How to read resistor values

* Prefixes used in electronics – the most commonly used prefixes are kilo and
mega for whole numbers and milli, micro, nano and Pico for decimals. The
powers of those numbers are all multiples of 3 values get abbreviated by shifting
the decimal place over by those multiples of 3 for resistors we mostly use kilo
and mega.

Resistors are color coded for easy reading. Start reading color codes from left to
right with the larger width tolerance band oriened to
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. Look at the
1st color band and determine its color. 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.

There are through-hole resistors and surface mount resistors through all
resistors have colored bands on them resistors use a color coding system to
indicate their value as well as their tolerance. Tolerance is the accuracy or
margin of error of the resistor rating ranging anywhere from a fraction of a
percent up to 20 percent. In the color code chart black, brown then the colors in
order of the rainbow red orange yellow green blue violet followed by gray and
whites followed by gold and silver we can use this chart to determine the digit
multiplier or tolerance that the color band represents resistors can have a
varying number of bands on them. On a four band resistor the first two stripes
are combined together to form a number between 1 and 99 the third stripe is the
multiplier and the last marks the tolerance. On a 5 band resistor the first three
stripes get read as a single number while the fourth stripe is the multiplier and
the fifth band represents the tolerance most five band resistors are precision
resistors with tolerances of one percent or two percent indicated by a brown or
red band on the far right while most of the four band resistors have tolerances
of five percent or ten percent indicated by a gold or silver band if the resistor has
no fourth tolerance band then the default tolerance would be 20% .