Automotive relays & fuse boxes

Only the big stuff pays. A starter solenoid or EV contactor has silver discs the size of a shirt button; a plastic ISO relay has three specks and takes two minutes to open.

Ag 25–80 mg per mini ISO relayCu 1–3 g coil + terminals per relay

eBay typical$3–10per lb

Refiner pays$0.4per lb

Metal in it$2.57per lb at 4 Aug 2026 spot

Confidencemedof the yield figures

How to spot it

Relays are one-inch black plastic cubes with 4–5 blade terminals, in the underhood fuse box, under-dash panel or rear junction block, marked Bosch 0 332…, Omron G8HN, Denso 156700-, 12V 30A/40A. Fuse boxes are big multi-cavity housings with a diagram on the lid, beside the battery or in a footwell.

Metal content

Metal	Quantity	Notes
Silver	25–80 mg per mini ISO relay	AgNi / AgSnO₂ / AgCdO rivets; starter solenoids and EV contactors carry 1–5 g
Copper	1–3 g coil + terminals per relay	busbars are the bulk of a fuse box

At 4 Aug 2026 spot prices that works out to $2.57 per pound of contained metal — Silver 1.1 g = $2.09, Copper 45 g = $0.48. A refiner paying $0.4 returns about 16% of that, which is normal: refining costs money and the buyer takes a margin.

Safe removal

Working temperature: Cold

Relays pull straight out by hand. To harvest silver, crack the case with side cutters, unfold the frame and snip the contact rivets off the springs with flush cutters. Keep rivets away from copper. For fuse boxes, many buyers prefer you cut the harness six inches out and sell the box with pigtails.

Hazards

☠ Cadmium

NEVER grind, burn, torch or braze cadmium-plated or AgCdO material, and don't inhale the black contact dust.

⚡ Stored high voltage

NEVER short a large capacitor with a screwdriver. It welds the tip, blasts molten metal at your face, and can rupture the can.

Before you scrap it

Whole fuse boxes and junction blocks are a real used-part item at $40–250 because they carry the specific circuit configuration — often 50–100× what harvesting them yields.

The common trap

"Silver contacts" implies solid silver. They're 1–3 mm alloy rivets brazed to copper springs — a mini relay holds about a grain of rice's worth of metal split three ways. And automotive fuse box terminals are tin, not gold; the gold-connector story belongs to computers, not cars. Pre-2000 contacts are AgCdO — cadmium oxide, a carcinogen.

Questions

How much gold is in automotive relays & fuse boxes?

Silver: 25–80 mg per mini ISO relay. Copper: 1–3 g coil + terminals per relay. At current spot that is about $2.57 of contained metal per pound.

How do you identify automotive relays & fuse boxes?

Only the big stuff pays. A starter solenoid or EV contactor has silver discs the size of a shirt button; a plastic ISO relay has three specks and takes two minutes to open.

How do you remove automotive relays & fuse boxes safely?

Is automotive relays & fuse boxes worth more working than as scrap?

Whole fuse boxes and junction blocks are a real used-part item at $40–250 because they carry the specific circuit configuration — often 50–100× what harvesting them yields.

Related in Automotive

ABS, transmission & body control modules Automotive · $3–8/lb Au 0.010–0.030 g per moduleAg 0.2–1.5 g in BCM relay contactsCu 40–120 g in the ABS pump motorBase 1.5–3 lb aluminium hydraulic block C Airbag control module (ACM/SDM/RCM) Automotive · $2–6/lb Au 0.010–0.030 g per unitAg 0.05–0.2 g per unit C Automotive wiring harness Automotive · $1.5–3/lb Cu 48–52% recovery stripped; ~35% as-pulledAu under 0.1 g per whole vehicle C ECU / engine control module Automotive · $3–8/lb Au 0.11 g/lb of bare boardAg 0.45 g/lbPd 0.05 g/lbCu ~20% of board mass C EV / hybrid battery management boards Automotive · $5–15/lb Au 0.01–0.05 g per master boardAg ~0.1 g per master boardCu 10–50 g busbar traces per cell-tap board C Hybrid / EV traction inverter ⚡ Automotive · $8–20/lb Cu 3–8 kg per inverterAg 0.5–3 g sinter per power stageAu 0.02–0.08 g on gate-driver boardsBase 5–15 kg aluminium housing C

Get this offline → The full guide runs in your browser with no signal, and you can add your own photos.