Resistor Colour Codes

[Richard Harris]

Hi,
I have a resistor that is showing up as 56.0 Ohms on a multimeter but the
colour code seems to say 560 Ohms.

Green Blue Black Gold Brown
5 6 0 ?? 1% Tolerance

What does the gold mean?

Thanks for ya time guys.

 

[Anthony Fremont]

"Richard Harris" <richard_harris_2@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:csoq9r$8vr$1@sparta.btinternet.com...

Hi,
I have a resistor that is showing up as 56.0 Ohms on a multimeter but
the
colour code seems to say 560 Ohms.

Green Blue Black Gold Brown
5 6 0 ?? 1% Tolerance

Maybe it's really Brown and not Black for the third band?

What does the gold mean?

+/-5%

 

[Richard Harris]

Sorry Please Ingore.


"Richard Harris" <richard_harris_2@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:csoq9r$8vr$1@sparta.btinternet.com...

Hi,
I have a resistor that is showing up as 56.0 Ohms on a multimeter but the
colour code seems to say 560 Ohms.

Green Blue Black Gold Brown
5 6 0 ?? 1% Tolerance

What does the gold mean?

Thanks for ya time guys.

 

[Charles W. Johson Jr.]

"Anthony Fremont" <spam@anywhere.com> wrote in message
news:u5SHd.50610$Z%.24303@fe1.texas.rr.com...

"Richard Harris" <richard_harris_2@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:csoq9r$8vr$1@sparta.btinternet.com...
Hi,
I have a resistor that is showing up as 56.0 Ohms on a multimeter but
the
colour code seems to say 560 Ohms.

Green Blue Black Gold Brown
5 6 0 ?? 1% Tolerance

Maybe it's really Brown and not Black for the third band?

What does the gold mean?

+/-5%

Multiply 56 by 10 raised to the Zero power , wich is 1 not 10.

Charles

 

[Fred Abse]

On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 17:38:04 +0000, Richard Harris wrote:

Green Blue Black Gold Brown 5 6 0

Green - 5
Blue - 6
Black - 0
Gold - multiplied by 10^-1 ie. 0.1
Brown - 1%

Hence 56 ohms.

That's the way it's done with five band resistors for values below 100
ohms

What does the gold mean?

Divide by 10 (multiply by 0.1)

--
Then there's duct tape ...
(Garrison Keillor)

 

[Jim Douglas]

I always put em on the meter cause I can't see very good anymore, even with
lighted magnifying glass!

"Richard Harris" <richard_harris_2@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:csoq9r$8vr$1@sparta.btinternet.com...

Hi,
I have a resistor that is showing up as 56.0 Ohms on a multimeter but the
colour code seems to say 560 Ohms.

Green Blue Black Gold Brown
5 6 0 ?? 1% Tolerance

What does the gold mean?

Thanks for ya time guys.

 

[Robert Monsen]

Anthony Fremont wrote:

"Charles W. Johson Jr." <qrus19@mindsprUng.com past to present> wrote in
message news:vbUHd.1051$YD5.999@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net...

"Anthony Fremont" <spam@anywhere.com> wrote in message
news:u5SHd.50610$Z%.24303@fe1.texas.rr.com...

"Richard Harris" <richard_harris_2@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:csoq9r$8vr$1@sparta.btinternet.com...

Hi,
I have a resistor that is showing up as 56.0 Ohms on a multimeter

but

the

colour code seems to say 560 Ohms.

Green Blue Black Gold Brown
5 6 0 ?? 1% Tolerance

Maybe it's really Brown and not Black for the third band?


What does the gold mean?

+/-5%


Multiply 56 by 10 raised to the Zero power , wich is 1 not 10.


I know, but I think of it like the third digit is just the number of
zeros. Six to one, half dozen.....

Capacitors are also numbered with this annoying scheme. A cap numbered
xyz is xy*10^z pF. A 100 cap is a 10pF cap. I would have prefered strict
scientific notation (which would have allowed 10ths of pF), but it was
probably invented before the widespread adoption of that notation.

Inductors also have the same numbering scheme, but their numbering is in
uH, not pF. Ugh. Inductors sometimes have the color bands to indicate
their values.

--
Regards,
Robert Monsen

"Your Highness, I have no need of this hypothesis."
- Pierre Laplace (1749-1827), to Napoleon,
on why his works on celestial mechanics make no mention of God.

 

[me]

"Richard Harris" <richard_harris_2@hotmail.com> wrote in news:csoq9r$8vr$1
@sparta.btinternet.com:

Hi,
I have a resistor that is showing up as 56.0 Ohms on a multimeter but the
colour code seems to say 560 Ohms.

Green Blue Black Gold Brown

that's:

5 6 0 1/10 1% Tolerance

for 560/10=56.0 +/- .56 ohms. A "precision" resitor.

