Resistor Color Code
Or how to read those little resistors!
Resistor Color Code
1st band color gives 1st number
2nd band color gives 2nd number
3rd band color gives # of zeros
4th band color gives tolerance or
±
How to read it
◼ Resistors are color coded for easy reading.
◼ To determine the value of a given resistor look for the
gold or silver tolerance band and hold the resistor
with this band to the right.
◼ Then read the colored bands left to right.
How to read it
◼ Look at the 1st color band and determine its color.
This maybe difficult on small or oddly colored
resistors. Now look at the chart and match the "1st &
2nd color band" color to the "Digit it represents".
Write this number down.
How to read it
◼ Now look at the 2nd color band and match that color to the
same chart. Write this number next to the 1st Digit.
◼ Match the 3rd color band with the chart under multiplier. This
is the number you will multiple the other 2 numbers by.
Write it next to the other 2 numbers with a multiplication
sign before it.
How to read it
RED-BLACK-YELLOW-SILVER
◼ Example:
◼ First color is red which is 2
◼ Second color is black which is 0
◼ Third color is yellow which is 10,000
◼ Tolerance is silver which is 10%
Therefore the equation is:
2 0 x 10,000 = 200,000 Ohms ± 10%
ppm is part per millions.
How to remember the code
◼ B ◼ 1
◼ B ◼ 2
◼ R ◼ 3
◼ O ◼ 4
◼ Y ◼ 5
◼ G ◼ 6
◼ B ◼ 7
◼ V ◼ 8
◼ G ◼ 9
◼ W
K or M?
◼ Many resistors have large amounts of resistance, so
we use prefixes to have a handy short name
◼ “k” is for kilo and means 1000 times
◼ “M” is for mega and means 1,000,000 times (million)
Practice
◼ If you have an
◼ Orange Orange Brown Gold resistor
◼ What is it’s resistance?
◼ The first orange means 3
◼ The second orange means 3
◼ The brown means 1 zero
◼ The gold means ± 5%
◼ So answer is 330 ohms ± 5%
4 Band resistor
Value Multiplier Tolerance
◼ Brown-Red-Red-Gold
Ʊ
1 2 X 100 =1200 + 5%
-
5 Band resistor
Value Multiplier
Tolerance
◼ Orange-Orange-Black-Brown-Violet
Ʊ + 0.1%
3 3 0 X 10 =33000 or 33k -
6 Band resistor
Value Multiplier Tolerance Temperature Co-efficient
of Resistance (TCR)
◼ Green-Brown-Violet-Black-Gold-Orange
X 1 =517
Ʊ + 5% 15ppm
5 1 7 -