Resistor Color Codes

A resistor is an electrical component that opposes the flow of current. We all have seen different resistors used in the circuits. But have you noticed that there are some colour bands on the resistor? What they indicate?

Actually, Resistors are coded are with colours to identify their value and function. There are different resistors depending upon a number of colour bands on it. Such as 3 band, 4 band , and 5 band resistor. Using the following table, you can easily tell the resistor value.

Colour	Digit	Multiplier	Tolerance (%)
Black	0	100
Brown	1	101	1
Red	2	102	2
Orange	3	103
Yellow	4	104
Green	5	105	0.5
Blue	6	106	0.25
Violet	7	107	0.1
Grey	8	108
White	9	109
Gold		10-1	5
Silver		10-2	10
None			20

(a). 4-Band Resistor

The first two bands are digit values from column-2 of above table. The third band give multiplier value from column-3. The fourth band give tolerance value from column-4.

Examples:

1. 

This resistor is coloured as Yellow-Violet-Orange-Gold 

Resistance = 47 kΩ with a tolerance of ± 5%.

2. 

This resistor is coloured as Green-Red-Gold-Silver

Resistance = 5.2 Ω with a tolerance of ± 10%.

3. 

This resistor is coloured as White-Violet-Black

Note: There are only three bands in this resistor. So to calculate resistance, fourth band's tolerance is taken as 20%.

Resistance = 97 Ω  with a tolerance of ± 20%.

(b). 5-Band Resistor

The first three bands are digit values from column-2 of above table. The fourth band give multiplier value from column-3. The fifth band give tolerance value from column-4.

Examples: 

1.

This resistor is coloured as Orange-Orange-Black-Brown-Violet

Resistance = 3.3 kΩ with a tolerance of ± 0.1%.

2. 

This resistor is coloured as Brown-Green-Grey-Silver-Red

Resistance = 1.58 Ω with a tolerance of ± 2%.

3. 

This resistor is coloured as Blue-Brown-Green-Silver-Blue

Resistance = 6.15 Ω with a tolerance of ± 0.25%.

So this is how you can easily tell resistor value by viewing different colour bands printed on the resistor.