 

[Bob Masta]

On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 16:59:34 -0800, Robert Monsen
<rcsurname@comcast.net> wrote:

Jim Douglas wrote:
I always put em on the meter cause I can't see very good anymore, even with
lighted magnifying glass!


I also do that on occasion. I'm partially color blind, so greens and
reds are 'weak' for me. Thus, I have issues with browns and reds looking
suspiciously similar. Unfortunately, the size of the colored area seems
to be a factor in whether I can recognize it, so while I can tell
stoplights with ease, I can't tell red from brown on resistors. I use
one of those big magnifying glasses too, and that helps, but keeping the
parts in separate labeled bins helps more.

One of the guys where I used to work found that
replacing the cool-white fluorescents with daylight
balanced versions made a *huge* difference in
being able to tell red from brown on those 1%
resistors with blue bodies. Worked great, and
made it seem like perpetual sunrise in the lab
(which had no windows).



Bob Masta
dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom

D A Q A R T A
Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis
www.daqarta.com

 

[Kitchen Man]

On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 17:38:04 +0000 (UTC), "Richard Harris"
<richard_harris_2@hotmail.com> wrote:

Hi,
I have a resistor that is showing up as 56.0 Ohms on a multimeter but the
colour code seems to say 560 Ohms.

Green Blue Black Gold Brown
5 6 0 ?? 1% Tolerance

I think of the third color as "number of zeroes." For instance,
Yellow-Violet-Red is 4-7 plus two zeroes, or 4.7K. Other posters are
correct that the third band is a power of 10 multiplier, but for ease of
remembering and calculation, "number of zeroes to add" works for me.

What does the gold mean?

The tolerance. I think gold is 1%. There are other color bands that
can creep in in different situations. For instance, a gold third band
means multiply by 10^-1, or one-tenth, which would make your resistor
5.6 Ohms if the third band were gold, not black.

Thanks for ya time guys.

 

[Anthony Fremont]

"Charles W. Johson Jr." <qrus19@mindsprUng.com past to present> wrote in
message news:vbUHd.1051$YD5.999@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net...

"Anthony Fremont" <spam@anywhere.com> wrote in message
news:u5SHd.50610$Z%.24303@fe1.texas.rr.com...

"Richard Harris" <richard_harris_2@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:csoq9r$8vr$1@sparta.btinternet.com...
Hi,
I have a resistor that is showing up as 56.0 Ohms on a multimeter
but
the
colour code seems to say 560 Ohms.

Green Blue Black Gold Brown
5 6 0 ?? 1% Tolerance

Maybe it's really Brown and not Black for the third band?

What does the gold mean?

+/-5%


Multiply 56 by 10 raised to the Zero power , wich is 1 not 10.

I know, but I think of it like the third digit is just the number of
zeros. Six to one, half dozen.....

 

[Jamie]

Richard Harris wrote:

Hi,
I have a resistor that is showing up as 56.0 Ohms on a multimeter but the
colour code seems to say 560 Ohms.

Green Blue Black Gold Brown
5 6 0 ?? 1% Tolerance

What does the gold mean?

Thanks for ya time guys.


codes are correct.

third band is your multiplier., this would make the
R 56 Ohms. 0 meaning no zero's after 56. 1 meaning 1 zero
which would be a brown ring how ever,
the gold band is your +/- 5% accuracy of the marked
reading.
the brown band, because it comes after the tolerance
reading normally used for quality and other markings.
you make see at times were you only have 2 color bands
and then a gold or Silver band, this is a fraction multiplier.
gold being X 0.1 of the first 2 digits, and silver being
x 0.01 etc./
you make also see another gold/silver band following it that
would then indicate the tolerance.
there are in some cases for more precise values 4 bands for
R value and then the Multiplier. you will know when you have one
of these due to the fact that gold/silver band will not appear until
after 4 color bands. R,R,R,M,T instead of the R,R,M,T
etc..
hope that helped some.

 

[Robert Monsen]

Jim Douglas wrote:

I always put em on the meter cause I can't see very good anymore, even with
lighted magnifying glass!

I also do that on occasion. I'm partially color blind, so greens and
reds are 'weak' for me. Thus, I have issues with browns and reds looking
suspiciously similar. Unfortunately, the size of the colored area seems
to be a factor in whether I can recognize it, so while I can tell
stoplights with ease, I can't tell red from brown on resistors. I use
one of those big magnifying glasses too, and that helps, but keeping the
parts in separate labeled bins helps more.

Unfortunately, if I happen to drop a resistor into the wrong bin, I
often can't tell until something either doesn't work as expected, or
gets hot.

Such is life.

--
Regards,
Robert Monsen

"Your Highness, I have no need of this hypothesis."
- Pierre Laplace (1749-1827), to Napoleon,
on why his works on celestial mechanics make no mention of God.