How To Read Resistors

The fourth band tells you the tolerance of the resistor which indicates how far off the nominal value the actual resistance could be.

How to read resistors. And the last color. Tolerance is the precision of the resistor and it is given as a percentage. Look at the first color band and determine its color. Through hole axial resistors usually use the color band system to display their value. If you have a resistor with a gold or silver band on one end you have a 5 or 10 tolerance resistor.

How to read the code. Standard resistors have four color bands. Make sure to read the value of the right most color band to determine the tolerance of the resistor. The total resistance of the circuit is found by simply adding up the resistance values of the individual resistors. Then jot down the sequence of the colored bands reading from left to right.

For example a 390 resistor with a tolerance of 10 will have a value within 10 of 390 between 390 39 351 and 390 39 429 39 is 10 of 390. Give each color a number according to its resistive value. So for a 560 ohm 5 resistor the color stripes will be green blue brown and gold. The first two bands always denote the first two digits of the resistance value in ohms. The current is the same through each resistor.

To determine the value of a given resistor look for the gold or silver tolerance band and rotate the resistor as in the photo on the left. The first two bands indicate the two most significant digits of the resistor s value. Similarly search the color of the second band in the column labeled 2 nd digit. Resistors never start with a metallic band on the left. Must read method of ceramic capacitor code reading series connection.

3rd digit only for 5 band resistors. Position the resistor with this band on the right side and again read your resistor from left to right. Tolerance band on the right hand end of the colors refer to the tolerance chart below for exact values. To read an axial lead resistor hold the resistor so the gold or silver band is facing to the right. If the 3rd band would be red instead of brown the multiplier would be 10 2 100 instead of 10 and the resistor value would be.