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Resistance Color Codes

This document provides instructions for reading resistor color codes. It lists the color codes for the numbers 0 through 9. It then explains that the first step is to identify the tolerance band, which will be gold (5%) or silver (10%). Next, read the colors moving away from the tolerance band to determine the resistor value. The first band is the first digit, second band is the second digit, and the third or "multiplier" band indicates the number of zeros to add or decimal place to move based on its color. An optional fourth band may indicate failure rate percentage.

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Anupam Gupta
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108 views

Resistance Color Codes

This document provides instructions for reading resistor color codes. It lists the color codes for the numbers 0 through 9. It then explains that the first step is to identify the tolerance band, which will be gold (5%) or silver (10%). Next, read the colors moving away from the tolerance band to determine the resistor value. The first band is the first digit, second band is the second digit, and the third or "multiplier" band indicates the number of zeros to add or decimal place to move based on its color. An optional fourth band may indicate failure rate percentage.

Uploaded by

Anupam Gupta
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How to read Resistor Color Codes First the code

Black Brown Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Violet Gray White 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

How to read the code


First find the tolerance band, it will typically be gold (5%) and sometimes silver (10%). Starting from the other end, identify the first band - write down the number associated with that color; in this case Blue is 6. Now 'read' the next color, here it is red so write down a '2' next to the six. (you should have '62' so far.) Now read the third or 'multiplier' band and write down that number of zeros. In this example it is two so we get '6200' or '6,200'. If the 'multiplier' band is Black (for zero) don't write any zeros down. If the 'multiplier' band is Gold move the decimal point one to the left. If the 'multiplier' band is Silver move the decimal point two places to the left. If the resistor has one more band past the tolerance band it is a quality band. Read the number as the '% Failure rate per 1000 hour' This is rated assuming full wattage being applied to the resistors. (To get better failure rates, resistors are typically specified to have twice the needed wattage dissipation that the circuit produces) 1% resistors have three bands to read digits to the left of the multiplier. They have a different temperature coefficient in order to provide the 1% tolerance.

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