Resistor color codes

It doesn't help when a relatively high % of males have some red/green deficiency and the bands are very narrow and the brown is so similar to orange and is that yellow or green or orange?... Sod it I'll use a meter.

Amen!

When I look at a resistor I have absolutely no idea what color most of the bands are. 1 in 10 men have the same problem. Resistors should have a number stamp as well as stripes.

Bill

Huh? I know of nobody who did not learn the ubiquitous mnemonic phrase for resistor color codes.

Bad Boys Ravage Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly

...But Virgins Go Without.

In my day it was Black Boys ....

Obviously, that's unacceptable, it's an example of the unconsious racism that was around 30 years ago. Jeff

The one I was taught wasn't quite as PC as that!

Thanks Bhankii,

I on very few occasions have a need for this but never can seem to find it when I do.

This will be very helpful. I'm not an EE but I do a lot of repair work on many electronic circuits. So the picture being worth a thousand words so to speak will be helpful.

There's a lot missing from that colour code chart.... don't forget the higher and lower tolerances as well as the 3 band, 4 band and 6 band resistors...

Not forgetting of course the resistors that use coding letters for tolerance as well as colour bands for temperature coefficient...

When you combine that with all the different colour bodies sometimes as Del says it is best to double check with a multimeter!!

John.

Yeah - especially with MIL numbering systems. But this will get you 90% of the way there.

Who here remembers the color codes on those old rectangular mica caps? 6 dots on the front, three on the back.

If you have access to "Industrial Electronics Handbook" by William D. Cockrell printed in 1958, page 2-16 shows all the color codes in use at that time.

I have them in my handy Electronics Pocket Handbook, by Daniel Metzger, 1982. I think I got it when I joined the Electronics Book Club 25 years ago.

Years before that I used to buy surplus grab bags that would have these little military boxes full of micas and all sorts of other obsolete technology.

For sure... My Dad had coffee cans full of them. The only problem is that I would have to get out my 1957 Radio Engineers Handbook to figure out how to read them. Believe it or not, that is still a very handy reference.

Bill

Don't forget the inductors which look and are marked similarly to resistors.

Very good point Jack.... I've been caught out by some of those...

John.

see how new I am to this, I didn't even know you could get pre manufactured inductors. OH WOW! isn't that going to make life a hell of a lot easier. yay! And in my defence, I already knew how to read resistors.

OKI DOKI, I better get on the blower

1N7** zener diodes, in clear glass cases, with their number color coded in tiny bands.

...750, 751, 752, 753... I hated those damn things, because you needed a magnifying glass to read the code, and you can't simply test them with a volt meter.

At least with the inductors, if they measure milliohms across them, you know you have an inductor and not a resistor.

Bill

Interesting. At my NZ uni, I was taught

"Big Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet Goes Without".

Ive remembered it ever since. Complex things like this need to be put into a weird/interesting story to be remembered.

And we wonder at the lack of female electronics students !

'Black Boys' was how I learned it too, nice that we can mention this socialogical stuff with an honest eye. (I was too chicken to mention that bit myself!)

Having gone to a conservative high school, they were not allowed to teach the more sexually oriented versions so we were stuck with:

Better Be Right Or Your Great Big Venture Goes West

Of course when you have been in the industry for a while, it comes automatically. My eyes see (for example) Red Violet Orange Gold, but my brain says 27Kohm, 5%.

Bill

What is the tolerance of a resistor with NO tolerance band? Of course I am not sure if they even make them anymore.

If memory serves, it's 20%.

Very Good... Of course we are so young that we never would have known this unless our grandmothers had not told us about it {snicker}.

Sincerely

Bill

sir i m pursing my b.tech they always taught us bout colour coding that is part of our course............even u can ask a 12th starndard student he can also tell.........m saying that because we have read this in class 12 too..........in short somebody is fooling you.........

The now ubiquitous surface mount device maybe?

OK, I have to share my politically correct, non-violent version of the code....

Bad Boys Race Our Young Girls But Violet Generally Wins

Most of what I deal with today is small surface mount stuff, some so small there isn't room to print the numbers, or they are so small my aging eyes can't read them without help!

Tom

Yeah, that's cute. I learned it as "Bad Boys Rape Our Young Girls But Violet Gives Willingly" I suppose we'll have to use your mnemonic now.

