ELECTRIC CIRCUITS
LAB
Lab Objectives
To implement the theoretical knowledge of
electric circuits and different elements
To expose the students to the problems that may
come across while designing electric circuits
To expose the students different techniques of
analyzing the circuits.
EXPERIMENT #1
Resistors and Ohm’s Law
Resistor Color Code
Manufacturers typically use a color
band system known as the resistor
color code
Within this power point, you will
learn how to identify the nominal
resistance and the tolerance of a
resistor
Resistor Color Code
For resistors with 5% or 10%
tolerance, the color code
consists of 4 color bands.
For resistors with 1% or 2%
tolerance, the color code
consists of 5 bands.
4-Band Resistors
The resistor nominal value is encoded in the color code in
Powers of Ten Notation. The template for determining the
nominal value and tolerance of a resistor with 4 color bands is
given below:
1st Band = 2nd Band = 3rd Band = 4th Band =
1st Significant Digit 2nd Significant Digit Multiplier Tolerance
___ ___ 10 ____ %
How do we know which color
corresponds to which number?
Answer: Using the Resistor Color Code Table
Example 1. Determine the nominal resistance value
and the tolerance for the resistor shown below.
Solution:
Brown =1 Black =0 Red =2 Gold = 5%
2
___ ___ 10
1 0 ____
5 %
Nominal value = 10102
= 1,000
Tolerance = 5%.
It is typical to express the resistance value in:
k if the resistance 1,000
M if the resistance 1,000,000.
To convert from to k, to M, or vice-versa, use the table
below:
In the previous example we would say the resistor has a
nominal value of:
1,000
1k
1,000
Example 2. a) Determine the nominal value and tolerance for the
resistor below.
b) What is the minimum resistance value this resistor
can actually have?
c) What is the maximum resistance value this resistor
can actually have?
Yellow =4 Violet =7 Orange =3 Gold = 5%
Solution:
3
7 10
4 ___
___ ____
5 %
Resistor nominal value = 47103
= 47,000
= 47k.
Tolerance = 5%
Solution: continued
Minimum resistance value:
Multiply the nominal value by the tolerance and
then subtract this from the nominal value:
47 k 47 k * 0.05
47 k 2.35k
44.65k
Maximum resistance value:
Multiply the nominal value by the tolerance
and then add this to the nominal value:
47 k 47 k * 0.05
47 k 2.35k
49.35k
Example 3. a) Determine the nominal value and tolerance
for the resistor below.
b) What is the minimum resistance value this
resistor can actually have?
c) What is the maximum resistance value this resistor
can actually have?
Orange =3 White =9 Green =5 Silver = 10%
Solution:
5
9 10
3 ___
___ ____
10 %
Resistor nominal value = 39105
= 3,900,000
= 3.9M.
Tolerance = 10%
Solution: continued
Minimum resistance value:
nominal value – nominal value * tolerance:
3 . 9 M 3 .9 M * 0 . 1
3.9 M 0.39 M
3.51M
Maximum resistance value:
nominal value + nominal value * tolerance:
3 . 9 M 3 .9 M * 0 .1
3.9 M 0.39 M
4.29 M
5-Band Resistors
For resistors with 1% or 2% tolerance,
the color code consists of 5 bands.
The template for 5-band resistors is:
1st Band = 2nd Band = 3rd Band = 4th Band = 5th Band =
1st Significant 2nd Significant 3rd Significant Multiplier Tolerance
Digit Digit Digit
___ ___ ___ 10 ____ %
Example 4. Determine the nominal resistance and
tolerance for the resistor shown below.
Solution:
Brown = 1 Black =0 Black = 0 Brown = 1 Red = 2%
1
1 ___
___ 0 10
0 ___ ____
2 %
Resistor nominal value = 100101
= 1,000
= 1k.
Tolerance = 2%
Example 5. Determine the nominal resistance and
tolerance for the resistor shown below.
Blue = 6 Gray = 8 Black = 0 Orange = 3 Brown = 1%
Solution: 3
6 ___
___ 0 10
8 ___ ____
1 %
Resistor nominal value = 680103
= 680,000
= 680k.
Tolerance = 1%
Which side of a resistor do I
read from?
A question that often arises when reading the color
code of real resistors is: how do I determine which
side of a resistor do I read from?
Answer:
For 4-band resistors a gold or silver band is always
the last band.
If the resistor has 5 bands or if there is no tolerance
band (20%), then the first band is the one located
closest to a lead.
Converting the Nominal Resistance and
Tolerance into the Color Code
We are given the nominal value and the tolerance and we
have to come up with the color code.
4-Band Resistors
1. Resistors with 5% and 10% Tolerance will have 4-bands
2. Convert nominal value to ohms ()
3. 1st digit (from left to right) of nominal value = 1st color band
4. 2nd digit of nominal value = 2nd band
5. Number of zeros remaining = 3rd (multiplier) band
6. Tolerance = 4th band
Example 6. Specify the color code of a resistor with nominal value
of 27k and a tolerance of 10%.
Solution:
1) Since resistor Tolerance = 10% it will have 4-bands.
2) Convert the nominal resistance value to from k.
27,000
Red = 2 Violet = 7 Orange = 3 10%
Example 7. Specify the color code of a resistor with nominal value
of 1.5k and a tolerance of 5%.
Solution:
1) Since resistor Tolerance = 5% it will have 4-bands.
2) Convert the nominal resistance value to from k.
1,500
Brown = 1 Green = 5 Red = 2 5%
Converting the Nominal Resistance and
Tolerance into the Color Code
5-Band Resistors
1. Resistors with 1% and 2% Tolerance will have 5-bands
2. Convert nominal value to ohms ()
3. 1st digit (from left to right) of nominal value = 1st color band
4. 2nd digit of nominal value = 2nd band
5. 3rd digit of nominal value = 3rd band
6. Number of zeros remaining = 4th (multiplier) band
7. Tolerance = 5th band
Example 8. Specify the color code of a resistor with nominal value
of 2.5M and a tolerance of 1%.
Solution:
1) Since resistor Tolerance = 1% it will have 5-bands.
2) Convert the nominal resistance value to from M.
2,500,000
Red = 2 Green = 5
Black = 0 Yellow = 4 1%
RESISTOR
R1 R2 R3 R4 R5
Nominal
Value/Toler 47k
ance /10%
Ohmmeter 42.6
Reading
V/I Reading
%age
deviation
from
Nominal
Value
Actual
Value
within
tolerance
LAB EQUIPMENT
To be used in the experiment 1
Bread board Circuit Trainer
Digital Multi Meter (DMM)
DC Power Supply
