski hauler.

In the random chance of finding this fellow and buying the solar powered trailer for pennies on the dollar, I believe it's just a sign of the times. I'm seeing an increasing amount of garage sales, and even at flea markets slots, where people have closed their boutiques and antique mall booths and are now selling their inventories. It amounts to having some "Mad Money Cash" put back so that when circumstances and prices are right for a buyer, you have the dollars to use on rare opportunities....


You're right to wonder. Even dealing with long time car dealerships, one is never sure about the final price or background of a new vehicle. So, whether it's retail or garage-sale, it's always that gut feeling: "Buyer Beware".

 

[elgatodelnoche]

Guys who run recirculating sluices would go crazy over that.

 

[beez0404]

I would take a few more photos and list it on Ebay and Craigslist just how you bought it. Use the proceeds at future garage sales.

 

[billjustbill]

UPDATE: I'm trying to get ready for our large garage sale. I don't have an idea what this trailer alone, nor the whole system is worth. So, I took some time to research the maker: "OMJC Signal". In talking to a Texas company that sells this brand, he did some homework. He said a single camera, solar/battery system and trailer sell new for "$45,000". He then said his contact said a price increase had happened and the same type of system with "4 cameras that can read the number on the dials of oil field equipment sells for $54,000.

While I'm taken back by those numbers, I'm at a loss as to how to sell this garage sale find: 1. Intact but not sure if all of it works, or (2.) keep/salvage the solar panels, deep cycle batteries and electronics, and sell the trailer with it's hydraulic raising 30' boom.

I don't need the trailer system as it is, but I don't want to wind up keeping it, nor selling it well below whatever its market value might be.... How would you handle this "Worrisome, but Wonderful Windfall Find"?

 

[HenryWaltonJonesJr]

I would contact these guys. Looks exactly what they sell and might give you a decent offer on what you have.

If you sell it do I get a finders fee? Hah!

http://www.liveviewtech.com/contact/

Good luck!