EEE Lab: Resistor Colour Code

There are many different types of ​Resistor available which can be used in both electrical and
electronic circuits to control the flow of current or to produce a voltage drop in many different
ways. But in order to do this the actual resistor needs to have some form of “resistive” or
“resistance” value. Resistors are available in a range of different resistance values from fractions of
an Ohm ( ​Ω​ ) to millions of Ohms.

Obviously, it would be impractical to have available resistors of every possible value for example,
1Ω​, ​2Ω​, ​3Ω​, ​4Ω etc, because literally tens of hundreds of thousands, if not tens of millions of
different resistors would need to exist to cover all the possible values. Instead, resistors are
manufactured in what are called “preferred values” with their resistance value printed onto their
body in coloured ink.

The resistance value, tolerance, and wattage rating are generally printed onto the body of the
resistor as numbers or letters when the resistor's body is big enough to read the print, such as
large power resistors. But when the resistor is small, such as a 1/4 watt carbon or film type, these
specifications must be shown in some other manner as the print would be too small to read.

So to overcome this, small resistors use coloured painted bands to indicate both their resistive
value and their tolerance with the physical size of the resistor indicating its wattage rating. These
coloured painted bands produce a system of identification generally known as a ​Resistors Colour
Code​.

An international and universally accepted resistor colour code scheme was developed many years
ago as a simple and quick way of identifying a resistor's ohmic value no matter what its size or
condition. It consists of a set of individual coloured rings or bands in spectral order representing
each digit of the resistors value.

The resistor colour code markings are always read one band at a time starting from the left to the
right​, with the larger width tolerance band oriented to the right side indicating its tolerance. By
matching the colour of the first band with its associated number in the digit column of the colour
chart below the first digit is identified and this represents the first digit of the resistance value.

Again, by matching the colour of the second band with its associated number in the digit column of
the colour chart we get the second digit of the resistance value and so on. Then the resistor colour
code is read from left to right as illustrated below:

Calculating Resistor Values

The ​Resistor Colour Code system is all well and good but we need to understand how to apply it in
order to get the correct value of the resistor. The “left-hand” or the most significant coloured band
is the band which is nearest to a connecting lead with the colour coded bands being read from
left-to-right as follows:

Digit, Digit, Multiplier = Colour, Colour x 10 colour​ in Ohm’s (Ω)

For example, a resistor has the following coloured markings;

Yellow​ ​Violet​ ​Red​ = ​4​ ​7​ ​2​ = 4

​ ​ ​7​ x 1
​ 02​ = 4700Ω or 4
​ k7​ Ohm.

The fourth and fifth bands are used to determine the percentage tolerance of the resistor. Resistor
tolerance is a measure of the resistors variation from the specified resistive value and is a

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consequence of the manufacturing process and is expressed as a percentage of its “nominal” or
preferred value.

Typical resistor tolerances for

film resistors range from 1%
to 10% while carbon resistors
have tolerances up to 20%.
Resistors with tolerances
lower than 2% are called
precision resistors with the or
lower tolerance resistors
being more expensive.
Most five band resistors are
precision resistors with
tolerances of either 1% or 2%
while most of the four band
resistors have tolerances of
5% (Golden), 10% (Silver) and
20% . The colour code used to
denote the tolerance rating of
a resistor is given as:

Brown​ = 1%, ​Red​ = 2%, G

​ old​ =
5%, ​Silver​ = 10 %,No Band 20%

If the resistor has no fourth

tolerance band then the
default tolerance would be
at ​20%​.

It is sometimes easier to
remember the resistor colour
code by using mnemonics or
phrases that have a separate
word in the phrase to
represent each of the Ten +
Two colours in the code.
However, these sayings are
often very crude but
nevertheless effective for
remembering the resistor
colours. Here are just a few of
the more “cleaner” versions
but many more exist:

B​i​B​i R
​ OY G​oes ​B​riton V ​ ​ia G
​ ​ermany W ​ e ​ st
B​ad ​Bo ​ oze R ​ ​ots O
​ ​ur Y​ o​ ung ​Gu ​ ts ​B​ut ​Vo ​ dka ​Go ​ es ​We ​ ll
B​ad ​Bo ​ ys R
​ ​ing ​O​ur Y
​ ​oung G ​ i​ rls ​Bu
​ t ​Vi​ cky ​Go ​ es W​ ​ithout
B​ad ​B​oys ​R​ing ​O​ur ​Y​oung ​Gi​ rls ​Bu ​ t ​Vi​ cky ​Gi​ ves ​W​illingly — ​G​et ​S​ome ​N​ow (This one is
only slightly better because it includes the tolerance bands of G ​ o
​ ld, ​S​ilver, and N
​ ​one).

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Surface Mount Resistors
Surface Mount Resistors or SMD Resistors, are very small rectangular shaped metal oxide film
resistors designed to be soldered directly onto the surface, hence their name, of a circuit board.
Surface mount resistors generally have a ceramic substrate body onto which is deposited a thick
layer of metal oxide resistance.

4.7kΩ SMD Resistor

The resistive value of the resistor is controlled by increasing the desired thickness, length or type of
deposited film being used and highly accurate low tolerance resistors, down to 0.1% can be
produced. They also have metal terminals or caps at either end of the body which allows them to
be soldered directly onto printed circuit boards.

Surface Mount Resistors are printed with either a 3 or 4-digit numerical code which is similar to
that used on the more common axial type resistors to denote their resistive value. Standard SMD
resistors are marked with a three-digit code, in which the first two digits represent the first two
numbers of the resistance value with the third digit being the multiplier, either x1, x10, x100 etc.
For example:

“103” = 10 × 1,000 ohms = 10 kiloΩ

“392” = 39 × 100 ohms = 3.9 kiloΩ

“563” = 56 × 1,000 ohms = 56 kiloΩ

“105” = 10 × 100,000 ohms = 1 MegaΩ

Surface mount resistors that have a value of less than 100Ω are usually written as: “390”, “470”,
“560” with the final zero representing a 10 xo multiplier, which is equivalent to 1. For example:

“390” = 39 × 1Ω = 39Ω or 39RΩ

“470” = 47 × 1Ω = 47Ω or 47RΩ

Resistance values below ten have a letter “​R”​ to denote the position of the decimal point as seen
previously in the BS1852 form, so that ​4R7 = 4.7Ω​.

Surface mount resistors that have a “000” or “0000” markings are zero-Ohm (0Ω) resistors or in
other words shorting links, since these components have zero resistance.

Then we have seen that the resistor colour code system is used to identify the resistive value of a
resistor. Don’t forget to download and make our handy DIY ​Resistor Colour Code Wheel as a free and
handy reference guide to help work out those resistor colour codes.

In the next tutorial about ​Resistors​, we will look at connecting resistors together in a series chain
and prove that the total resistance is the sum of all the resistors added together and that the
current is common to a series circuit.

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