Of course there's always the compass rose conversion for magnetic variation: "True Virgins Make Dull Companions" which, although somewhat true (depending on what you're looking for in companionship?) got converted to TV Makes Dumb Children. Which is always true.

I have an old radio shack wheel gizmo that can dial up any color code you want. Must be 30 years old now. But it's still in my desk along with the TI-59.

I think all they teach in school now is SolidWorks and SPICE....

I've never ever used a mnemonic!!

Ever since being a kid and playing with electronic kits etc... I learnt to associate the numbers 1,2,3,4 etc with the colours.

So its always been black,brown,red,orange,yellow, etc...

Its been quite handy when remembering numbers such as telephone numbers to picture in my head the colours to dial!!

John .... doesn't every electronic engineer do this??

Never used a mnemonic with the resistors also... just remembered the order.

I did however use at one point...

Some Old Hen Caugh A Hen Taking Oats Away (sine cosine tangent)

and

My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas

of course now it could be... My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos

My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas

Many Volacanoes Erupt Mulberry Jam Sandwiches Under Normal Pressure

On the trig front, there's All Sausages Turn Cold for the quadrants in which the functions are +ve, anticlockwise from the x-axis

Interesting my house number is Redty Green!

I just recognize the colour combinations...I design in 47k every where 'cos they look so funky!

(PS..if I'm honest the terribly un PC version I was originally tought was Black B***ards...and it wasn't bollards ....)

LOLOLOLOL Del, I do that myself.... 47k just looks so cool....

After a while in the design labs at Marconi's we could tell who designed a particular circuit, not just by the 'favourite' circuits used but also by the resistor values...

John. Hmmmmm I live at 'brown brown' house... not a very inspired choice huh?

I've always been found of 33K's.

I never learned a memonic, I just remember the order of the rainbow - with black and brown on the front.

Yes but sometime the manufacturer put those bands in the wrong order...

Hi Del,

It sounds like we had the same teacher.

I never used any of the memonics, as someone else remarked "just knew the order" or like. With those mfr's alpha-numeric markings (usually high tolerance), they remain often a mystery and one has to get their reference data to figure out what (this resistor) is all about. Similarly, low value resistors should be investigated well to determine its characteristics (wire wound or composite?, and wattage rating).

Today, the schools probably don't teach it simply because Surface Mount Technology is more largely in-place. Unfortunately, the simple code 333 (33K) leaves us clueless as to the tolerance, type (metal film eg) and wattage (only sometimes important) when replacing. The size (0805, 1205, etc) generally tells us the wattage rating.

In designing, I most always use a 1% tolerance, as the same part can be used onward for other designs and already cataloged (with reference specs).

Hope this helps.

In 1962, in Electronics school at Keesler AFB, Biloxi, Mississippi, we were taught:

Biloxi (or, Bad) Beer Rots Our Young Guts, But Vodka Goes Well

No doubt, there are infinite variations.

With my bad eyes, I can read the color codes even on 1/8w through-hole (leaded) resistors, but I cannot see, much less read, the numbers on a SMD resistor even with 2.75 diopter reading glasses. I really like the 1/8w through hole ones.

I like the 5% resistors because the body background color causes the colors to show up well. Alas, last I checked, neither Jameco or Radio Shack has such resistors, which they used to offer at very good prices. I only use the leaded type because I build all of my circuits different each time by hand. The color codes can be read and interpreted at a glance. I don't have to calculate exponents.

The 1/8w leaded ones are perfect size for compact hand-made projects. If I etch a circuit board, which I usually don't, rather, using point to point wiring, I bend, and cut leaded resistors for surface mounting. For p2p, the leads usually become the traces, trimmed to the needed length.

Black Brown Red is simple............. 1Kohm

Black Brown Orange is simple......... 10 Kohm

Can anyone tell me the value of Black Brown Apricot???

Actually in measuring one, it turned out to be 10K... and purchasing had bought several thousand of the creatures so we learned to live with it, but the manufacturers should learn to use pure colors in their bands.

Bill

Don't take it so seriously!!

Nothing else is nearer to Apricot other than Orange, so a check with the meter confirmed that, which always a good idea for a good tech to do.....at least it was not green or violet that they got wrong with an Apricot color!!

My Wife gets all stewed up about different shades of colors, me never.......!

...its close enough for Government work......!