The first two bands taken together give us the number “22.” The first two bands on a resistor will always represent a number between 10 and 99. Looking at the chart, we can see that it again states the number as ‘2’ for our second red band. On this resistor, the second band is also red. The second band signifies the second most significant digit. Looking at the color chart we see that red on the first band equates to the number ‘2.’ For example on our resistor below, the first band is red. The first band represents the most significant digit, also known as the first digit in the number.
#10 ohm resistor color code how to#
Now that we’ve seen the color chart, let’s see how to apply it to our resistor. The colors mean the same thing for all resistors Decoding the resistor We’ll go over what each band means in detail. You can find other similar charts online. This is the standard color chart which all resistors follow. Now that our resistor is oriented correctly, we can identify the other color bands on the resistor body We have labeled the bands on this resistor in order below: The colors on each band have a particular significance. Identifying resistors by color bands continued Look for the silver or gold band on the resistor body and place this on the right-hand side. This band should be placed on the right-hand side of the resistor. On one side of the resistor the band color will be either silver or gold. How do we know what each color means? The first step is to orient our resistor in the correct direction. Not only does the colors of the bands matter, but also the order in which the colors appear.
While there are resistors with 6, 3 and even 1 band, the most commonly found resistors by far have 4 bands, and we are looking at that type.Ī resistor has two wire leads and a body with color bands on it: Fortunately, every resistor has a set of color bands printed on its casing which tells us what the value of the resistor. If you have just purchased a resistor it will generally come with some sort of label, but that doesn’t help if we find our resistor sitting unaccompanied on a table or in our parts box.